i'm not a very political person, and i think that i have managed to pretty much keep politics out of this blog up until now. but with chaos taking the middle east by storm, i think it is time for me to come right out and say it: i think all the revolutions are insane, and not in a good way. (yes, i realize i may be making quite a few enemies by saying this.)
granted, i'm not currently living in any of the countries revolting, so there may be some really, really good reason for going completely crazy that i am just missing, but from where i'm standing, i think everyone needs to just calm down. in my opinion, there are very few situations that would warrant an extreme revolution. if you are afraid to go to sleep at night because you don't know that you'll be alive to wake up in the morning, then by all means revolt. hit the streets and start all kinds of trouble. if you have a safe house to live in, food to eat, a car to drive, money to go watch a movie... then what exactly are you rebelling against? sure, you may not like the government, but i honestly think that violent revolutions are one of the stupidest ways to show your dissent. how is burning down restaurants going to help you? breaking into banks and stores? setting yourself on fire? destroying mummies? last time i checked, people who have been dead for centuries were not your enemy. thing is, a lot of the people seem to think that the result of a revolution will be instantaneous utopia. um, it won't. and all these things you're taking for granted in times of stability? yeah, you'll probably be missing them pretty soon. you know what comes after a revolution? rocky times as the country tries to stand on its feet again. and sure, there are times when that is better than what there was before and when hope for a better tomorrow will make the misery of today worthwhile, but i don't think this is one of these times. so while you're lounging by your pool responding to facebook invitations to the revolution on your thousand dollar computer, you may want to think about that.
there are no words to describe how desperately i hope saudis grasp onto their individuality and refrain from jumping on the revolution bandwagon. with the flooding from the rains, people are upset, and i just hope that their disgruntledness does not affect their senses. i see no reason for a saudi revolution. destroying a country is not the only way to make changes. yes, they are not a democratic nation. so what? who decided that democracy was the only right way to run a government? yes, it works great for america, but that does not mean that it is a one size fits all solution for world peace. it isn't. saudi arabia follows an islamic regime. i can't see how a democracy will be able to stick as completely to islamic law as it does now, which i believe it should.
that brings me to another point. being the islamic capital of the world, saudi arabia really has no right to stop muslims who want to go to mecca or madinah from going. even ousted government officials have a right to get in touch with their islamic roots, and the saudi government really has no right to stop them. i mean, sure, if the guy is an actual threat to people, then of course they wouldn't let him in, but an ex-leader on the run is pretty much powerless so why shouldn't they let them in? especially when they never really had anything against him in the first place. (this is a general him encompassing every ex-leader who has fled to saudi arabia, which they have been doing for quite a while.)
let me just stop right here before this gets really long, but remember what i was saying before about society being sheep? the arabs have obviously been perfecting their baa's.
agree? disagree? either way, i'd love to hear your thoughts. there's an amazing little box you can write comments in that a bunch of you seem to have missed. it even lets you comment anonymously! try it out, and let me know what you think.
*Think For Yourself - The Beatles
granted, i'm not currently living in any of the countries revolting, so there may be some really, really good reason for going completely crazy that i am just missing, but from where i'm standing, i think everyone needs to just calm down. in my opinion, there are very few situations that would warrant an extreme revolution. if you are afraid to go to sleep at night because you don't know that you'll be alive to wake up in the morning, then by all means revolt. hit the streets and start all kinds of trouble. if you have a safe house to live in, food to eat, a car to drive, money to go watch a movie... then what exactly are you rebelling against? sure, you may not like the government, but i honestly think that violent revolutions are one of the stupidest ways to show your dissent. how is burning down restaurants going to help you? breaking into banks and stores? setting yourself on fire? destroying mummies? last time i checked, people who have been dead for centuries were not your enemy. thing is, a lot of the people seem to think that the result of a revolution will be instantaneous utopia. um, it won't. and all these things you're taking for granted in times of stability? yeah, you'll probably be missing them pretty soon. you know what comes after a revolution? rocky times as the country tries to stand on its feet again. and sure, there are times when that is better than what there was before and when hope for a better tomorrow will make the misery of today worthwhile, but i don't think this is one of these times. so while you're lounging by your pool responding to facebook invitations to the revolution on your thousand dollar computer, you may want to think about that.
there are no words to describe how desperately i hope saudis grasp onto their individuality and refrain from jumping on the revolution bandwagon. with the flooding from the rains, people are upset, and i just hope that their disgruntledness does not affect their senses. i see no reason for a saudi revolution. destroying a country is not the only way to make changes. yes, they are not a democratic nation. so what? who decided that democracy was the only right way to run a government? yes, it works great for america, but that does not mean that it is a one size fits all solution for world peace. it isn't. saudi arabia follows an islamic regime. i can't see how a democracy will be able to stick as completely to islamic law as it does now, which i believe it should.
that brings me to another point. being the islamic capital of the world, saudi arabia really has no right to stop muslims who want to go to mecca or madinah from going. even ousted government officials have a right to get in touch with their islamic roots, and the saudi government really has no right to stop them. i mean, sure, if the guy is an actual threat to people, then of course they wouldn't let him in, but an ex-leader on the run is pretty much powerless so why shouldn't they let them in? especially when they never really had anything against him in the first place. (this is a general him encompassing every ex-leader who has fled to saudi arabia, which they have been doing for quite a while.)
let me just stop right here before this gets really long, but remember what i was saying before about society being sheep? the arabs have obviously been perfecting their baa's.
agree? disagree? either way, i'd love to hear your thoughts. there's an amazing little box you can write comments in that a bunch of you seem to have missed. it even lets you comment anonymously! try it out, and let me know what you think.
*Think For Yourself - The Beatles
AGREE! AGREE!!! AGREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
ReplyDeletethis is everything I have been thinking but haven't been able to put into words that actually made sense. After the boys I haven't been able to speak or write properly. I feel like my vocab and grammar have disappeared.
anyways...awesome blogpost. LOVE it, and so so true.
Hish says he wants to post this on his facebook because he thinks its really good...and its exactly what he has been thinking too.
ReplyDeleteand he says can he post it on his facebook? anonymously? :D
there's supposed to be a share thing at the end of the posts that lets you share on facebook, twitter, etc. i dunno why it's not showing up and don't feel like looking into it at the moment. but yeah, he can.
ReplyDeleteI just have to say I would never have looked at the revolts this way. I'm really blinded by the fact that every time I've heard about Egypt/Tunisia/Jordan, it was from someone who had family/friends there... Revolutions are in right now, and I do hope no more people over there are killed or injured.
ReplyDeletei think our generation are just so wrapped up in the media hype that they've lost the ability to think clearly. i know a few older people that have family and friends there and are not pro-revolution. that doesn't mean that they're necessarily pro-mubarak either, though. they just have some common sense. what people need to see is that the dude was in power for three decades. if he just walked out right now, the entire country would crumble. they need the transition period that he's offering to ease in a new government and try and maintain some stability. it's really not going to work any other way. the instantaneous utopia they're clamoring for really does not exist. the fact that people can't see that makes me deathly afraid of the future when our generation takes over.
ReplyDeletethe job market has been complaining that we have no patience and want to be hired, get promoted, and run the business all within three months. when this doesn't happen, we quit. i never realized how big of a thing this lack of patience was until i hear everyone saying that they want mubarak out now.
and just to throw this out there, when they're saying things like "a hundred thousand people are taking to the streets in revolt," people forget to realize that in a population of over eighty million that's really not a devastatingly high number. it's an eight hundredth of the population.
I think the same thing about revolutions, and now that I see that every country is just getting in on the act, I'm starting to scratch my head a little bit. When Tunisia first revolted, I was thinking that they might have reasons to do it, but then Egypt, Jordan, and now Yemen are getting in on it, and now I am in full agreement that revolting for the sake of revolting is ludicrous. If problems existed, why not tackle them before? I'm against any sudden urge to revolt that can kill hundreds of people in the matter of a few days. I'm curious to see what will happen in Egypt, but I'm not optimistic about the chances of a smooth transition with no one in power.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up our lack of patience, but this is the same trait that everyone everywhere is practicing. You see it obviously with the revolutions, but everyone thinks the grass is always greener on the other side. Our own leaders care only about reelection and party politics. I will never quote Obama again, but he said something to the effect of, "You lose doesn't mean I win," and I agree with that 100%
For the last paragraph, that is true. But smart, sensible, quiet people never make the news. That much should be obvious.
i love that obama quote, and though i agree with the whole grass i greener and reelection points, i still think that people who grew up before the internet boom know how to wait for things a bit better. i'm making gross generalizations here, but i think that they learned that some things can't happen instantaneously, that there are things you have to wait for. growing up with technology has instilled in us a belief that everything should happen as soon as we will it to, at the click of a button. we're not as perceptible to or satisfied by small changes. we want the world to turn 180 degrees and we'd like it to happen before we miss our favorite show, thank you very much. once again, i realize these are generalizations and there are quite a few of our generation that this does not apply to at all.
ReplyDeleteoh, and that's why i'm never on the news. i was wondering.
It's obvious no one has any patience, but this worldwide revolution thing makes that crystal clear. The only way people will learn patience is by making mistakes, and unfortunately, today's mistakes are resulting in deaths and chaos.
ReplyDelete...yes, you, and other regular folks who make up the majority of every social, racial, ethnic, and religious group that has ever existed.