The revolution taking place in Alexandria Egypt abruptly cut away for commercials again - IHOP in this case. It's disgusting of course to see Ihop at this kind of moment and I curse the crass commercial nature that brings this juxtaposition of pancakes and the shredded cheddar covered nachos lying on the plate in front of me. Can't CNN show late night food commercials during late night revolutions? Who does their Revolution ad scheduling?
Oh, that's right, it's AM in Egypt - so maybe CNN is trying to get at the hungry protestor demographic with the image of a full stack with coffee. Revolution is all about hunger of course.
It's confusing to live in this kind of world. A place where people fight and die an 'Exclusive Live' death while we cook dinner or nibble on late night snacks. In this media world, everything is a High Definition 'event', but somehow reality is still not a very clear thing. I can see that Anderson Cooper really knows how to look stern, and Obama is stern too, but a part of me wonders: are they really serious?
How can anyone really have any sort of grim perspective when surrounded by domestic comforts?
In the past 16 hours of revolution, I've eaten a couple meals, sent some email to Obama, followed up by sending my telephoned comments to the same, and still found time to go visit my sister's family for 2 hours. I even contemplated some computer code that needs to be written. All along, I've watched CNN/BBC feeds and Al-Jazeera online. That's serious multitasking - mixing blood (of the revolutionary type) and blood (as in family).
I idly watched destruction and wondered what it would be like to take to the streets of my community. Would I call for the overthrow of Obama, Biden, Clinton and all the others that think Mubarak is not a 'dictator' but rather a 'family friend'? Would our fellow citizens stand by as I chanted a slogan? What would they think (other than 'nutcase')? Can we think about this kind of thing anymore? Are we capable of making the kind of decisions required to overthrow our government?
Would Obama, Biden, or Clinton ever fear that a mob would hold them to task for careless words?
Multi-tasking is not recommended if the tasks involve watching a reviled political figure give a speech upholding a tyrant, while holding an infant. Yes, Obama's stock is plummeting in my book, and our 2 month old daughter caught my mood and gave several hearty cries as I forcefully explained the idiocy of supporting the Shah...I mean Mubarak. My better half had to remind me that it's not appropriate to curse the TV president in the presence of our kids.
See what I mean, can I really give this revolution the seriousness it deserves? Can I dedicate myself, even for a day, to harassing our government in the hope that it will lead to a change in our policy? It seems I will at least have to go in the other room to voice my displeasure to Obama.
Here's America's sputnik moment: When considering the latest CNN production, why do we not recognize the power of our citizenry to oppose deeply unpopular foreign policies? Can you think of any American that would send their taxpayer dollars to a weapons manufacturer so that a bullet would cut down a street protestor on AP video? How about repeating that a 100 times in a day? That's what our taxpayer dollars buy.
If you or any other non-psychopath would not send the money, why would Obama think that he should send the money on our behalf?
If Egypt's citizens think that they can remake their government entirely, why can't we get our president and his cronies to recognize that Mubarak is a thug unworthy of the title 'President'...much less the $1.3 billion that we hand him every year?
Dedicate your day, or at least take some time during a CNN commercial break to call the White House comment line. Just go in the other room so you don't disturb your kids or any other significant types.
White House comment line 202-456-1111