Comments on: Facebook and the Coming Revolution in the Middle East and Africa

By: That Girl

That Girl — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:31:00 +0000

Egypt is in Africa? Get out! I tell ya sometimes sweet don’t mask stupid. But as a point of order (smile), brownies dont = junior girl scouts. junior girl scouts = junior girl scouts. Not that it matters much nowadays that they’re switching things up in the Girl Scouts (and maybe training troop leaders in geography if all were right) but the internet absolutely makes the world a smaller place. At least she didn’t tell you “Silly girl…Egypt is right around the corner in New Mexico” or some such nonsense because of our shrinking geography (and, unfortunately for a lot of folks on the net – shrinking minds).

Keep it coming! Love this blog.

By: jon

jon — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:51:00 +0000

Thanks for the recommendation, Jill. I was in a non-political discussion forum where a Greek classics professor flipped out and lost it on somebody who discussed Cleopatra as African, and the intensity of the reaction really surprised me, so it'll be interesting to understand the history and how its biased the discipline.

In terms of about Facebook and the coming revolution ... I think a couple of things the skeptics are overlooking is how much more effective Facebook potentially makes the relatively small percentage of people who have access to the technology (the online/offline coupling you're talking about), the rate at which mobile phones and other approaches are increasing penetration, and how international networks like Facebook make it much easier for overseas/emigre allies to work with the activists at home.

Governments resisting change are right to be scared. The anti-FARC protests in Columbia went from a Facebook group and application to millions of people in the streets in only a month or so. And we're just learning how to use these technologies.

By: Jill Tubman

Jill Tubman — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:01:00 +0000

So what happened is that obviously Brownie Leader Mommy looked stoopid because Egypt is in fact in Africa. She had to admit in front of everyone that I was right.

I recommend a book called Black Athena on the African roots of Egyptian history, culture and language and how in the past racism thwarted serious scholarship in this area.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:40:00 +0000

I’m not really surprised at what happened, sadly. Americans, as a group, are incredibly ignorant about geography in general, as well as other cultures and countries.

By: Bronze Trinity

Bronze Trinity — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:39:00 +0000

I was going to watch a documentary about Nefertiti last night. I changed the channel when I say they had light-skinned Arab looking actors playing Nefertiti and Akenaton. I’m so tired of this crap. Any idiot who looks at a map can see Egypt is on the continent of Africa. The world has been thoroughly brainwashed but I hope more people have come to realize this since you were a child.

By: Admiral Komack

Admiral Komack — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:08:00 +0000

“I had given a presentation about the history and culture of Egypt to my fellow Brownies in pursuit of a badge. And the Brownies leader mommy was like: “That was very good dear, except that…Egypt isn’t in Africa!” She said it so sweetly too. My mother started laughing.”

“I stood her down. She stood her ground. I insisted that we get out a map or a globe. My moms told me that she didn’t interfere — I had it under control.”

-Well, what happened?

By: Pamela

Pamela — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:38:00 +0000

Jill, I had almost the same experience as a kid, I think it was 4th grade when I gave a report on Cleopatra being from Egypt and that Egypt is in Africa and therefore Cleopatra was of African decent like me. I got a “D” on the report because the teacher thought I was trying to imply that Cleopatra was black and that Egypt is not in Africa and Egyptians are not Africans. This was at a small private school that was 99% white. The teacher was surprisingly let go that year.