The state-run TV now has a program on Channel 1 called “Security For All”, whose main task is polishing up the police’s image and continue whipping up the “security vacuum” paranoia among the Egyptian people with a message: “You are all be raped, attacked or killed if those police are not back on the streets again.”
The program is full of propaganda about “police martyrs” and tales of heroism about the pigs’ efforts to fight “criminal thugs.”
The power and water cuts are turning into a serious national crisis.
It’s ironic. “Improving Egypt’s ailing infrastructure” has always been a cornerstone in Mubarak’s propaganda, which has blabbed about “Mubarak’s wisdom” and how he “saved us from wars” to “focus on building the country, enhancing public services,” bla bla bla…
As his reign about to end, we are literally witnessing the collapse of Egypt’s infrastructure, and together with it, Mubarak’s legacy.
Once again and again and again and again, the US media is complicit, aiding the government’s war efforts by toning down the coverage of the increasing numbers of coffins returning from Afghanistan. What a role model for a “free and independent press”…?!
Some are circulating calls not to include usernames of Tweeters in Iran when we are ReTweeting their news. I disagree. Not only is this suicidal for the credibility of anything we are writing, allowing more room for misinformation and propaganda, but also I fail to see how this protects the Iranian bloggers’ security. If the Tweets are out in the cyberspace already, and if they can be found on the #iranelection stream, then what’s the point of hiding the username of the original tweeter?!! How are we protecting his/her security?!
Say a Tweeter saw Mohamed Ahmed, who’s a student activist he knows throwing a molotov cocktail at the police. The Tweeter wants to tweet this news: “A student is throwing molotov cocktail #iranelection.” Now that I can understand. You are protecting the demonstrators identity. But if the tweet is out there, then what’s the point of not mentioning the original username “RT @Tweeter: A student is throwing molotov cocktail #iranelection”?
There has been debate about this in the blogosphere recently, and I want to stress again that I’m for everyone working hard to source their tweets, whether by mentioning the username of the original tweeter or include links.
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