Every
society has its issues. It’s practically inevitable considering that every
society is filled with human beings. And human beings who associate in the same
space oftentimes take on the same characteristics, whether good or bad.
America,
for example, is currently filled with people who are somehow inexplicably both
insanely self-focused and yet exceptionally fixated on group identity at the
same time. I’m not sure how we manage it, but it’s a decided negative
regardless.
But
I’m not blogging to bash America. For once. Let’s focus elsewhere today,
specifically on Egypt, which seems to be a lot worse off than the U.S.
Because
I’m hardly an expert on Egypt as a whole, I’m going to try to be fair and not
say that the entire country is filled with reprehensible people. But its
capital city of Cairo definitely seems to be, judging by the latest round of
sexual assaults reported during this latest round of protests.
“Humans
Rights Watch reports a sharp rise in sexual assaults here since anti-Morsi
protesters took to the streets in record numbers last week. Activists report
more than 100 sexual assaults in or near Tahrir Square during the past week
alone, many of them gang rapes.
“Most
of the victims are Egyptian, though some are Western journalists covering the
protest.
“The
rights group says the latest attacks follow an all too familiar pattern since
mass protests began in 2011: A few men force a girl or woman away from the
people she’s with; rip off her clothes and assault her. Passersby join in the
attacks, which range from groping to gang rapes that can last more than an
hour.”
I
know I wrote about this tendency back when the so-called Arab Spring first made
its way to Egypt. So I might be repeating myself exactly when I mention how
difficult it is to take their outcry seriously in light of such a disturbing
trend.
But
it doesn’t really matter how many times I say it; it still remains true.
When
these men are out there protesting, demanding to be taken seriously by their
government but refusing to protect the helpless amongst themselves?
Well, let’s just say that they have some bigger
issues that they need to deal with before they can be entrusted to run a
country on their own.
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