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Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

english.aljazeera.net

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Re: Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

#61

Post by hasenj »

MichaelSalib wrote: post #58
hasenj wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But what do I know, I'm only an Egyptian. You're only one Egyptian. Borders won't disappear, at least not over night, but Arabs have a sense of unity and brotherhood in their subconscious. > WTF? Have you ever spoken with an actual Arab? I am one ;) and I speak with them all the time. I believe csomar is also one (judging by his name).

Borders won't disappear, at least not over night, but Arabs have a sense of unity and brotherhood in their subconscious. You know this is pseudo-science garbage, right? There is no reason to believe that Arabs have a particular "sense of unity and brotherhood". There is no evidence. I know that people like to make up stories about how awesome their national/religious/ethnic group is, but at HN I'd hope we could dispe…

> You know this is pseudo-science garbage, right?

You're not making any sense.

> There is no reason to believe that Arabs have a particular "sense of unity and brotherhood".

There's plenty, actually. Just walk around any street in any major Arab city/capital and ask the people:

* Do you view Egyptians as your brothers

* Do you view Palestinian as your brothers

* Do you support the Palestinian cause

* Do you support the Egyptian revolution

> I know that people like to make up stories about how awesome their national/religious/ethnic group is, but at HN I'd hope we could dispense with that BS.

I didn't make any such claim.

EDIT:

Right this second, Al-Jazeera (Arabic) is reporting celebrations throughout the Arab world.

Re: Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

#62

Post by zeteo »

CWuestefeld wrote: post #18
alain94040 wrote: post #4

Flagged per the guidelines: if it's on TV, it doesn't belong here :-)

The OP is Al Jazeera. That means it's not on American TV, at least.

>>The OP is Al Jazeera. That means it's not on American TV, at least.

Really? Because it's on Al Jazeera it means it's not on top of CNN, MSNBC and Fox News right now? A prime example of how logic flies out (even in the smallest details) when discussing politics.

Re: Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

#63

Post by hasenj »

goatforce5 wrote: post #6

Watching Al Jazeera's live stream and they had one of their journalists on the phone from the square. She expressed excitement and delight that Mubarak was gone. The host guy back in the studio pointed out the journalist on the phone had been impartial up until now, and basically apologised for her expressing her opinion. I thought that was pretty classy.

> The host guy back in the studio pointed out the journalist on the phone had been impartial up until now, and basically apologised for her expressing her opinion.

Really? I haven't been following the English Aljazeera, but the Arabic Al-Jazeera was not impartial at all throughout the revolution (which I don't mind).

Re: Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

#64

Post by michaelchisari »

koenigdavidmj wrote: post #32
alain94040 wrote: post #4

Flagged per the guidelines: if it's on TV, it doesn't belong here :-)

Enough users upvoted it to get it in spot #1 on the front page. The userbase thus finds it relevant to them.

Not to mention that I come here specifically to hear HN's views on the situation.

Re: Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

#65

Post by yalforreca »

Portugal had a revolution in 1974 that ended an dictatorship of more than 40 years. The Army was fed up with the colonial wars and persuaded by the left-wing illegal parties, took control of the country. Democracy exists in Portugal, but corruption and widespread cleptocracy by a small number of elite families still rule. I hope Egypt avoids that.

Re: Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

#66

Post by jeromec »

zeteo wrote: post #53
krschultz wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think answering the "What system have you hacked?" question on the next Y Combinator application with "Taking down my country's dictatorship" would be a pretty kick ass answer. I think we can live with 1 spot on the front page for a few hours of one day being used up by the story of a 30 year old dictatorship being overthrown by its people. Especially considering there were about 8 stories this morning about the No…

Political activity != hacking. Nokia and Microsoft are tech companies.

I would point out technology and the Internet played an important if not vital role in the events of Egypt and Tunisia.

Re: Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

#68

Post by philsalesses »

This is a side question and I'd like to get any/all opinions since I have yet to find a suitable answer to this.

How do I, as an American citizen, minimize cognitive dissonance when the following disparate events occur?

America's stance: democracy and 'freedom' are fundamental rights of all people.

-and-

America's actions: refusing to recognize a democratically elected body because the resulting will of the people is openly hostile towards America and Israel (Hamas winning seats in Palestinian elections).

Re: Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

#69

Post by mynameishere »

MichaelSalib wrote: post #55
mynameishere wrote: post #47

Ok. We'll see what happens. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MB02Ak01.html In the most fundamental matters, President and Mrs Mubarak are incomparably more enlightened than the Egyptian public.

So, does kidnapping innocent people off the streets, imprisoning them in dungeons and torturing them by wiring car batteries to their genitals count as "fundamental"? Or is that just one of those insignificant matters? What about stealing billions of dollars from your people? Is that a sign of enlightenment?

"We'll see what happens."

The discussions I've seen about Egypt seem to assume that it can be governed like the countries we're familiar with. Most of the things that seem evil are in fact cock-ups or unfortunate necessities. We learned about this after ousting Saddam Hussein, and were forced into all sorts of brutalities that indeed would not work well in the US or Britain.

Re: Hosni Mubarak finally steps down

#70

Post by MichaelSalib »

hasenj wrote: post #61
MichaelSalib wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Borders won't disappear, at least not over night, but Arabs have a sense of unity and brotherhood in their subconscious. You know this is pseudo-science garbage, right? There is no reason to believe that Arabs have a particular "sense of unity and brotherhood". There is no evidence. I know that people like to make up stories about how awesome their national/religious/ethnic group is, but at HN I'd hope we could dispe…

> You know this is pseudo-science garbage, right? You're not making any sense. > There is no reason to believe that Arabs have a particular "sense of unity and brotherhood". There's plenty, actually. Just walk around any street in any major Arab city/capital and ask the people: * Do you view Egyptians as your brothers * Do you view Palestinian as your brothers * Do you support the Palestinian cause * Do you support t…

You're not making any sense.

Let me break it down for you: you made a claim about the sub-conscience of a group of hundreds of millions of people. You've supplied zero evidence. You've cited no scientific studies, nothing.

There's plenty, actually. Just walk around any street in any major Arab city/capital and ask the people

Let's assume everyone says yes...so what? What does that tell us about a sub-conscious sense of unity and brotherhood? If you went to many European countries, there'd be huge public support for the Egyptian revolution or the Palestinian cause, but surely that wouldn't be due to a sub-conscious sense of unity and brotherhood, right?

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