Some ways of communicating with Egypt.
The Tor relay system allows individuals to access the internet while protecting their privacy and anonymity. This is of crucial importance to those whose governments are blocking access to their internet resources. …
Article comments
26 - roger nowosielski
I suppose he meant "public service." And doesn't the journalistic profession have something analogous to the Hippocratic oath?
27 - roger nowosielski
Yeah, they are all the same. Not to worry, though, got other things on the burner.
28 - Robert Weller
Biden defended Mubarak today. He obviously had not read last year's State Department Human Rights report on Egypt, and it was before all the latest repression. The only reason we have these reports available is because Congress requires them. The last thing State wants to do is annoy a dictator.
29 - roger nowosielski
Neither did Hillary, apparently, until she'd changed here tune of late.
30 - Glenn Contrarian
Hm. Lemme see here - Conservative news outlets Fox News and the New York Post are referring to the "riots" in Egypt...and their counterparts on the Left, MSNBC and the New York Times also refer to them as "riots"...
...but somehow, I'm the bad guy here.
Gee, will somebody tell me how my use of the word "riots" was so incredibly offensive or inaccurate?
31 - Cindy
their counterparts on the Left, MSNBC and the New York Times
Not surprising that you believe this stuff is the 'left'. They take their stories directly from authorities. Did you hear the Editor-in-chief of the Times tonight? He sounded like a gov't shill.
32 - Cindy
'Riot' is the preferred choice of news outlets that get fed by the authorities. The word 'riot' rather than 'uprising', 'unrest', 'protest' often gives an illegitimate flavor to the proceedings. Though, I acknowledge, this is not always necessarily so. Still, generally, my impression is many protesters do not prefer to be called rioters. Some see it as a sign of disrespect or lack of care. (Others are titillated.) Being on the 'left', one would think you would know such things.
33 - roger nowosielski
Not to mention being attuned to the nuances of the English language.
34 - Alan Kurtz
BC's armchair anarchists are Olympian in talking the talk but paralyzed when it comes to walking the walk. Just kick back with your laptops, guys & gals, and click our links to directly help the oppressed masses of Egypt, Tunisia, and unspecified others whose brutal governments have curtailed access to the Internet and all-powerful social media networks.
Forget that we here in the United States have unfettered access to such channels of communication, yet have used them to do nothing more revolutionary than complain because Bristol Palin finished third on Dancing with the Stars.
And especially forget that BC's armchair anarchists have never shown the slightest interest in helping us to directly resist the incursions of the U.S. government into our privacy and personal freedoms. Oh, they blather and bloviate at endless length, but what concrete practical actions have they ever promoted?
35 - diana hartman
U.S. citizens' regard for Egypt is creepy: "Forget the issues & injured. The Egyptian people can't post pics/texts on Facebook or Twitter!"
36 - Christopher Rose
Alan, so you object to a discrete open group of people discussing matters of the day?
How do you square that with all the freedom of speech issues you love to raise?
Should I then take it that you are more activist yourself?
What exactly are you doing in terms of "helping us to directly resist the incursions of the U.S. government into our privacy and personal freedoms"?
Perhaps something more positive than petty bitching would be inspirational to others?
37 - Christopher Rose
Diana, long time no see - hope you're well.
As to your comment, Facebook and Twitter have been really helpful in terms of letting ordinary people discuss and respond to contemporary events. Losing that access really does matter, so helping people to remain connected is a real benefit.
38 - roger nowosielski
Quite a diatribe, Alan, which leads me to the question: what have you done lately to directly alleviate the government's incursions into our freedoms, whether in America or in Egypt?
I'd really like to know, because if you do have a viable plan of action, I certainly wouldn't want to be left out. But to the best of my recollection, your claim to fame thus far has been limited to raising rather lame complaints over trivial aspects of censorship on this site - I say trivial because pertaining less to substance than to style. (Interestingly, you're getting on Genma's or my case for using the expression "Uncle Tom" while defending till you're blue in the face outright rudeness in personal communications.
If one didn't know any better, one could write you off for plainly schizoid behavior. I'm aware, however, that you're only trying to be provocative, to which I say, you're not very good at it, clumsy in fact; so save it for situations that really matter.) Anyway, I view your post more as an expression of personal impotence, frustration I mean, lest you purposely misunderstand, than anything else.
Point two. Thank God for division of labor; besides, we all have different talents. I'm quite comfortable with what I do, leaving other matters to others, knowing full well that what I do is what I do best. Anything wrong with that?
Point three. Your impatience may be justified, but I'd like to remind you of the concept of "critical mass." No wine before its time, my friend.
As you were saying?
39 - M
very useful piece Cindy -- thanks
40 - Cindy
Thanks, M. :-)
41 - Robert Weller
Yes, the media does have a duty, although during the 40 years I have been in it I have seen it discarded. The word honor is never mentioned. That should be the duty of the media. Not buying into Pentagon lies to get front page interviews, though it did work for Judith Miller. The No. 1 media rule today is that merits mean nothing. All that counts is that other journalists will do it so we must also. We don't have to do anything. We don't have to keep a story No. 1 just because that was decided at an early morning news meeting. We don't have to devote all of our resources to the SOTU. Now it even has an acronym.
42 - Boeke
Sorry, I didn't mean to derail the thread by referring to Justice Thomas as a 'slave' to Scalia, I should have called him Scalia's 'poodle', a more modern context.
When I thought of slavery it was not with our connotation of 'black slave', but rather the historical 'slave', which pre-dates us, and will live on long after we are gone and society thoroughly integrated.
As for 'uncle Tom', IMO the attribution never seemed pejorative since I actually read "Uncle Toms Cabin" as a teenager and Tom seemed rather heroic to me. YMMV. So I've never called anyone an Uncle Tom.
43 - roger nowosielski
Or as "toy puddle," to use John le Carré's apt turn of phrase from Absolute Friends when characterizing Tony Blair's genuflected posture vis-a-vis George W.
But I think, Boeke, your post belongs on Genma's thread.
44 - M
Saudi Arabia next?
45 - roger nowosielski
So you say you don't believe in Zeitgeist?
Have to rethink though earlier reference to what you termed as "Clavos' dilemma."
46 - M
...didn't mention my beliefs -- only my disillusionment
...but the shit is definitely in the breeze in the ME
47 - roger nowosielski
Does your disillusionment revolve around "Clavos's dilemma"? If so, do tell and I'll make certain to look it up.
48 - M
Clavos maintains that people are essentially...stupid -- and google.zeitgeist from 2010 supports his claim
but there is hope for the zeitgeist yet
49 - roger nowosielski
I think Clavos is essentially right. But occasionally people do rise to great heights. How else would we have gotten to the beautiful world we presently occupy?
But yes, the list of trends does provide some basis for hope.
50 - Cindy
lol, #10, researching must make people hungry.
51 - Cindy
Oh, it changed already. It was 'taco bell' for a minute.
52 - Ruvy
I don't like your politics, Cindy, but this is a public service of sorts. Appreciated. Nice black cat, too.
53 - roger nowosielski
Cats are nice, way nicer than people.
54 - Boeke
"But I think, Boeke, your post belongs on Genma's thread."
True. Apparently, my computer crossed it's hands and associated an input box with the wrong thread (it could not have been my mistake since my peerless prose always goes straight as an arrow to the mark).
55 - roger nowosielskiof
peerless prose, I like that.
56 - Glenn Contrarian
Clavos is wrong. People are not 'essentially stupid'. There are many stupid people, but there are many more people who are intelligent.
If I had not spent so much time outside of America, I might have agreed with him - but I've found to my delight that most people are not 'essentially stupid'. But even the most intelligent can be misled, especially when the information that they receive is censored, filtered so that they only hear what someone wants them to hear.
A great example would be how over sixty percent of scientists working for the government during the Dubya administration found that their research concerning climate change was censored or the results changed outright in such a way as to minimize or discredit the very idea of climate change...
...and now, America has one of the highest proportions of population in the developed world that believes climate change is a hoax.
No, people are generally quite intelligent, but they can still be misled.
57 - roger nowosielskiof
You're right in a way, Glenn. Give me a boy at three and I'll turn him into a man when he's seven - you know the saying. Even so with adults when you really engage them, but you must engage them. It's just that all too many aren't being engaged and they tend to congregate among their own kind; and there's nothing to be gained from that other than reinforcing each other's prejudices. And given that's a fairly accurate description of the environment, such people can't see beyond their very noses.
58 - handyguy
Our government's bewildering policy of supporting autocratic Arab regimes is not a new issue, of course. Here’s a bit from a BC article I wrote in Dec. 2006:
If most of the potential terrorists in the world are angry young Muslim men, taught to see the US as the Great Satan and the killer of children and the friend of autocratic Arab regimes, shouldn’t we try to change their minds, demonstrate that they’re wrong?
Why instead do we bomb first and ask questions later, keep hundreds in detention for years without charges, maintain our largely uncritical “friendships” with the oppressive governments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, prefer threats to diplomacy -- in short, why do we go out of our way to prove to these young men that we are exactly as awful as they have been taught we are?
This was about the Bush administration, and I don't think things are identical now, but still...
It's also true that Bush criticized Mubarak publicly, alienating him and shutting down dialogue. Obama has kept the criticism private/behind the scenes, with the result that they may have been listening more. Doesn't matter so much now.
59 - INGY
I WAS REFERRED HERE BY PEREZ HILTON!!! OMG THIS IS SO TRAGIC ABOUT EGIPT BUT WE HAVE ENOUGH ISSUES GOING ON AT HOME IN AMERICA ALREADY!! WE ALREADY HELPED OUT HAITI SO I HOPE WE DON'T END UP SENDING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO ANOTHER FOREIGN COUNTRY!!! I CANT WAIT UNTIL 2012 SO WE CAN CORRECT OUR BIGGEST MISTAKE AND VOTE BARACK HUSSEIN OUT OF OFFICE!!! :(
60 - Cindy
INGY,
The US already sends 1.3 billion/year to support Egypt's totalitarian gov't, along with 250 million for the people's social welfare.
61 - Cindy
52 Ruvy,
Thanks. And that black cat is Clav's own Minnie. No one knows how her picture got there. :-)
62 - Boeke
60-cindy: you've got the numbers right, but very little of that 1.3B$ plus 250M$ sticks to Egyptian fingers. Egyptian foreign aid, as is typical, has Strings Attached. Namely, the money must be spent back in the USA. the 1.3B$ is committed to arms, to support the US military-industrial complex, and the 250M$ goes to agribusiness.
Egyptian leaders realize that they are simply used as bagmen to move US taxpayer money to the US corporatocracy.
63 - roger nowosielski
@58
Good post.