What I can't believe is the irresponsible behavior with taking down the Internet in a civilized country smack-dab in the middle of the World. That reckless behavior only goes to show how out of touch the current regime really is. There's no thinking whatsoever in how catastrophic (economically, politically, morally) such an action really is.
Yet beyond that, I'm just worried. I'm terrified actually. While the regime needs to change, I'm not yet sure about the future. Will Islamists seize power? Will another corrupt official do that? Will Chaos and Anarchy ensue?
The trouble with Tunisia is that we've yet to see the results of the revolution. Things are developing...but we don't yet know if it's successful or not.
Not to mention that certain events are making me very sad. I do realize it's hard to mass-protest in a very sane manner...but something like lighting up the National Democratic Party's HQ on fire, when it's across the street from the National Museum (King Tut + 100,000 other priceless treasures) and there's a huge threat of the fire spreading...just worries me. I remember when Iraq was first attacked; the first things that were looted were priceless treasures from Mesopotamia.
Just to put your academic worries to rest, the army has secured the museum 7 minutes ago.
Fear of Islamists is what kept Mubarak in power for the last 30 years. We have no trouble dealing with blood-thirsty, Quran waving Islamist criminals; U.S. is happily in bed with Saudi Arabia and likes the taste of Islam there. Egypt shouldn't be different.
I wasn't trying to undermine the importance of the revolution. Just explaining some of my worries of actions afterwards and using the National Museum as an example.
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Also, while I get what you're saying, Russia did lose a lot of priceless artifacts from the Winter Palace.
Instead of travelling to St. Petersburg to see Raphael's Alba Madonna, I now have to go to the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The Winter Palace also lost other great works of art from Botticelli, van Eyck, Rembrandt, Titian, among others.
We've had a long history of that happening to us. The Rosetta Stone's in Britain, Nefertiti's in Berlin, and out of 36 Ancient EGYPTIAN obelisks only 9 are actually in the country of Egypt. The city of Rome, by itself, boasts 8. 9 if you count the Vatican.
So, no. I'm actually really worried about our relics.
my point was that while loss of some paintings is unfortunate, the change of history which unfolded was magnitudes more tragic but also forward moving.
you should worry more that this revolution moves Egypt more on the progress path (whichever you find right yourself), than what happens to some relics (many of which you lost to colonial powers anyway).
That's like saying the wives of soldiers in Afghanistan shouldn't worry about their husbands because Terrorism is much worse. We're advanced creatures, I think we can handle worrying about multiple things at once.
What I can't believe is the irresponsible behavior with taking down the Internet in a civilized country smack-dab in the middle of the World. That reckless behavior only goes to show how out of touch the current regime really is. There's no thinking whatsoever in how catastrophic (economically, politically, morally) such an action really is.
Yet beyond that, I'm just worried. I'm terrified actually. While the regime needs to change, I'm not yet sure about the future. Will Islamists seize power? Will another corrupt official do that? Will Chaos and Anarchy ensue?
The trouble with Tunisia is that we've yet to see the results of the revolution. Things are developing...but we don't yet know if it's successful or not.
Not to mention that certain events are making me very sad. I do realize it's hard to mass-protest in a very sane manner...but something like lighting up the National Democratic Party's HQ on fire, when it's across the street from the National Museum (King Tut + 100,000 other priceless treasures) and there's a huge threat of the fire spreading...just worries me. I remember when Iraq was first attacked; the first things that were looted were priceless treasures from Mesopotamia.