As we have witnessed the popular protests in Tunisia, Egypt, & Elsewhere, many have expressed jubilance for the will of the people overcoming the rulers of people. In fact, these protests and their results have sparked protests wide and varied against monarchs, Presidents, and dictators elsewhere. Not only is it too early to know the results in Egypt, but its too early to cheer on these other protests, and not all protests are to be cheered as "the will of the people."
Italy is already having issues. They've had to ask the European Union for help to handle the flood of refugees from Tunisia. Why isn't the MSM covering this? They can claim that there's bigger things afoot, but they equally don't want to admit things are worse now than before they cheered the protests that sparke all others. They prefer covering the anti-Berlusconi protests than the aftermath of the Tunisian protests.
It's no different than the party that caters to homosexuals getting their panties in a bunch when a member of the other party gets caught playing footsie in an airport, with another man. I looked into the Sen Craig allegations and learned what not to do in a public bathroom, but there was no exchange or talk of exchange of money. For that matter, there wasn't even talk of sex. The whole thing was hypocrisy on the part of defenders of homosexuals in attacking what may well have been a man with homosexual tendencies.
But does a protest really have a right to overthrow elections? From 2008 to 2010, the Tea Party rallied hard against policies of Obama, and I'm sure they would like to see him out of office, but would that have been reason to force him out? No, he was duly elected, and even 10 Million people at the Lincoln Memorial could not justify forcing him out.
And yet, that is exactly what happened in Egypt. Numbers far less than those that voted in the 2010 Egyptian Elections protested. As a result, the Military took the reins of power in Egypt. They immediately threw out the Egyptian Constitution and the Parliament that Egypt had just elected. No one yet knows what will happen to Egypt as a result. Things could get worse, and there's a chance things could get better.
One very scary element is that a large part of the MSM refused to admit the reality of the Muslim Brotherhood. Another scary element is that the Obama Administration encouraged a Military Coup to overthrow democracy. That's not to say that the protesters didn't have real concerns or intend to give the Nation to Islamists, but that democracy lost in the initial rounds there. The vote of Egyptians was overturned by substantially fewer violently outraged in a square, who probably didn't want that.
In the places where the people have the greatest reasons and greatest risks in protests, the MSM is absent and largely silent. Libya could get much worse. Qaddaffi is a tyrant with aspirations of Empire, long lost, but Islamism is on the rise there. He's toyed with it for too long, using it as a tool as has Pakistan. Even his last ditch measures of appeasing the masses catered to Islamists, releasing their leaders from jail. It has turned into a revolution in Libya. There have been resignations and desertions as the Libyan people take whole cities, by force. In the end, Qaddaffi isn't an Islamist. He's simply a despot.
But Iran's protests get no press, or little, and that is a true people's peaceful movement against a true tyrant. They have already sacrificed their lives, as they did in 2009, when CNN turned off its cameras on orders of the dictator.
And what of China's peaceful protests? Oh, they were put down by pre-emptive strike, without a peep from those same internet companies that lauded their role in Egypt. China arrested the internet leaders while implementing greater internet censorship. Little to no mention that in the MSM.
And Wisconsin has been heralded as Egyptian inspired Americanism. There is little said about the fact that it is illegal for Teachers to go on strike, or that they have doctors giving them doctor's excuses to not teach the kids they're paid to teach.
Are the Wisconsin Teachers akin to the Egyptian street vendors? No, not really. Wisconsin Teachers make on average $100k/year in pay and benefits. That's more than twice the per capita GDP of an American citizen. In other words it takes more than 2 American workers to create the wealth that a Wisconsin teacher "earns." That contrasts with $6,200/year in Egypt.
Don't get me wrong, I like teachers, but I can't feel sorry for those making more than twice what an Average American produces in value. Teaching is a noble profession, but those in Madison are not teaching. They are looking out for themselves and their own financial status. They are not like the Egyptians who were protesting a dire economic situation. While Wisconsin teachers protest in Madison, they are hanging kids out to dry. And that $100k/year they make, that's for 9 months of work. It's a far cry from what an Egyptian or Tunisian fruit vendor makes while dealing with corruption.
No, not all protests are equal. I believe in the right to "petition the government for redress," but I don't believe protests should overturn elections, nor that they should allow for the neglect of children. I don't think Obama should have resigned because up to 1/2 Million gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I do believe Qaddaffi and the Ayatollah Khameni should step aside. I do believe the Persian People should get a new Constitution. But I fear that the Egyptian people have been duped into trading one ruler for a despotic ruler. And I have no respect for teachers faking illness to protest their sickness of a Governor they didn't vote for, while neglecting their duties, the kids they are paid to teach.
And this comes from someone that thinks Teachers should be paid well. Here's your sign!