She said, I said, a futile rant

I rarely go into long-winded and futile discussions with anyone on social media. Needless to say, it is a waste of energy and time. In fact, when a battle of views follows one of my posts, I prefer to delete the whole rant especially if it turns sour.

Still, in a spontaneous discussion that took place on Twitter today, I saw the other side freely air its views for thousands to speculate on and consider. Here is the conversation. Though the person has no qualms in speaking out loud herself, I’m not into defaming anyone, so I’ve opted to remove the person’s name—let’s call her “She.” The conversation was in Arabic, but, again, I’ve opted to translate it to English.

She: El Sisi rule has failed in every field.

Azza: I don’t understand. Is this something that would make you happy?

She: Of course, if it entails the failure of the current bloody regime, it makes one extremely happy.

Azza: So for the regime to fail you really don’t mind that Egypt fails, too? Do you know the story of the two women who fought over a child? And the real mother told the fake one to take the child provided it remains uninjured?

She: So you want us to support the bloody coup? This regime has kidnapped Egypt, and it is it that is failing Egypt. Never does a bloody coup build or save Egypt.

This is the crux of what was exchanged. Others intervened and added their two cents creating even further mayhem. Bear in mind, the person I spoke with has 280,000 followers. She is also outspoken, hateful of the regime, and disturbingly un-Egyptian.

I don’t really mind if she hates the current regime. It is her prerogative to think the way she pleases even if it is totally warped and severely skewed. However, what I abhorred in the conversation was her glee that Egypt was failing. It actually gave her a sense of power and dominance.

This brings us back to the true feelings of most Egyptians today. It seems that if you are siding with El Sisi, you are for Egypt, and vice versa. You are then grateful for Egypt’s men who are giving up their lives gladly to serve their country and its soil, and you are appreciative of the efforts made to improve the economy and eradicate terrorism. If you side with the current regime, you look for the good and you bring it to the forefront.

Egyptians realized that their precious country was on the verge of collapse. It was about to go to the dogs, literally. It was only El Sisi who was confident and bold enough to intervene and oust Ex-President Morsi. From then onwards, the love affair between Egyptians and President Sisi has not waned or diminished.

But those who are against El Sisi, and hence Egypt, are many. They come in different shapes and forms: members of the Muslim Brotherhood clan, the perennial activists, human rights followers, western media, and more importantly, youths who think they can change presidents every other day. I don’t know enough about the above-mentioned person, but She can be affiliated to any of these groups. In any case, we should be wary that many, in the millions if I may add, are like her out there.

Now if you are against the current regime, you sit and await disasters only to spew hatred and ridicule soon afterwards. You see both the army and the police force as weapons in the hands of the regime, wiling to harm and to kill, ignoring the fact that hundreds of these young men are dying at the hands of those who wish Egypt ill.

You also don’t believe anything officials say. You assume the army is out to take control not defend. You believe the cabinet is filled with incapable ministers, the parliament, with imbeciles. You conclude everything announced is made up and fake. You also find fault with the best of accomplishments.

Exposing these folks is a must. Not by name calling and cursing, which many tend to do, but by focusing on the good that the current regime is working hard to achieve in spite of the challenges. When She says the current regime kidnapped Egypt, we explain to the world how the current regime had saved Egypt. When She says that the “coup” is bloody, we prove how bloody the Brotherhood was, and when they ignore all good accomplishments, we zoom in on them. More importantly we should make every effort to highlight the positive and never believe the negative.

The is the role of dedicated Egyptians today.

 

Comments

[Mgkirshner]

Well Said #EgyptIsRising many with an #MB agenda or background will ever accept nor mention #Sisi 's success. Much dissent is voiced & changes are made to rectify problems, this is no government by personalty cult. Unfortunately western views are largely shaped by NGOs on social media. Egypt's restrictive policies on orgs like @hrw makes them blind each parroting falsehoods of the other fully self convinced of their objectivity. Egypt should allow NGOs in to see for themselves. @MarkGKirshner

[azza radwan sedky]

Thank you for you insight. I agree.

[Mona El-Masry]

Thank you Azza for putting this all in perspective. There are a lot of people who refuse to see the good that Al Sisi has done. As you wrote, there are the MBs, the eternal activists and the youth who think that being a revolutionary has to be a constant instead of helping to build up the country.

[osta.rido]

Thank You, Azza. Your words are simply true. May I be allowed to add: Not only in (or when it comes about) Egypt, you may hear such voices.
The upcome of popularistic, nationalistic-minded political groups in Europe - and now in Germany, too - shows that this way of expressing is a today's-illness of the society. There's (at least in the public) more sympathy for all the Trumps, Putins, Orbans, Erdogans than for all those hard-workers in the administrations, ministeries, enterprises, parliaments ...
Hope it is not a pest killing our complexe society.

[Nevine]

This "she" is obviously pro-MB or an agent for the west. Having 280,000 followers does not mean anything, I know a woman on facebook who has a fake name, a fake picture, and no one seems to know who she really is, and she has over 200,000 followers.. that tells you something about "followers". I stopped discussing Sisi with many Egyptians once I feel they belong to the ekhwan or repeat what the bigot anti-Egypt western media says, they are not worth my energy. Thank God for caring patriotic Egyptians like you.