Monday 7 February 2011

Revolution Fatigue

I have been only vaguely following the story in Egypt. I think this is because I have 'revolution fatigue'. This is a term that I have literally just coined, but it is essentially a dislike of 24-hour rolling news. While news of protests and revolution are fascinating, intriguing, and can reveal a lot about a country or region, 24 hour news has basically made them bland and boring. The media then has to revert to hyperbole and sensationalism in order to spice up their dull and repetitious 30 seconds of stock footage:

"Egypt descends into chaos as protesters roam streets"

"Looters win the day in scenes of anarchy"

"Mubarak hangs by a thread as rioters decimate economy"

I just made all those up. But imagining Alastair Stewart uttering those words isn't so tough.

What should be interesting is made into a spectacle. News no longer has an impact upon us because we are subjected to it so often.

Which is partly why this picture is quite so amazing. It shows a couple of Egyptian Christians holding hands, forming part of a large circle to protect vulnerable Egyptian Muslims while they prayed. There have also been reports of Muslims guarding Coptic churches while Christians worship.

I didn't hear much of this on the news, but apparently it has been shown. I'm glad there is some good news coming out of Egypt. Let's hope and pray the unrest ends soon, that Muslims and Christians don't need to protect each other from crowds and police, and the Middle East finds some modicum of peace soon.

2 comments:

Perrins said...

Just a thought... Maybe the fact that the protests become boring is because that is the reality of it. I don't think people who have stayed in Tahrir Square for over 2 weeks are going to be loving it. Anything worthwhile (like a revolution!) is in fact not glamorous (although it can look like it when we see it in a 5 minute news short, or read it in a book, or hear about it in a sermon or whatever) and is just all about keeping going and keeping going on. And on and on. I think I'm learning that pretty much everything worthwhile doesn't happen quickly and requires lots of perseverance, hard work and determination. Maybe it's good that we're getting revolution fatigue because it'll help us realise that anything good is hard work and boring at times (as well as all the good stuff) and maybe it'll inspire us to keep going the same in our boring and tough moments of whatever we're doing.

Not especially deep but just my 2 cents worth!

David said...

No, thank you. I appreciate it.

You could well be right - it's hardly the most glamorous of places to be. However, the media have to spruce things up and make it seem ever-exciting. Which, clearly, it is.

Also, good lesson. Might just steal it for a sermon.