Journal: 3-1 b

Crisis in Egypt


     Last week I asked the quesiton of what in the field of Ethics is considered going too far or stepping over the line. During my research I noticed many other blogs commenting on how certain matters have "gone too far". However, there was no clear outline of what for ethics is considered exactly stepping over the line. Based on my own personal belief, I think going too far is when you tamper with human rights or any kind of rights for that matter. For example, telling someone they can't have an abortion when it's their choice or cutting down a habitat for a certain species of animal. Whenever there is harm involved is also a good indicator that something has gone too far. Overall it is hard to say that there is a clear set line that figuratively shouldn't be crossed on ethical issues.

     This past week in Ethics class we mainly talked about the current crisis going on in Egypt. We talked about the details of the situation and I learned about what sparked the situation in Egypt. The people are upset because they are tired of their corrupt government and president who has been in office for over 30 years and doesn't allow to be run against in elections. At first the protests were peaceful and caused the president to say that he would step down at the next election. However, the Egyptian people are still upset and want him to step down now. This has sparked violence in the protests now since Pro-Mubarak protesters have been attacking those opposed to the government who were once very peaceful. We talked about how the situation in Egypt is only getting worse and worse by day.

     In my opinion, once a protest has turned violent, there is no possible way that it will end good. Although the government in Egypt is oppressive, it's not worth the losing of lives. However, I don't think a simple peaceful protest will be able to do much more than it already has. There has to be a happy median between peaceful and violent in order to have enough power to overthrow the government immediately. This will be difficult but in my opinion it would be the best way that would result in the fewest amount of civilian deaths in the process of the revolution. It also would be the most effective towards the government who has already established that they aren't going to play nice towards the people of Egypt.

     In a way I guess you could draw a few parallels between the revolution going on in Egypt and the one we experienced in America to gain independence from Britain. For instance there were both loyalists to the government and rebels opposed to the government. Also, the rebels in both instances rebelled because the government was too opressive and they wanted to establish independence from the old government and ruling system. Although the American Revolution ended good for the rebels and they won theyre freedom, they had to endure many battles before then and I think this will also be the case with Egypt. However, I think as a result the rebels of Egypt will turn out to be victorious.

     I end today with a question: What are other examples of revolutions and their outcome in history?

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