"We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly." -Jean de la Bruyere
With recent events unfolding in the Middle East, the status quo of military dictators across the region has been challenged and sometimes even overthrown. Around a half a century after all of these various leaders came to power, similar revolutions across the region have finally overturned them. These revolutions have spread like wildfire, but for so many years change seemed impossible.
The first thing that came to my mind when the Egyptian revolution was starting was something my Arabic language professor said to me, "Egyptians are walking dead, the only thing anyone cares about any more is soccer". While my professor was speaking about the silent majority of Egyptians his point was still taken, Egyptians had given up, this was their fate and they couldn't change it so why let it bother you. You can understand my surprise thinking about this comment while watching images of Tahrir square (main downtown square in Cairo) filled with protesters. Many protests have happened in Egypt over the years but all of them seemed to whimper out under the boot of the security apparatus, but this time the protesters were not dismayed and they fought back, they didn't leave. While in the US the military is kept in check by a balance of powers and institutions to prevent the military from dominating civilian structures. In Egypt , the military had been synonymous with the government for many years used brute force to keep their citizenry in check and maintain power. With this situation, you can understand why Egyptians could feel like they had no say or way to improve their situation, so they focused on something easier to swallow, soccer.
The situation finally changed after gaining inspiration from Tunisia. On December 17, 2010 Mohammad Bouazizi, a Tunisian fruit vendor, set himself on fire to protest treatment by a government official. This set off the string of Arab Spring revolutions, toppling multiple governments and whose final impact on the region have not yet been determined. His act inspired people to act, and finally challenge the systems that had tortured them so long. Through non-violent protests, these people were able to bring attention to their plight and overcome the inertia of the silent majority transforming them into active protesters.
Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist well known for the Stanford Prison Experiment, gave an interesting Ted talk where he discussed the forces that make people evil and the role of the passive majority in the perpetration of evil. His takeaway from this talk was that we all have opportunities to be heros on either a large or small scale but it takes the courage to go against the norm. The Egyptian revolution would never have happened if the first few people did not start filling Tahrir Square. We will all have our moments to be heros if life, make sure you're ready when it happens.
