A 5 day cruise in 5 minutes.

-Mahatma Gandhi

(repost via Councilman Kalra)

The people of Egypt overthrew a dictator in 18 days. 18 FREAKING DAYS. No war. No obscene masses of blood had been shed (although 300 people or so died. rip.)…yet here we are with a man who had ruled Egypt for 30 years with an iron fist running for his life. So what pushed the people over the edge? Let’s ask HIMYM.

Barney: [excited] And firing half my department freed up the money to double my own salary, and this chick from Boston was wicked hot in bed last night, and I’m getting more muscular, even though I’ve stopped working out, and I’ve got this amazing poker group…
Future Ted: Actually, Barney didn’t need a win.

Barney didn’t. But the people of Egypt sure as hell did. They were tired of being pushed around. 18 days in the streets and the message was crystal clear. Hasni Mubarak:

You are the weakest link, goodbye. Your time’s up. I have to ask you to leave the mansion. You must leave the chateau. Your tour ends here. You’ve been chopped! You’ve been evicted from the Big Brother house. Give me your jacket and leave Hell’s kitchen! You did not get a rose. You have been eliminated from the race. You are no longer in the running to be America’s Next Top Model. You have been voted off the island. You’re fired.

There were a few things that stood out as the egyptian people stuck it to the man who had been sticking it to them for the better part of 3 decades.

1. Facebook

2. Twitter

3. Google Maps

4. Dial Up internet (the government couldn’t turn this off like they did dsl).

5. This is the biggest one. The army was on the people’s side. I find it damn near miraculous that an entity, an actual organization that wields real power, was able to be objective and do the right thing. From the beginning, news outlets and the Egyptian people had been saying their army was different from others (cough, Revolutionary Guard, cough). It was a third party observer.

Even though it had much to gain from charging into the palace and forcibly removing Mubarak, or the exact opposite for that matter- opening fire on the people and smushing the rebellion, they did neither. They sat there in the streets with their American-issued tanks and guns, an ominous presence ready to pounce on whichever side that crossed the line. Because of the army, Mubarak’s police forces laid down their own guns. Because of the army the people didn’t take to the streets with weapons of their own. They were like a friggin referee! Admittedly a referee packing enormous amounts of heat…

Its important to realize how different American/Arab cultures are.

Ted: Chinese?
Barney: I don’t like Chinese.
Ted: Indian?
Barney: I just said I don’t like Chinese.
Ted: Indian isn’t Chinese.
Barney: Weird meat, funny music, side of rice. Why are we splitting hairs?
Ted: Mexican?
Barney: I just said I don’t like Chinese!

I had asked a friend of mine who serves in the military, what he thought American soldiers would do if they were in the same situation as their Egyptian counterparts. 

I know you don’t want to hear this answer man but the way the military is trained…What I’m trying to say is if my commanding officer instructs me to fire, I’m going to fire-regardless of personal sentiment.

I always smiled a little when the Egyptian citizens got on camera and said “we are prepared to die”. Not for any sick and perverse reasons mind you, but rather because its easy to say that when the guys with the guns aren’t using them. At the end of the day, it worked. Mubarak threw up the deuces because the army wouldn’t do his bidding and the people utterly opposed him. He was a leader with no followers. Switzerland froze all his bank accounts. He’s living in a hotel.

Congratulations to the people of Egypt. You cared. You fought. You won. But long after the last protester packs up their shoes and goes home (the sign of utter disrespect, one Mubarak became very familiar with the past few weeks)….

…the work of building a democracy will continue. It isn’t easy. There’s something you need to have.

Always be aware Egypt, its the first step.

show goes on-lupe

Aaron Rodgers on choosing to say “Butte Community College” in his introduction: “Cal’s gonna hate me…”