Egypt has been recently getting some very negative international exposure what with the obscene human rights violations and the molestations that happen in the street. Both in the blogosphere and in the news, whenever you hear about this lovely land it has to be associated with a recent bombing, rape, etc. Sometimes i feel like half the world pities us and the other half laughs at us.
SO here are a few more negative things about Egypt that are yet to be exposed:
Class System
Basically a very tiny percentage of the population has all the money and power, these people are invincibly 'above the law', unless they try to screw someone on a level above them, in which case they either get thrown off a hotel balcony in London or are put in jail on conspiracy charges.
But that's not where it ends. The whole thing is a very complex and delicate hierarchy that goes from the President down to the garbage collectors. An especially interesting portion is the bizarre relationship between street cops\taxi drivers\passengers, if you have a chance to observe this then it's not to be missed. One day I'm sure sociologists will study Egypt with the same fascination of Jurassic Park ("Nature will find a way"...).
Still, everyone on the bottom half is treated sub-human because they aren't important and don't know anyone important. However, I found that these people are less occupied with human rights and the crap state of affairs than the price of bread, that may go up next week and they won't be able to feed their families. Not an accidental situation, mind you...
*WASTA \ TAZBEET: Someone in a form of power you know or are linked to in some way that can get buorocratic jobs finished quickly or shield you from jail\parking fines\etc. However, this human entity can be replaced by a sum of cash in a bribe.
Education
Oddly enough, there is very little in terms of real 'education' in the Egyptian educational system. The way I see it, having personally experienced a large majority of the ordeal, is that it is a conditioning facility for specimens who will be living as adults in this country, teaching you that memorizing is better than understanding, bias, absurd nationalism, corruption, tazbeet (see above) and cheating.
*ISRAEL: The devil.
This is the first and foremost thing that is crippling the country, because every year it ruins another generation who enter it; creating a new spawn of obedient, 'God fearing' citizens who will grow up to fear their government and disrespect each other. Bring on the future!
Personally, the main things I learnt from education is that Israel is full of evil bastards (who we apparently defeated) and that if I don't conform to the group obsessive mentality of religion, soccer and television then there's something wrong with me. This always cracks Frank up!...Hmm...
Boys and Girls
Generally, relationship styles differ from class to class, but the overall pressures exist no matter which level you belong to. Open sexual relationships are strictly prohibited. Even if you're engaged, the norm among a lot of people is to take a mehrem with you when you go out.
*MEHREM: Someone who has to accompany you and your lover when going out, usually the girl's brother or friend, just to make sure there's no funny business going on.
This is what about 50% of the population does in front of other people so as to preserve the girl's 'honor'. The reality is that most of the population sleeps around. Guys have the option of a variety of (mostly ugly) prostitutes who are available in many known locations, while women generally sleep with guys who promise them marriage and then end up giving them the cold shoulder, leaving the girl 'ruined' in the eyes of the population and often emotionally broken. Girls in this situation have the option of going to one of our many skilled doctors who perform an illegal 'hymen fixing' operation, so that her future husband doesn't discover that she's not a virgin.
I don't want to make it seem like everyone here is sexually deviant in this way, there are a lot of people who remain abstinent right up until marriage for however long it takes. Still, there is a surprising amount of decadent shit going on.
This situation causes a mass conflict that hasn't been touched upon enough. The fact that so many people are walking around sexually frustrated does affect the general sociology in a big way, not to mention the sexual harassment that occurs for girls who dare to walk in the street here.
Then there are the things that happen after marriage. It is becoming increasingly popular for men to have more than one wife, something that is acceptable in Islam but had generally been looked down upon culturally.
The Government
I'm not touching this one with a 20 foot pole.
God bless the president and the nation of Islam.
*KASKASA: Being afraid of getting raped in prison...
Conclusion
I think that's enough for now (you get the idea). I will be adding some more points later, but if you really want to get to know more about the real Egypt then there are some articles in Mad World you would find interesting.
By the way, I'm not saying that Egypt is especially worse compared to other countries, and if u really are a foreigner and find this description of Egypt funny then stop laughing you capitalist, brainwashed pig! I can write volumes about the insanity of the west. The only reason I won't is that thousands have already written them before...