I have an idea, it may be a crazy one, but most great ones are. The problem with our government is the 'us and them' effect. Those who object to it, object to it fully and unconditionally. Those who are for it are hypocrites and never criticize it. The fact of the matter is that the government shuts up anyone who criticizes it because it can, and I suppose it does. It shuts up the rest who want to kiss ass by giving them money to do it, but it isn't real. The real victims are the honest people working in the government. Granted they are a handful, but I think they deserve our support.
Let's face it, the government with its brutal police has a grip of steel that cannot be shaken. The government is there to stay and we have to do something about it. I was once told by a friend that the power of the press comes from the effect that everyone's looking at you and possibly giving you that look of condemnation such that life becomes miserable. Like if you're going to a party, everyone brings you shame by bringing up the same piece of information and you have to deal with and so on. In order to get praise instead of condemnation, you try fixing things and then maybe, just maybe you get people off your back at least.
The power of protests and press is the power of headache, at which point the victim tries to find medicine to ease its pain. If you're in the right, you can probably have enough power to shake it off, but when you know you're wrong, you're in a Raskolnikov situation.
I say we use that power, but here's the crazy bit. In order to make our protests more heard, let's give positive feedback to what good that has been done. I know it's like looking for a needle in a haystack, but there are probably certain things that really stand out. For starters, there is an army facility that provides first class service, I mean, it's the real deal, you take a number, sit in an air conditioned room with a cafeteria, wait for your turn, find out where within the processes your papers are and even the estimated time before you're served. Now that deserves support and approval. I suppose there are many other things done by good people that deserve this sort of recognition.
I will call the new gathering an 'Approval', this way we can really be able to comment on what happens around us. Sometimes we need to agree and protest in order to keep the balance. I don't want to suck up to the government or anything of that sort, I'd like to be objective. For example, I'd like to approve of having no foreign expert monitor our borders, and I want to protest as well about our government selling its soul to America. It's only logical to support anything against selling our soul.
Anyway, it's a crazy idea, but I thought I'd let it out and be laughed at. I for one would have ripped it apart if I read it somewhere and I'd call its initiator a hypocritical or sentimental fool. I'm sure that the government will smile when it is praised like it always does, and arrest the protestors when they protest as it always does. But I can't help but think, what would people do when they see an approval that has not been paid for, something from within protestors who just want to be objective? Will it make a difference for people to get uncontrived affection that hasn't been bought?
If we approve certain things, will our protests be heard a little better? I haven't studied political science to find out if this was tried or would work but I think that if it were possible, it would have been done. I suppose that such ideas belong inside the head.
But the real reason I thought about this is that within the last few weeks, I've been told that Egypt was better than other places. Yes it was better than the gulf where no one is allowed to speak up and there was less hope of democracy. It was better with its free internet that was being fought through media and police rather than by complete restriction (probably because they can’t afford the proxies and the hassle). It was better than dictatorships where half the citizens police the rest. It's better than many other places for a lot of other reasons, but the real shame, the real shame is that it could have been much better.
I still don't know what it would take to turn things around. We're balanced at the edge of great things but also at the edge of doom. I would rather the whole system changed, the whole corrupt rule. But the web is too sticky too well weaved to take down. I'm just thinking, but just like my good ideas, bad ones like these won't make a difference.
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