So like you, I've been watching Egypt the same way I watch the Pro Bowl. In my underwear, confused.
Because I think I don't have a dog in the hunt, I check out what people are wearing. Eyeing the men crowding the streets of Cairo, I realize what Goodwill did with Billy Crystal's old sweaters.
Look, I can't tell if these events are a good thing. And I'm inherently suspicious of any stateside protests that erupt so quickly with ready-made signs. I also don't embrace revolution for the sake of revolution. I assume Mubarak is far from a great guy, but I'm not sure his replacement will be any better. And I can't help getting spooked by the name, "Muslim Brotherhood." It sounds like a prison gang from Oz.
(I have a feeling they don't like Israel. Or us, either.)
And some of the commentary kills me. We have climate change alarmists linking unrest to global warming, which makes me want to throw up repeatedly, on climate change alarmists.
But they're half right. Rising food prices do make people angry. And food prices are going up - since we're turning corn into ethanol, instead of chowder. That's surely the fault of climate change, or more precisely, climate change alarmists.
But my guess is, this revolution arrived via four things: Mubarak fatigue, a crummy way of life, an ever present radicalism waiting in the wings, a timid west.
But like you I want a quick, peaceful resolution to this. I'm old enough to remember Iran in 1979, and I'm still ticked off by the Iran of two years ago. In the former, Carter watched a Shah get replaced by a psycho. And in 2009, Obama watched a golden moment for real change slip by. If we had done something about that uprising, maybe this one might be different.
Or at least better than the Pro Bowl.
