Act As If
The government is always acting as if it is a really elected government in hope that people will believe it is. (Also reminds me of an old, hideous lady who decided all of a sudden to act as if she was a pretty young girl, and start talking about "new vision"). They are acting as if the demonstrations are such a trivial matter that isn't at all worrying them, in the hope that we will believe this, and in turn be dissuaded from participating. They're acting as if they mean what they say about how what the judges are doing (striking and voicing their dissent) is really shameful to the "respect of the judge and justice", hoping that the judge will feel ashamed by this (but not that one of their own was beaten in front of the Judges Club).
The MB is even more skilled at this game. They're acting as if they're the strongest political force in the country, hoping that everybody will believe this and be intimidated into joining them or at least avoiding them (but why did they run for 120 seats of the 444 of the parliament...hmm..I wonder). They act as if they're the strongest force between students in student unions (read Rosa Al-Youssef article about how they're penetrating the AUC student union--I know a couple of things about that, and believe me they're a considerable force, but far from being able to sway an elections there), hoping that we believe that they have the universities in their pocket. They act as if they control all professional syndicates, but they always fail to win the presidency of any of those syndicates.
In all those instances, the MB is trying to intimidate elected representatives and officials into caving in to their demands and agendas without being in the center of any controversy. Or even worse, without suffering any losses (like that which they would have suffered had they ran for the 444 seats of the parliament) which will be just defying to their whole strategy.
Pretty smart.
Why is the government doing the "Act as if" ?...They just think we're clueless.
posted by TB at
12:33 PM
6 Comments:
"Why is the government doing the "Act as if" ?...They just think we're clueless."
Yes, we are clueless. The vast majority of the Egyptian population until recently, and still, are clueless. Typical Egyptians are not prone, by character, to contradicting authority. This will never change until the educational standards in the country improve
Herlock Sholmes
By
Herlock Sholmes, at
May 23, 2006 2:48 PM
Did you feel the MB members of the student union were organized in the sense that they take orders and advice from higher ranks outside the university, or were they just a 'religious camp' as opposed to others?
By
Seneferu, at
May 23, 2006 5:51 PM
herlock: so they 'rightly' think we're clueless? fair enough...
but if my opinion makes sense, then at least we have an idea how to confront them...just get a clue! (reading, asking, criticizing, etc...)..and believe me it is not just 'ordinary' egyptians..this ignorance thing is across the board
By
TB, at
May 23, 2006 8:58 PM
Tomanbay: I agree, the ignorance is across the board. But, 99.9% of the Egyptian population has no wayto educate itself. Textbooks are innacurate, TV spits out a pack of lies daily, the internet is not present and anyway they don't speak or read a word of English... The goverment acts "as if" because they know people have no way of knowing any better
By
Herlock Sholmes, at
May 23, 2006 11:24 PM
Thanks for the post it says a lot of things I've been thinking about in the last few days. VERY WELL ANALYSED POST.
By
The Eyewitness, at
May 24, 2006 3:14 PM
Toman, I dont think the Act-as-if is (primarily) for domestic consumption, but rather aimed at helping the US pretend that everything is fine in Egypt and there's no need to reconsider the $1bn in military aid they hand over every year. Of course, to the degree it fools those who are limited to sucking up state-run TV, that's just .. gravy.
Good luck with combatting the ignorance, it's so damn needed (everywhere)
By
Anonymous, at
May 25, 2006 4:55 PM
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