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nadinbrzezinski (1000+ posts) Wed Feb-02-11 11:58 AMOriginal message Fascinating talk with a young man at the coffee shop I am driving hubby to college since parking is a nightmare... so I am going across to Starbucks to kill the hour and a half. So here is a young, yes Egyptian... here to get an engineering degree. One from an American university increases his chances of actually getting a job in HIS field. So he was having a pretty heated argument with a Glenny fan... and I decided to but in... Well apart of the fact that he was surprised that an American understood the patronage system in Egyptian society, here is what I learned from him.1.- He has had very spotty contact with family. Yes, he has used the few openings to call home. 2.- His dad works at one of the ministries... so they are worried about jobs in the future. (See patronage)3.- Things have gotten really bad, including shortages of pita bread and other essentials. Rumor has it that deliveries have been stopped by NDP upper management... take this with grain of salt, rumor mill after all, but that is what is circulating. 4.- While they think Mubarak is an ass, they still are worried about making a living... see patronage.5.- Oh and yes, they defended their middle class neighborhood from the thugs, who were hired by the NDP from the country side to come break some skulls. Pay is pretty good, from what they got from one of them... who was taken and NOT beaten up. They fed him, gave him some money, like a months pay in the country side, that is about 20 USD, and sent him home.Oh and they know it is pretty much over for Hosni, it is just a matter of time, for the most part, it just needs to be official. These thugs will make their lives even more dangerous since people know who has what due to the patronage system.So there you have it.Oh and gleeny fan had a hell of a time following this, especially after I challenged him to define terms glenny spouts all the time. I also recommended to this young man, who wants to have a democracy, a long reading list on political theory... and told him that the rights of the minority will need to be respected.. he is all for this by the way, and wishes he was at home IN THE STREETS, never mind his dad works at one of the ministries. Understandably he did not say which. I also reminded him that this protection of minorities is part of ARAB history, during the Caliphate... in the middle ages.Agan, he was surprised. All he's gotten are fox nooz fans, or just me care? Americans. I hope I see him again... updates would be nice.
hlthe2b (1000+ posts) Wed Feb-02-11 12:07 PMResponse to Original message 3. Yes... I find it extremely pleasurable to speak with students Edited on Wed Feb-02-11 12:08 PM by hlthe2bor others here from ME. I have had to really work to convince some of them that I am Native born American, since my interest and knowledge of the Region is so atypical and the fact I spent so many years living and working there. I take that as both a sad statement on Americans in general, but in some ways, a backwards compliment. I can only hope they come across more MSNBC-watchers, than those addicted to Faux news. God, how embarrassing to see Glen Beck through THEIR eyes.
nadinbrzezinski (1000+ posts) Wed Feb-02-11 12:09 PMResponse to Reply #3 4. I had a little more "cred" since my heavy European like accent means I am not local.Being a woman though is it's own special barrier.
I see Nadin looking like Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle. Of course those pesky Muslims don't like talking to women, eastern european women, unless they are using them for sex.
