So, no regime then? Jon Stewart was on al-Barnamag [“The Program”] last year this time and remarked of the then Muslim Brotherhood government’s prosecution of his Egyptian counterpart, Bassem Youssef, for political libel of President Muhammad Morsi, “If your regime can’t handle a joke, you don’t have a regime.” AFP reports:
Egypt satirist who mocked Sisi cancels show (via AFP)
Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef said on Monday he has cancelled his television show which mocked ex-army chief and president-in-waiting Abdel Fattah al-Sisi because of “enormous” pressure. The heart surgeon turned comedian, often compared to US satirist…
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AFP: “Egypt satirist who mocked Sisi cancels show”
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Dr. Basem Yousef is a great intellectual, when I first watched his show I was so happy that he had introduced political satire to the oppressed Egyptian people as well as the Arabs as whole.
The program made fun of Morsi the MB dirt bag. It was so great because he was a joke. Then after, Morsi was deposed, the program attempted to poke fun of any political situation, which was not acceptable! The reason was simple, the people hated Morsi, and hence it was OK to laugh at him. After 33 million Egyptians went into the streets to demand his ouster, the Chief Justice became the temporary president, and the Islamists were furious at the military leader Gen. Sisi for helping in his ouster. The Islamists went on rampage blowing things up and cause additional resentment to them. Therefore, Dr. Basem Yousef was left with a dilemma; quit the show or make fun of Sisi? When he did, it was difficult for the adoring public to take.
[…] it was difficult for the adoring public to take.
Difficult for the public or the regime?
If Sisi still had an adoring public, why couldn’t they get out the vote? It would seem that rather than to foster and maintain broad support, their strategy of dealing with the mass disapproval they know is coming their way is to deny any stage to people who would articulate it.
Andreas,
If you have watched the Egyptian TV during the past year as I did, you would have concluded that Sisi was a rock star ! Especially with the women. Why? Muslim Egyptian women were not ready to be rendered slaves as their Sisters in Saudi Arabia, which was the indication of the MB tactics.
In addition, there were common knowledge months before the election, that if Sisi runs, there can ever be any chance for any opponent to stand against such popular persona. This may account for the lower number of voters from what was expected. That is to say, if I love Barak Obama, and the projection is that he is going to win with a majority of at least 80%, would I bother standing in line to vote?
You also forgot the MB threats to blow things? This can also intimidate the less brave population, especially the Copts in the south.