Last week Egyptians interviewed on the streets and in coffee houses by the BBC stated they couldn't be bothered to riot.
This was in response to the recent riots and eventual presidential "stepping down" in Tunisia. Answers from men from young to old ranged from "I can't be bothered." to "Why would I riot when I can afford to maintain my standard of living and my children are in college."
Clearly the BBC was conducting its interviews in the wrong sorts of places as we now see Cairo is in flames and the economic dirty laundry of Egypt is being flown for all to see.
What I don't get in all of this is where we, the United States get off having anything to say about it. U.S. secretary of state Hilary Clinton said "We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interest of the Egyptian people."
WTF Hilary? Really? As an American why are you not speaking up on behalf of us? And when the American people finally do riot are you going to be helpful to them or are you going to be sitting in your swanky office sipping tea and yelling "let them eat cake!" ?
But beyond that, we have no, absolutely no business sticking our nose in Egyptian politics, riots or not. The riots are happening because they NEED to happen.
Honestly riots happen because people aren't heard. It would help to stop future riots if we listened and listened in the right places to the people who are most affected by societal inequalities.
"A riot at bottom is the language of the unheard." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Do you hear me? I mean it.
