You know, i have no idea. I have no idea what can and should be done about the situation in Egypt, if anything can be done at all. It's horrible that people are dying over there, even if it's the "bad" ones. As i type this, i'm listening to Michael Savage bray that whatever is going on, "it's Obama's fault." What monstrous idiocy. But a million people are nodding in agreement, because Americans just don't seem capable of comprehending these things anymore.
Can we rewind? Look back at the last few years through the mindset of the typical clueless American?
Prior to 2011, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone on the street who even knew who Hosni Mubarak was. Or Anwar Sadat for that matter. Americans didn't know who controlled Egypt, and were happy not knowing....
...but then, when the Arab Spring protests ignited in Cairo, Americans said, huh? He's a lifelong dictator? Well, i don't like those, i guess. Yeah, get rid of him in the name of democracy. Yeah, revolution! Isn't that what we're rooting for here, the overthrow of middle eastern dick-taters?
Then a few of the realpolitik-minded conservatives pointed out that Mubarak might have been a strongman, but he was still our guy. Our strongman. So then people started getting nervous, because it looked like the Islamic Muslimists were going to take over, maybe.
So then freedom happened, and elections happened, and for a while there we stopped caring.
Then we learned that Morsi the Muslim Brotherhood candidate won the election. Jeez, where was Obama during all of this? Why didn't he help Mubarack stay in power? Why didn't America bomb and gas and rain bullets down on those crowds demanding freedom and elections? Way to drop the ball, Obama!
So them Morsi the Muslimist was in control. And we didn't like that.
And then he was deposed by his military. We sort of assumed it would take Egypt about 20 years to overthrow their new Muslim regime, instead they did it rather quickly. TOO quickly if you ask me! Why do things go so fast now? So now... the faceless military -- whom i'm not sure i should be rooting for or not -- is now shooting and gassing the people we didn't want in control of the country. And that sucks, right? I don't know. Americans don't know. Whatever it is, Obama's to blame. Can't we just fix everything somehow? Can't we just bomb the bad people and pick the one right guy over there to make everything better?
Maybe we can't.
Maybe we need to learn what America can and cannot do.
You know, it's funny. For decades, we've lived under the assumption that America can do anything overseas, but nothing at home. That all we need to do is send enough jets and troops to other countries, and we can fix any problem... while inside our own borders, trying to ensure medical care for all, or feeding the homeless, or building high-speed trains, or preserving middle-class jobs -- these are impossible, Herculean tasks that no government could ever possible achieve.
I won't lie, i wish we had the opposite mindset. Let's believe that we can do anything here, but not out there. Focus on our own shit.
Right?
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2 comments:
The funny fact is, practically every single state in the so-called "Arab Spring" failed to bring about a constitutional republic, (I refuse to use democracy because its as Franklin said (Yes, I know I'm referencing him again), its two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner). Instead they appear to be wanting the restoration of sharia law, the basic Islamic law code in which women are considered property and non-Muslims are regarded as second-class citizens.
Also, the Brotherhood hasn't exactly been clean-handed either, there's been reports of them burning Coptic churches since Morsi was overthrown. Neither side are really noble, but the military is considered the lesser of two evils at this point.
As for us blaming Obama...Well, you kind of have a point there. When something does not go as intended the president is usually the first to blame. Still, it was Obama who gave the Arab Spring its blessing, and it turns out to not have transpired as he hoped.
Can agree on the United States should be focusing more on what's going on home. Easier said then done though when both the Dems and the GOP have spectacularly bad ideas on how to attain that.
It's a mess, no doubt. Obama's kind of stuck and in a box with what he can and cannot say, despite what action the US is taking behind the scenes.
Back in 2011, it's not as if he could give this speech:
"So the people of Egypt want their longtime dictator to give up his power. This is probably a bad idea. Sure, America talks a big game about freedom and democracy and all that stuff, but we'd really just be happier with a strongman in charge so long as he's OUR strongman. Look, if the Egyptians try to vote, they're just gonna fuck it up and probably elect some crazy Muslim fucker that will piss off the world and be hated by 60% of his own people. Then they'll have to get rid of him toute suite, and that's when the killings will begin. Face it, you sandeaters aren't ready for democracy just yet."
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