"No government can survive without at least the passive support of the people it governs."
Of course I've been following the news on the Internet about the situation in Egypt, and the impending collapse of the thirty year regime of Hosni Mubarak. I don't care much about politics, not because I'm cynical, but because I don't believe in it. See my Upside Down Circles post for my political views if you care. I don't want my blog to be political, and I don't want to be associated with any political party, agenda, perspective or bias. I am 'apolitical' as others are 'amoral'.
But I've seen a tendency on the message boards around the news stories to associate the social and political unrest in Egypt with Muslim extremists called the Islamic Brotherhood, and attempts to link Egypt's troubles to those of Tunisia, Yemen and even Somalia. And although I am loathe to post a political blog entry, I would like to object.
In any religion, Muslim, Christian, pagan - whatever, poverty, corruption, abuse of power and disregard for the needs of the people are not good things. If the people of Egypt were happy and felt like there was hope for their future and their kids, had plenty to eat and were living good lives, and thought they had some input into their destinies, there would be no traction for the Islamic Brotherhood or anyone else to incite the people to the point of overthrowing the government.
Don't blame religion for government's failure! Unhappy people may be inspired by situations in other countries, and may be encouraged by what they see as a successful revolution in Tunisia. But people who are overall happy with life do not riot, rebel and conduct revolutions against the government. Not in Tunisia. Not in Egypt. Not in Western Europe and not in the good old U S of A.
Some US and Western European government officials better be watching and learning!