Was it the size or the duration?

[Stinky The Clown]

We all recall the poorly-reported-upon antiwar protests, worldwide, when Captain Fucknuts wanted to get his war(s) on.

Multiple cities were involved.

No impact.

So what was the thing in Egypt? They had fewer people. They had multiple cities, but fewer - and all in the same country.

Had to be the duration.

But what scared Hosni?

Why was that demonstration, fueled by the internet, more effective?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. That's what she said.

:hide:

[godai]

9. lol! n/t

[Skip Intro]

15. lol...Rummy, not used to low brow from you...

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. lol

[Kennah]

2. Perhaps it just means Egyptians are smarter and more evolved than Americans

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. 13 days ago the military said we will not fire on civlilians

that was the turning point, when the guys with the guns go... you are on your own boy.

After that we had a lot of jockeying and the last 24 hours we had a lot of threads and perhaps even violence that staid intra mural.

[valerief]

5. Bingo. When you have the men with guns on your side (or at least not against you), you've won.

I don't think that could happen in the U.S. The military is like a loyal dog. It won't turn on its master.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. under the right conditions it will fire on

the population, but under the right conditions it will also turn...

[Poboy]

4. We protest for an afternoon then go home.

They lay siege to the square, and stayed as long as it took.

[Luminous Animal]

6. It was both. Prior to the invasaion of Iraq, San Franciscans shut down downtown for 3 days...

We kept waiting for others around the U.S. to join but alas... If they had, it would have emboldened us to continue.

My daughter, who was 13 at the time, insisted on joining her dad and I. I was proud of her but, fuck, I was scared for her, too.

[Webster Green]

13. Yes we did. I was there for 5 days.

I never got arrested but came real close. Got caught in a police corral, but managed to get out.

[Luminous Animal]

17. There are few here that would risk being arrested... giving up your liberty for an ideal.

In fact most mock activist.. unless you are an Egyptian and someone's life and liberty is on the line.

[Ozymanithrax]

8. Their average income is a little over 2000 a year.

Food prices had risen as much as 25%, according to stories. What they had is absolute desperation.

People wanted peace, but weren't desperate for it. They were not going to continue to protest until their individual countries backed down. People who protested peace were still going to eat the next day and the next weak. To continue would have cost them their livelihood.

It was not duration, it was desperation. The Egyptians had no other choice, it was either win or starve..

[Luminous Animal]

10. This is not the entire story. Dissidents have been working for years for a democratic Egypt

and more active during the past 10 years than the 20 previous.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. There has to be a significant and prolonged economic cost.

A peaceful revolution requires a prolonged mass protest that approaches the level of a general strike.

[EFerrari]

12. Egypt is smaller than the US.

It takes fewer people to raise the question of ungovernability.

[Luminous Animal]

14. Kpete has a good post up about the evolution of the revolution...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=400098&mesg_id=400098

[Major Hogwash]

18. Duration -- the eyes of the world were on Egypt for 18 days. Hard to ignore that.

I think that if we would have stood in the streets of Washington D.C. for that long in December of 2000, we would not have wound up with Bush as President.
But, we never had such a prolonged election result as that before, so we didn't know what to do.
That's my assessment, anyway.

A few of my friends told me too many Americans are like sheep lead to the slaughter, that they are sheeple.
I was stunned by their harsh assessment, but later concluded they were right.
We had no idea of "torches and pitchforks" in 2000.

Which by the way, just happens to be the name of Keith Olbermann's book -- buy it now.