A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
This is really worth reading in full. I bet this is true, though who knows:
The social media tools had given people something that they had lacked previously, an independent means of communication and propaganda. Hundreds of thousands of young Egyptians in a matter of minutes were seeing the demonstration videos being uploaded on youtube. For an apolitical generation that had never shown interest in such events the demonstration was unprecedented. More remarkable they were tremendously exaggerated. At a moment when no more than 500 demonstrators had started gathering in that early morning, an Egyptian opposition leader could confidently tweet that he was leading 100,000 in Tahrir Square. And it stuck.
One sentence struck me particularly: "Imagine for a second Mubarak's advisors trying to explain to the 83 year old dictator what twitter is in the first place." Think about that. Mubarak is probably completely unable to understand what's happening to him. Have you ever tried to explain Twitter to a grandparent? You know how that goes.
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Jun '10
Re: A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
Over in steerage (aka the Member's Feed) I posted about this earlier this morning. Basically, the MSM has it wrong. The Muslim Brotherhood doesn't have a chance at creating an Islamic revolution. Expect a return to the status quo in a day or two.
Jun '10
Re: A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
My guess is that Omar Suleiman, spy master, intelligence chief, is very well-versed on social media given that he may have been the one to order the Internet shut down in Egypt when the protests were gaining ground. And as long as he knows, Mubarak doesn't have to be so well-educated on it.
Jun '10
Re: A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
This from a friend of mine, who I've encouraged to join Ricochet. He is a city councilman where I live but spent a good deal of time in Egypt:
"Voter intimidation by the extremists in an Egyptian election is common and easy. A member of the Brotherhood is easy to spot. They oftentimes have a beard, and generally have a bruise on their foreheads from hitting their head on the floor during prayer. Sometimes they even heat up a metal spoon in the fire and place it on their foreheads to accentuate the bruise. Sounds crazy to us in the West, but you see it on one out of every five men walking down the street in Cairo. The members of the Muslim Brotherhood can easily identify each other this way, which makes it easy to intimidate others at the polls when voting occurs. A Coptic priest shared with me how this practice has directly affected him: his church once organized buses to bring Christians to vote in a local election, only to have Brotherhood thugs armed with knives stop the Christians and turn them away."
Sep '10
Re: A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
"Mubarak is probably completely unable to understand what's happening to him. Have you ever tried to explain Twitter to a grandparent? You know how that goes."
Sorry to hear this about your grandparents.
Sep '10
Re: A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
I knew it you’re a grandaphobe.
May '10
Re: A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
I've never been able to explain Twitter to me.
May '10
Re: A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
Maybe the internet and social media outlets are modern day equivalents of the Gutenburg printing press. A Muslim Martin Luther should be along any day now.
Jun '10
Re: A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
As long as it's the younger version of Martin Luther and not the more rabidly anti-Semitic older version of him.
Nov '10
Re: A Fascinating Alternative Account From Egypt
I have a twitter account and I’m told I have “followers," but I can’t say I know what it is. I couldn’t explain it to anyone, much less a grandparent. I have a little blog and my posts become “tweets” or something. Apparently there are some people somewhere who get these “tweets.” What in the **** is it, anyway?
Facebook is just as much a mystery. I have that also, and I even have “Friends.” I don’t think they’re the sort one gives birthday or Christmas presents, thankfully.