Thank God For The Egyptian Uprising

[Me.]

Aside from the obvious joy, it has overshadowed Raygun's birthday and Cpac. Joy all around. The Egyptians got what they wanted (we hope) and we didn't have to deal with the usual blah, blah, blah.

[Skittles]

1. um.........God had NOTHING to do with it

[Skip Intro]

3. U know this how?

[tekisui]

13. There is no evidence of a god.

[Skip Intro]

16. Isn't there?

[Blue-Jay]

18. No. There isn't.

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data", so don't even try to present any "proof".

/I'm doing douchey "air" "quotes". :D

[tekisui]

23. No. Not generally, and not in Egypt's Revolution, specifically.

[onager]

4. This atheist grump agrees with you.

:thumbsup:

This victory (however it turns out) belongs to the Egyptian people, not any invisible, non-existent deities.

I know "thank god" is usually just unthinking shorthand. But it assumes that everyone to whom you are speaking believes in a god.

Egyptians do the same thing with a different god (I lived there for nearly 4 years, 2005-09, in Alexandria). One of the most common everyday expressions is "hamd'allah," or "thank what's-his-name." I heard it so much that even I, a devout atheist, occasionally used it just for fun.

[Me.]

9. Nice Post

Thank you, even if we agree to disagree. And just for the record, most religions have grabbed from the Egyptians, like the Catholics with the holy trinity.

[uppityperson]

8. Good grief, people are so nitpicking rather than looking at the point tonight.

[Me.]

10. Nevertheless We Will Still Give Thanks

:hi:

[tekisui]

14. What's your point?

:P

[Dappleganger]

17. Oh please.

[Skittles]

24. please, yourself

I get tired of real hard work and determination being attributed to a mythical man in the sky

[Dappleganger]

26. "thank God" is a popular expression...

you really need to get over yourself.

[Skittles]

28. referring to having balls (meaning having courage) is popular too

DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT - now please get OVER yourself

[MrMickeysMom]

2. I think the fall out is even more beneficial, Me

In time, the crescendo of fascism and loss of liberty (shades of Chamber of Commerce, Bradley Manning) will come blowing its face up here. It's like a slow wave that's coming in.

They have, in 18 days shown us what democracy looks like. We'll continue to learn so that by the time it's more obvious to everyone here that we have little voice left and corporations writing our laws, well.... maybe we'll a little more momentum.

Let's get our act in order. Thank you, Egypt.

[Me.]

6. Yes Indeed, Thank You Egypt

Amazing courage and determination.

[Oak2004]

22. Did you catch the Al Jazeera coverage of a few hours ago?

One of the things they covered, that the protesters -- scratch that -- revolutionaries (they've earned this far more powerful title) were jubilant about was that the revolution marked the abrupt end to Egyptians' reputation as the least political, most apathetic nation in the middle east.

The CIA has been, in this case, right: it is absolutely impossible to predict exactly when a revolution will occur. They happen suddenly. It's possible to identify discontent, but it is not possible to identify in advance the day an unhappy but passive populace will explode. Someday some clever mathematician or political scientist will formally show that revolution is chaotic, validating what virtually any historian knows of the matter.

We too have an unhappy but passive population (for the purposes of revolution it doesn't matter if we are not as poor as Egypt-- perceived unfairness and inequality is what winds up a population, not some absolute depth of poverty or oppression). America could explode tomorrow. We could be the next domino to fall in this wave of revolution, shocking everyone even as the organizers of the protest that led to the Egyptian Revolution were shocked that it became a revolution (they were as convinced as firmly as many of the people on this board are that their people were "sheeple" and the revolution, if it ever came, would be many years in the future).

My point? While it's almost certainly impossible to orchestrate a democratic revolution, it certainly is possible to till the soil for one, as the Egyptian youth movement did. And giving up because it doesn't look like it could possibly happen anytime soon is, well, a dumb thing to do, according to the lessons of history.

[PoliticAverse]

5. Which god?

The Egyptians have so many...

http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/egypt/index.htm

[Me.]

11. I'm Rather Taken By Horus

[PoliticAverse]

12. I had a thing for Isis as a kid...

[Me.]

15. Isis Is Cool Too

Girl power

[Matariki]

21. Maat - Lady Justice and Truth!

[Me.]

25. Maat Is A Feather Weight

Sorry but I couldn't resist

[ZombieHorde]

7. I would rather thank the Egyptian people, but I agree this is a time for cautious optimism. nt

[Blue-Jay]

19. Ra? Osiris? Horus?

[Motown_Johnny]

27. I assumed he meant Ra, but can't be sure

[Matariki]

20. What a BRILLIANT point!

We REALLY owe the Egyptians a big big Thank You! :toast: