Stop thinking the "Arab Spring," accomplished anything

If there's one thing I'm getting extremely tired of hearing among the Left online, it is the mindlessly ovine expression and repetition, of the belief that the "Arab Spring," accomplished anything meaningful for the Middle East at all.

It didn't accomplish crap. The Egyptian army waited for probably two weeks after the abdication of Mubarak, when they felt confident that the rest of the world had gone back to sleep and would no longer be watching, and beat up the protesters and forcibly took them off the streets. The revolution also accomplished zero as far as regime change is concerned, as well; the commander of the military, who went on to become the ruler of the country, was the man who Mubarak had chosen as his successor in the first place.

I'm also getting sick of the persistent myth that non-violent protest in general accomplishes a damn thing. It doesn't; because the people who are the target of said protests, are psychopaths who are neurologically incapable of feeling shame or remorse for their actions, or pity for the condition of the protesters.

Going hand in hand with this, is the equally tenacious naivete and ignorance where Gandhi was concerned. To the extent that he was successful at all, it was purely because the British themselves had a conscience, and were willing to concede that he had a point. That is how non-violent resistance works; it relies on the idea that your opponent is not a psychopath. If Gandhi and his followers had lain down in front of the Nazis, they would have been run over by their tanks.

The main reason why I really am angry about the insistence of some people in clinging to these myths, is because it means that for as long as they hold onto them, then not only are protest movements going to keep doing things that don't work, but it also means that we are prevented from finding strategies that do. Why do Occupy insist on believing that a psychopathic cop who has just driven a protester's head into a window, is going to care in the slightest when the other protesters do nothing other than yell, "Shame!" ?

Tell that to my Parents, they marched on Washington for civil rights.

My father was Fire housed by police as well.

They must all of been delusional than if nothing got accomplished by civil disobedience

My father got involved in the Rights Movement after he watched a group of White Cops beat his black friend to death, Got blamed on him "resisting" talk about Psychotic right?


HOW quickly do we forget the lessons of the past, Oh right maybe thats why they are killing the schools, so we get people saying "don't be silly, nothing you do matters"

Originally posted by benrl

My father got involved in the Rights Movement after he watched a group of White Cops beat his black friend to death, Got blamed on him "resisting" talk about Psychotic right?

I don't understand why cops beating people up, is equated with the idea of said people having accomplished anything. The cops beat them up because that's what cops do. Look at Rodney King.

And before you go trying to tell me that King bought anything with the scars he got from that beating, think again. How much police brutality is still going on right now? How much of it do we see on a daily basis, on this forum?

The cops don't care about how much you bleed. They only care about how much they do.

reply to post by petrus4

I don't understand why cops beating people up, is equated with the idea of said people having accomplished anything. The cops beat them up because that's what cops do. Look at Rodney King.

If you don't understand why someone would risk their life in an effort to protest something they can not tolerate...

Well, I guess there's no point to this discussion, they already won.


What would it take for you to stand up to a cop and take a beating? or worse? The friend my dad saw beat to death had questioned why they where arresting his friend who had done nothing.

He saw that, and said NO this will not stand, And he got active in the Civil rights movement.

What would happen if our Fore Fathers saw the taxation and said "oh wait, their willing to shoot us, F-that" ?

Originally posted by benrl
reply to post by petrus4

 

What would it take for you to stand up to a cop and take a beating? or worse?

If I thought it was going to come down to that, I'd be looking for ways to make sure that it was the cop who got the beating, and not me.

That's my real point. Like I said; they don't give a damn about your blood ending up all over the footpath, but they're very concerned about making sure that their own doesn't end up there.

reply to post by petrus4

That's my real point. Like I said; they don't give a damn about your blood ending up all over the footpath, but they're very concerned about making sure that their own doesn't end up there.

History has shown that one of the most powerful things is a Martyr.

Thats why I was so surprised by the violence OWS faced, if the wrong person got killed their it would of been a lightning rod for the entire movement. It seemed a stupid move by TPTB to meet it with violence.

It is the one thing that has moved nations into response, and by nations I mean the people and not the GOV.


Violence is the tool of the oppressors.

We need to be better than that.