Don’t Believe the Hype

Y’all. The protests that have been happening around the Middle East are with good reason. Mostly.

A lot of media outlets – CNN, NYtimes, Fox, etc. have been grouping Oman in with the rest of the Middle Eastern countries that have experienced protests. Although they don’t overtly say it, they promote the image of these Omani protesters as fighting for freedom against an all powerful monarch.

Don’t believe the hype.

Some of the protesters demands are legitimate – Oman does have problems with nepotism and corruption – but some of their demands are so outlandish that they wouldn’t fly in any country.

Cancelling all loans? Top-level jobs for college dropouts?

Many of these protesters are little more than 20-something year olds, too big for their britches, who have grown up in a society where the government gives you food, builds you a house, gives you medical care, doesn’t make you pay much tax, and generally helps you far more than most governments ever could. Now in the face of very tame problems, coupled with the happenings around the region – they have decided that this government is now intolerable.

Now some of the protesters are well educated people with very concise, fair, and legitimate demands. Corruption and nepotism is a pervasive problem throughout the Gulf that must be dealt with, and a codified constitution can never hurt either. But the notion that burning down supermarkets, torching cars, vandalizing property, harassing passers by, and looting (seriously – looting isn’t even a form of protest, it’s just stealing stuff!) are justified is totally unfounded. Don’t compare rambunctious Omani youth with the freedom fighters of Libya or Tunisia – it’s not the same. Don’t believe the hype.