Well, many here were so excited about the Arab Spring(!) and so you have it...

[pinboy3niner]

6. Way to jump the gun!

I was one here who supported the Arab Spring and committed, along with joshcryer and others, to helping run for some 7 months a continuous series of threads on the Libyan Revolution. But while we supported the potential for positive change, we were perfectly aware that there was no guarantee on how things would eventually turn out.

And no one expected overnight results, even when revolutions succeeded in Libya or elsewhere. We may cheer positive developments, but we know that the ultimate results will not be known for years, if not decades.

Reaching a conclusion based on a snapshot of how things stand at any one point is far too premature. A variety of interests with differing ideologies and goals will continue to compete in the Arab Spring countries, as we're seeihg most notaby in Egypt right now.

The path to the future may look like a nightmare, but who ever said democracy is not messy? Look at the craziness of our own politics lately, with all the dire alarms about one extreme or another prevailing. And we have fairly long experience with democracy, and maintaining a pretty high degree of stability. For the others, we aren't anywhere near knowing "all about how this is gonna work out for egalitarianism, freedom, democracy, human rights, a fair and impartial judiciary, and all the rest of that."

That emoticon for headshaking would come in handy right now...for this OP.