Why did Libya choose this time to go into Revolt?

[dougyang]

Good afternoon!

Aquainus once said (loosely parahrased) "if God was the same from one moment to the next, how could he choose any particular moment to create the universe?". However, time according to some Political Philosophers (say Jean-Jacqus) does not exist in the undifferentiated isolation of some invisible ether but in the context many differing time scales - the astrophysical, geographical and cultural, for example. Events, in this sense, even significant events, are not the focus of attention, but are akin to foam on a grander (and invisible by virtue of it's scale) wave. Even tiny events can sometimes trigger off a massive cascade of other events which could seem to significantly change the political landscape in which we live. Mohamed Bouazizi, for example, seems to be the unwitting reason for a "wave of revolt" which is sweeping across the middle east - but was his act necessary in the abstract sense? Every event (at least in political discourse) seems to have a cause - a cause which can be traced backwards into more and more meaningless and random coincidences. Perhaps if traced far enough back enough can be isolated to, say, the random electrochemical noise in the brain or the deeper underlying randomness of quantum indeterminacy. But my question is as such:

Do countries have "free will", in the same sense that humans do - or are they forever doomed to wait such "sparks", or events, which may or may not ever come? Can an entity therefore be it's own case?

Thanks!

[annabanana]

1. Something in the air?. . .n/t

[The_Commonist]

2. Because the people are fucking sick of it?

I mean... why else?

[pinboy3niner]

3. I hear it was Osama giving drugs...

...to greasy rats in their Nescafe...




:evilgrin:

[joshcryer]

4. Heheh, nice.

[Wilms]

5. Hang a string on that bag and put Glen Beck's face on it. n/t

[tabatha]

6. If Tunisia had not been successful,

then Egypt would not have happened, and neither would Libya.

I don't know if you noticed that in both Egypt and Libya, the protesters indicated that they had to get over the barrier of fear, and once they had done that, there was no turning back.

Oh, and also, a large percentage of the population are young, more than before.

In South Africa, despite decades of suppression and barrier of fear, the revolt only happened when the youth got involved. They tend to be more hot-heated and driven, than older adults.