"If two speeches and a social media site is all we needed to spread democracy then why did we invade Iraq, why didn’t we just, I don’t know, poke them," Jon Stewart quipped on last night's "Daily Show."
It's funny, and also a valid dig at U.S. citizens whose social activism ends at joining a Facebook page or retweeting #Twitterrevolution. Revolutions are brought about by the people on the ground. Egypt's government shut down the Internet not because it's a catalyst, but because it's an extremely efficient way for dissidents to send a message.
"Sometimes that message is political; sometimes it's coordinating the logistics — say, 'today's protests are at the corner of such and such,' writes M. Alex Johnson in his informative piece about the Internet shutdown in Egypt. "That's much easier now because of Facebook and Twitter."
Note how Samantha Bee, as "Senior Tweet Analyst" plays the foil to Stewart's skeptic, while Aasif Mandvi pretty much says it all, playing the part of "Team Local Conditions."
More on the crisis in Egypt from Technolog:
- Is Internet access a human right?
- 'This is about social networks that are beyond the reach of Mubarak'
- What the Egyptian government doesn't want you to see
- Infograph: Egypt drops off the Internet
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