As most people who don't live under a rock now know, on Friday, Egypt's president finally stepped down after a 30-year rule. The people of Egypt protested in the streets for weeks, wondering if and when President Mubarak would ever relinquish his power. Finally, on February 12th, he made the announcement that he would be giving up his presidential seat.
I was excited--in a world full of bad news, finally some victory for people who deserved it. But now, in the wake of this freedom, some other more disturbing stories are starting to surface. Like the report of CBS correspondent Lara Logan being brutally raped and beaten by a mob of men just after Mubarak made his announcement that he was stepping down.
Now sexual and physical assault is bad enough on its own. Rape is one of the most horrendous offenses anyone could commit against a woman. But in a situation like this, where a huge crowd of people has just earned themselves the victory of a lifetime, why would you choose to defile someone in that way? What possesses a person, who has just been freed from a lifetime of oppression by their own government, to then rob someone else of their sexual and physical freedom? Not to mention, a person who is there for the sole purpose of broadcasting said mob's jubilation and celebration of this long-awaited victory?
It's disgusting. When I first heard the story of Egypt's freedom, I was jealous of the energy that the people in those streets must have been feeling. To finally be free after decades of oppression and unfair rule? To be able to celebrate that moment with thousands upon thousands of people who are feeling the same glorious victory that you feel? But now I wonder what kind of energy must have been flowing through that crowd that would motivate a group of protestors who had just achieved a seemingly impossible goal to violate an innocent woman. What kind of celebration is that? What kind of message does that send?
Men are free, women will never be?
Our government is no longer figuratively raping us, let's literally rape someone else?
Let's metaphorically steal something from someone because we've had so much stolen from us?
We hate the United States?
Don't broadcast our freedom?
It makes you wonder what kind of world we live in. Will there never be any good news?
http://www.lfpress.com/news/world/2011/02/15/17287441.html#/news/world/2011/02/15/pf-17287436.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12476771
Egypt...PASS...Kern
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