Friday, February 11, 2011

Democracy Haters













Millions mobilized over three weeks' time, check. Standing ground without provoking those with guns, check. Effective use of flag to avoid charges of foreign interference, check. Decentralized collective actions in Suez and Alexandria, check. No violence (except for Mubarak's thugs), check. Appointment of a military council to appease the clucking of imperial overlords, check. Wow, something for everybody! Even Charles Krauthammer had to sputter a new position during a Friday afternoon panel on Fox News. This is one victory that everyone, left to right, can celebrate.

Not so fast. Rush Limbaugh called the Cairo crowds a "rent-a-mob of leftists", while Glenn Beck is sure that Obama was engaged with a secret socialist cabal that managed to bring down Mubarak even after the buzzard's Feb. 10 midnight hysterics. Something tells me this might be too much even for Roger Ailes. After all, Fox wants to preserve the illusion that its faux-populists are grassroots libertarians. The mask is slipping. Critics have known all along that Limbaugh, Malkin, Beck, Hannity, et al., take their cues, not from the populist right, but from the proto-fascist movements like SA Brownshirts and Patria y Libertad. These little observations from the Egypt days of struggle show where our friends really come down on the line - not with conservative or liberal protesters, but with forces of oppression.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with Dr. Amir Fassad's warning of the task still ahead in the Maghreb:

1 comment:

Ruth said...

Loopy or Poopy? :D

Great connections here, Loring!