Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinStarwing
But yeah...Middle East is going nuts with a new Jasmine Revolution as I heard it called.
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Sorry, I'm not going to let this one slide.
The Middle East is
not "going nuts." The protesters participating in the Jasmine Revolution are not crazy nutjobs seeking simply to wreak havoc and destabilize an entire region. This is a terrible choice of words.
What is happening is that the repressed and impoverished people of a resource-rich region worn down by the systemic and historic sins of their oppressors have reached a breaking point. In the midst of a worldwide recession that has limited growth, these movements finally have the networking technology (which governments cannot completely eradicate) and a new generation of passionate and increasingly secularized youth to sustain revolutionary movements.
What we are seeing today is not insanity, it is the utmost expression
of sanity: it is people crying out to be recognized as human beings with individual merit and value by their governments, to wield a vote and a voice in their nations' futures. They are fighting for the basic rights we take for granted: the right to free speech, the right to a free press, the right to work, the right to not be legally and systemically discriminated against.
What
is disgraceful and what
is absolutely nuts is the notion that the United States, the so-called "bastion and protector of democracy," has failed to come out and obviously support the positions of the protesters who are crying out for humanitarian aid. What is disgraceful is the fact that millions of human beings are crying out for the exact rights the United States once died to protect, but because it's apparently North Africa and the Middle East instead of European nations impacted by atrocities, well shit,
maybe they don't count. We are selfish enough to "defend ourselves" against imaginary WMDs and we will "defend democracy" with aggressive force when it is in our presumed best interests, but we will gladly work with autocratic dictators who repress their peoples in manners comparable to Stalin or Hitler because
they will give us cheap oil.
The United States has the political and economic clout to choke the lifeforce out of autocratic regimes, but we will not use it. We fear imaginary Islamic terrorist factions (rising theoretically from a Democratic power void) more than we fear
very real oppressive dictators. We value stability and security over human rights. We treat these protesters as if they're just rabble-rousers threatening global peace and ushering in the end of the world (seriously check out the internet comments on CNN and MSNBC, some people implicitly oppose these revolutions
because it reminds them of the end-times.), We treat the dictators as if they're valued business partners because doing so allows us to own slightly more glamorous automobiles, keep slightly bigger paychecks, and play slightly more videogames.
We are the ones who are watching our Office and 30 Rock, playing our Angry Birds and our Modern Warfares, drowning ourselves to death in a sea of entertainment instead of actively engaging the rest of the global community. Meanwhile our government's getting away with exceeding amounts of bullshit and we're too complacent to do shit about it. We're condemning our children to a horrific future in a warmer, cancer-ridden, polluted planet while we get plastered and pretend that gold statuettes awarded to attractive men and women are considerably more important. We're using our Foursquare to become imaginary Mayors while they're using our Facebook to
end years of sociopolitical tyranny.
Yes, it's true:
We are the crazy ones. We are the ones who are batshit insane.
EDIT: I am sorry but right now I am seriously debating online an acquaintance of mine who attended an old evangelical church group I was involved in,
who sincerely believes that the Middle Eastern democratic protests are being led by the Antichrist. This is because the Bible supports the view that the Middle East must be destabilized prior to the End Times. Clearly, the country with people who sincerely believe the Four Horsemen of the Fucking Apocalypse will march onwards soon to bring famine and death to us all,
this is the country that merits the designation of "leader of the free world."
...I want to move a nation not named the United States.