I now understand that the purpose of the mass media is to report on things that don’t fit the agenda only after they have happened and are so blindingly obvious that ignoring them is impossible. Oh yes, and by then it’s also too late to avoid catastrophes.
What prompted that conclusion is seeing that the mass media reports in April what was completely clear — and which I reported–in February. I mean, just look at this Los Angeles Times article:
“The secular reformers and twenty-something urbanites at the vanguard of Egypt’s Jan. 25 revolution have found themselves eclipsed. They lack experience and grass-roots networks to compete with the Muslim Brotherhood and other religious groups that have quietly stoked their passions for this moment. In a sense, Mubarak’s obsession with both co-opting and crushing Islamists instilled in them the discipline and organization that now propels their political agendas.”
Look, I'm hardly one to defend the brain power of our press to analyze events they are reporting on. It was clear that they identified with the Twittering Class on the streets and that they were hardly representative of the entire country except in their desire to have Mubarak leave.
It was also clear that the Islamists weren't leading the revolt. But I was absolutely clear that we had to stay involved because the Islamists would try to exploit the fall of the Murbarak government to seize power either quickly or over the long term. This isn't a sprint but a marathon, and we must stay involved to strengthen non-Islamist groups and to strengthen Egypt's civil society so that the Islamists can't exploit elections as a means of seizing dictatorial power.
Just because Islamists could take advantage of the fall of an autocrat doesn't mean that getting rid of the autocrat was a bad thing. Nor does it mean it was possible to defend the status quo without supporting conditions that would make Islamist success a virtual guarantee if the fall of the autocrat was delayed. No, getting rid of Mubarak was a good thing. But his fall means that we can't walk away and hope for the best without trying to shape the future of Egypt.
The battle for Egypt is continuing, and we have to fight this battle.
