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It's interesting that this document calls Arab Spring "the high point in positivity" of the internet. From what I understand, most countries are even worse off
by Aunche 8y ago
It's interesting that this document calls Arab Spring "the high point in positivity" of the internet. From what I understand, most countries are even worse off now. Libya in particular is still stuck in civil war to this day.
- marricks 8y agoI think that’s the point. Arab spring, the chance of positive change around the world because of it, pre Snowden(!). It’s not that things weren’t awful then just people didn’t know what was going on or how things would turn out, so we were all upbeat about the internet.
- Aunche 8y agoI disagree. People know how awful their lives are by their well being. The internet offered people the ability to organize and topple their corrupt government, but that doesn't mean that the new people in charge are going to be better.
- marricks 8y agoDefinitely. The awfulness that I implied was meant to be mass surveillance. That people could organize and resist was great, needs to be way more of that, not less. Still, that moment has passed so people aren’t positive about our connectedness in the same way cause it doesn’t seem to be causing any progressive/democratic changes.
- shard972 8y agoBecause real centrists like google know all that Libya stuff was a right wing conspiracy theory to prevent hillary from running for president /s In all seriousness, it's quite abhorrent how foreign policy interventions by progressive leaders are shoved down the memory hole while we are always wide awake when a conservative does something.
- jayd16 8y agoAre you suggesting that Libya should be remembered along the same lines as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? If you're being serious you should really review the last couple decades. In what world does the intervention of Clinton and Obama equal the Bushes? Even Clinton's Iraq endeavor was downplayed by the GOP at the time as a distraction from Lewinsky. But the real reason Libya isn't in the public's forethought is simple fact we didn't invade and rebuild the country. Its not hard to figure out why its not treated the same as Bush's wars.
- shard972 8y ago> Are you suggesting that Libya should be remembered along the same lines as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? At least on some level if your concerned about the results of regime change by western powers. > But the real reason Libya isn't in the public's forethought is simple fact we didn't invade and rebuild the country. Its not hard to figure out why its not treated the same as Bush's wars. No, we just let them build it then we came in and destroyed it and left it militias to fight over the rubble. Why did we do that again? Because as far as i remember libya was not posing a threat to the US. Compared to afghanistan which you could at least argue there is some kind of threat of terrorists like ISIS setting up a state that had declared war on western countries.
- iliketosleep 8y agoThe Arab Spring was about standing up to the oppressive regimes. This might be why they referred to as "the high point in positivity". But as you noted, this in turn created a massive power vacuum followed by seemingly endless chaos and instability in the region. However, most people are ignorant of it because it's seldom discussed in the media. Why it's not discussed in the media then becomes a political debate.
- ggggtez 8y agoIf you go back and read articles from that time, you'll find that Twitter, Facebook, VPNs, and other technology was used to help organize grass roots rebellions against dictators. Obviously it didn't make the middle east and northern africa a bastion of democracy like western viewers may have hoped, but no doubt that many people tried to make their countries a better place through democratic revolution. Just because they didn't succeed 100%, doesn't mean that the revolution was a mistake.
- yread 8y agoTunisia and Egypt are arguably doing a bit better though.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]