printWith few exceptions, the American media slobbered mightily over the revolution in Egypt. As a European relative put it: Americans from all political persuasions lack the smarts, the sophistication, and the familiarity with history to be … skeptical.
So, you had the Beltway libertarians joining Anderson Cooper (CNN), Neil Cavuto (Fox News), and Christiane Amanpour (ABC) in spirit at Cairo’s Tahrir Square to celebrate Egypt’s democratic spring; you had America’s female journos rushing to the mainly macho scene to show solidarity with the generic freedom fighters, who, it turned out, doubled up as common-or-garden gropers and rapists.
At the time, this writer wrote about the impossibility of a happy ending “in a country that has become progressively more Islamic since the 1950s.” I added that, “Mubarak’s dictatorial powers were directed, unjustly indubitably, against the Islamic fundamentalists of the Muslim brotherhood.” Unjustly, but probably quite usefully—for now, much to the surprise of the American Idiocracy, Islamic fundamentalists have won 61% of the vote in Egypt’s first democratic election.
“The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party won 36.6% of the 9.7m ballots cast last week, followed by the Salafist al-Nour Party with 24.4%.” [BBC]
The secular Egyptian Bloc came third in the first round with 13.4% of the vote, followed by the liberal Wafd Party with 7.1% and the moderate Islamist Wasat Party with 4.3%. The Revolution Continues, a group formed by youth activists behind the uprising that ousted Mr Mubarak in February, won 3.5%
“This is about freedom,” said the immensely silly Lara Logan before the freedom fighters piled up on top of her.
Indeed.
UPDATE (Dec. 6): I was waiting for a wise man to point out that the historical parallels between the Muslim world and the West are few. Islam and its people aren’t stuck in the 1950s; they’re stuck in the 7th century. Thanks to Huggs for stating the obvious. In touting the sea-change underway in Egypt and elsewhere in the Muslim world, our moron media interviewed 0.1% of the country’s population, the intelligentsia, to extrapolate to the majority. But there is also the deep stupidity so prevalent in the US whereby under the skin, all human beings are said to be the same.
I think Islamism is a phase that the Arab world has to pass through in the same manner that much of East and Southeast Asia had to pass through communism starting in the 1950’s. I view this as an inevitable historical process. Any attempt by the west to prevent it (by supporting “pro-west” dictators such as Mubarak) will only delay and make the process worse.
I can’t say I’m surprised by the election results. I just hope the Arab spring doesn’t turn into an Israeli hell…
There’s no need for fatalism. Remember, where there are Arab mobs there’s sure to be a spring; where there are Salafists there’s sure to be a reformation; where there’s the Brotherhood there are sure to be moderates; and in Ms. Logan’s case, when you’re pricked by a thorn there’s sure to be a rose.
Here is our state department discussing the Moslem brotherhood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_29IeEeZqo
Islamism is a phase the Arab world has been going through since the 7th century or thereabouts. I don’t think they are going to outgrow it anytime soon. As far as the American media and all the other “smart” people inside the beltway are concerned one only has to look at the completely stupid conclusions they continue to draw on events. This is the same bunch that thought Obama was a centrist and many still do. I’m reminded of a quote from George Wallace to some network talking head back in the early 1960’s. He said “You network experts called Castro the saviour of Latin America when every cab driver in Alabama knew he was a communist”. The so called experts are blinded by their own brilliance and self importance while regular people tend to look at the actual evidence. To be fooled by Islamic ascendancy is to suffer from a blind eye to the obvious.
[See post update.]
This is one American who understood what was going on in Egypt. This “Arab Spring” nonsense was obscene. And the fact that the media is so ignorant of history; to suggest that this would usher in freedom shows supreme evasion.
Iran can’t believe their luck! Obama has opened a pandora’s box by destabilizing the region and not understanding the consequences.
It’s lamentably unreasonable to expect a tolerant and liberal society to emerge in Egypt anytime soon. While goodwill for our fellow man makes us hopeful, the likely outcome is less liberty and a new violent dictatorial regime.
The tree of liberty needs fertile soil.
The Revolution of 1776 succeeded in advancing liberty because the colonists embraced individualism and personal responsibility. They rebelled because they didn’t enjoy the same “rights of Englishmen” as their common descendants in England.
Egypt is stifled by a chronic collectivist culture. Individualism and personal responsibility are displaced by license and fear of the mob and authorities. The repeated attack and rape of reporter Lara Logan in Tahrir Square provides an illustration. Too many members of that mob weren’t constrained by a sense of personal responsibility and the authorities were nowhere in sight.
Sir Edmond Burke said, “It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”
Well I guess we’ve got about 14 more centuries of evolution for many of our “friends” of the Arab Spring.
Let’s have a little historical perspective. Ever since the time of the Pharaohs, Egypt has been an extremely collectivist piece of land. This didn’t change under the Persian, Hellenistic (Ptolemaic) or Roman empires. While the Romans did provide free trade in most other provinces, they considered Egypt the personal property of the Emperor, and it was basically one large Soviet-style collective grain farm.
This continued under the Byzantines and tribal Arabs until Islam with its notorious Sharia economics (one of the reasons I believe Islam to be impervious to reform), making very fertile ground for the 20th and 21st century ‘Arab Socialism’ of Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak.
Whatever woes the Arab world has, they’re deeply linked to the collectivist nature of Islamic economics. You can’t have a free society without free markets. How can we expect women’s liberation in Islam when almost all women are economically dependent on men?