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I recently asked, what would you disagree with your former self on? When I go through my old writings there's a clear shift in how I think about ideological change. I used to think making the argument was the most important thing. Now I don't.
I mean, 2015/2016 Iyad thought that if you make the right arguments, people will change their minds. He was involved in such projects as @IslamandLiberty, wanting to do just that. He wanted his ideas to compete for the mainstream. He was looking for ideological change.
Meanwhile 2021 Iyad disagrees on several levels (let me see if I can express this clearly). I mean, I understand that my 5-years-younger self saw an ideological problem and wanted it solved. That, I agree with. But I no longer think that making arguments solves that problem.
Michel Aoun has broken through the #ArabTyrantManual because even satire can't compete with this level of actual stupidity
Lebanese protesters are saying, really painfully: "Why do we have to emigrate out of our country in order to find dignity?" And this moron is saying: If you don't like it, leave. What an asshole, speaking as if his clique owns the country and nobody else has the right to complain
You should feel lucky when in the course of your activism you're faced with an adversary who is so thick and so stupid that they actually confirm your narratives rather than trying to challenge them. He's proving that the protesters are right to protest.
Full on #ArabTyrantManual
Also an indication they may be on the verge of treating this as a war on terror. Which means a blood bath.
The Uighur re-education camps may be coming to Hong Kong. Nobody stopped them in Xinjiang.
So here's Bouteflika's plan (!):
- Run for a fifth term
- Win (of course)
- A year later, declare early elections
- Not run in those...
- Run for a fifth term
- Win (of course)
- A year later, declare early elections
- Not run in those...
Way ahead of you (2012)
For the record, when Bouteflika won the 1999 elections, the Algerian constitution had limited the president to two terms. So guess what he did? That's right, he abolished term limits.
You do realize @Zeinobia that Egypt's authorities are pursuing a deliberate strategy of keeping Egyptian society distracted through salacious scandals while they push through Sisi's "president for life" package, right? Don't fall for it, don't take the bait #ArabTyrantManual
First came the Rania Youssef "scandal" and then this. They probably have a file full of salacious scandals they can pull out of their bag like magic tricks in order to keep you distracted. Don't fall for it.
Smart Egyptians need to double down on what they're trying to distract you from. Sisi is preparing to become Egypt's president for life, where he'd live fortified in a brand new capital. And they're dangling sex stories to distract your society. Don't get distracted.
I kinda understand it when Muslims from highly repressive autocracies aspire to "become like Turkey" - after all, even Erdogan's Turkey is a step up from where their countries are. What I don't understand is Muslims from mature liberal democracies being fans of Erdogan.
What's funny is that their justifications for Erdogan's clearly authoritarian behavior mirror the justifications of those they purportedly oppose - Sisi's fans very frequently say that all the bad things being said about him are the creation of "Western media".
It's all very #ArabTyrantManual - I mean the justifications upon justifications for why our tyrannical behavior isn't bad or you're just being unfair or you don't understand our region or you're just jealous or whatever.
How do I explain to you that Saudi Arabia may soon allow women to drive, while silencing dissent and criminalizing free speech? Yeah.
And this is as far as I can type tonight with a tweaked and painful wrist. Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch.
So this is what they're going with. "Foreign parties". #ArabTyrantManual
