It's been hard keeping up with the news lately because I've been working a lot of overtime hours at my job. It's not like the TV news covered much international news, either. So I didn't hear about the Tunisia overthrow until we were well into the Egyptian protests already.
I've tried to read a little background on websites, like the Think Progress analysis, but it's still hard to understand as an outsider not knowing about the society at all. I do wish there wasn't so much government suppression and police violence against the protesters, but I guess we couldn't expect any better from an authoritarian regime. Questions have been raised about whether the US should support Mubarak, and there were hopeful signs that he would be urged to make real reforms. Yet the cynical part of me thinks that status quo will prevail and that the US will continue being impotent about human rights. (See Israel.)
I find that I am much more jaded than I used to be as an idealistic college student. It leaves me feeling helpless to do anything effective and practical. Especially with the Texas elections, you tend to feel that being a Democrat is an exercise in futility. Still maybe I should look on the bright side, that Tunisia is inspiring others to revolution and public dissent.
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