I caught the O'Reilly factor tonight, and the guest host wearing a visible, prominent crucifix was interviewing a CAIR representative about the situation in Egypt. I kept watching because I thought the interview would be informative, but that was false. She was asking loaded questions about how Hamas is a front for Muslim Brotherhood, and how CAIR is 'intimately' associated with both Hamas and MB. The guest host painted the situation 1.) Obama's decision to support the people rather than Mubarak was a terrible gesture toward other US Allies, and 2.) without Mubarak Egypt would "fall into the hands of Jihadists who would seek to destroy Israel". I stopped watching at that point. I thought maybe conservatives had fallen off the deep end, but it seems that this is creating a very real divide among Conservatives. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-...out-how-the-uprising-splits-us-conservatives/
Look here, Zionists on both sides of the aisle are upset over this "perceived" threat. I know at least a dozen liberals who are scared as well, so this is just not about conservatives. Anyway, Beck and O'Reiley do not represent my brand of conservativism. As a proud conservative myself, I fully support the people of Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries who are seeking freedom from tyranny. The noise is mostly coming from the Neo-Con wing whose military dominance of the world is threatened without their favorite dictators in power.
I support the uprising, because I always support oppressed people against dictators. That being said, I'm really worried about the Christian population in Egypt. The Christians in Iraq have had a tougher time under the al-Maliki government than they did under Saddam Hussein. I think there's a better chance of a new government in Egypt respecting religious freedom than in Iraq, but it still worries me some.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copts Basically, sand people Christians. Really dangerous cuz they could be stealth Muslims. You don't know if you can trust them cuz you don't know if the good Christian side controls them or if the sand people nature dominates. They are a deceptive people like Kevin Martin.
I wouldn't be so quick to say that. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=198744&highlight=coptic I will acknowledge that there is a chance that a democratic Egypt could go the way of Iran in 1979 but I don't think that is that likely. Egypt 2011 is a very different place than Iran 1979. For one the society hasn't been as brutalized as Iran and the access to information and ideas that Egyptians have now means that they are unlikely to accept a medieval theocracy. As the thread above shows many Egyptians are also willing to protect the Coptic minority. At the sametime the army is unlikely to allow a theocracy to come to power. The military has too much of a stake in the economy and with the amount of aid they are getting and Egypt's dependence on tourism and trade the last thing they want is an anti-American theocracy that will drive away tourist.
Back onto the main subject I agree many conservatives are hypocritical about this and I am not surprised at all. I remember asking people who supported the Invasion of Iraq back in 2003 what if democracy really does come to the Middle East and that means the Muslim Brotherhood is elected to head countries like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. I never got a good answer to that question as most people seemed to presume that democracy would lead to a magical transformation of pro-Western secular states.
I figured some uninformed poster would toss that human shield example out, as a single point of evidence that the Copts are fine. Give me a break -- take a look over recent history of how they have been treated in Egypt. Judo -- I'm glad you noticed the human shield article, but I'd encourage you to dig a little deeper than that into the situation.
Of course the Copts have been treated badly in Egypt. Not denying that but at the same time the fact that many Egyptians were willing to come out and risk their lives to protect Copts shows that there are many who support them. Also in this current round of protests you aren't seeing the Copts being targeted and you would figure in most times of uncertainty usually a despised minority gets the worst of it. That said your post does nothing to contradict the rest of my post. A theocracy that heavily suppresses a minority is not likely going to be able to attract tourists.
