The final paragraph of Friedman's latest gem of a New York Times op-ed entitled "Egypt’s Perilous Drift" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/opinion/sunday/friedman-egypts-perilous-drift.html?pagewanted=all) reads:
"What is different about Egypt, though, is that it is bursting with talented young people who understand that Egypt needs an inclusive, long-term, sustainable plan for national renewal. And what they also understand is that those who say that the Arabs have tried everything — Nasserism, socialism, Communism, Baathism, liberalism and Islamism — but that nothing has worked, are wrong. There is one ism they haven’t tried: environmentalism. The only way Egypt and the other Awakening states will have sustainable democracies with sustainable economies is to elevate an environmental ethic to the center of political thinking. Without that, it’s all just musical chairs."
Environmentalism is going to provide Egypt with a sustainable democracy and sustainable economy? Should I laugh or cry?
Tom, tell it to the women of Egypt, 90% of whom have had their clitorises removed.
Tell it to Egypt's Christian Copts, who have known nothing but brutal discrimination from the country's Sunni Muslim majority.
Tell it to the generals and colonels, who own somewhere between 25 percent and 40 percent of the Egyptian economy.
Tell it to the 28 percent of Egyptians who are illiterate.
And tell it to the 82 percent of Egyptian Muslims who believe that people who commit adultery should be stoned to death, and to the 84 percent of Egyptian Muslims who believe that those who abandon Islam should be executed (see: http://www.pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/).
Sometimes I just can't believe that Friedman is paid to write this trash.
Well, I am proud to announce (again) that I only read (actually tried to read) only two Friedman's columns. This was enough to decide that an intelligent person should never touch this garbage.
ReplyDeleteHe is paid for the same reason Soviet writers were paid.
I think Egypt "bursting with talented young people" should try Bloombergism.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if I read all of Tom's column, I could find enough tea leaves linking what is quoted here with Bloomberg's new plan for storm-proofing NYC, which requires a new Building Code, although no one is enforcing the current Building Code. details deatils!
Maybe Tom thinks the Turkish protesters are elevating the environmentalism ethic, and got confused between Tahrir and Taksim.
Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners get a free pass to lifetime employment in the USA.
K2K