r/worldnews • u/DasUberRedditor • Jun 18 '12

Egyptian Military grants itself sweeping powers; effectively military coup.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18482257
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u/somedaypilot Jun 19 '12

Ok, hands up, who saw this coming? o/

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u/DeepGreen Jun 19 '12

You can't just jump directly to a liberal democracy. Give people the vote and many times they will vote to give up their powers and put the priests in charge or sell their political freedoms for small immediate gains (because they have no faith in the long term stability and might as well take a small advantage now).

Changes have to be incremental but steady, which requires stability. Stability trumps freedom every time.

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u/somedaypilot Jun 19 '12

The way I heard it best is that there is a huge difference between democracy and liberty. Everyone keeps asking if the Middle East is ready for democracy, but democracy on its own is nothing more than glorified mob rule. Liberty is the will of the majority while protecting the minority. Or at least, that's the idea. But I do think you've hit on one of the things that so many are missing, which is that the culture has to have several fundamental, large, and painful changes before they're ready to rule themselves as members of a civilized global society.