Information and Revolution in Egypt

¶ … Revolution in Egypt_

Modern citizens hardly make decisions in a social vacuum. This underscore the role social media plays in determining decisions that people make. Social media influences what modern citizens know and how they feel about it. It therefore plays an integral role in influencing the masses. Trends in groups start after one person has taken a stand. This person's stand then influences others creating a cascade effect (Krebs, 2006). Cascades and numbers are integral in unconventional warfare like the revolution that was experienced in Egypt. In today's world users of social networks readily use information received from search network. A person will most likely be drawn into a stand that has been taken by his family members, neighbors, and casual acquaintances. Groups in social networks are easily influenced by the behavior of their members, key opinion leaders, as well as those with connections with them. These groups, opinion leaders, and connections also have power to persuade. This underscores the importance of prior social ties in encouraging entrance into a movement. The revolution in Egypt exploited the popularity of social networks but was not necessarily caused by the social media. Process of individual recruitment exploited the occurrence of a specific recruitment attempt, successful linkage of the movement and the recruit's sense of identity, and absence of strong opposition from others on whom the recruit's other salient identities depended (Gladwell, 2002). Information disseminated through social media however, simple it was, was manipulated by skilled operators to have important and contingent elements. Once a social movement recruit has made a commitment his identity is closely tied to those he knows. Support for his new identity works because he wants his identity to reflect the identity of those he socializes with. Because he wants approval and support and approval from his social network if his social network joins a social movement like that which was realized in Egypt, he will definitely join to maintain consistency with the group. In unconventional war like that which was witnessed Egypt, there was strong opposition from security forces that tried to break the protests. Interactive conversations that take place through the social media that create shared meanings and identities legitimize emergent collective action. Groups will definitely mobilize for action when it is newly threatened or when there is an opportunity for gain (McAdam, 2003). In this respect Egyptians took to the streets to protest Hosni Mubarak 30 years of political, social, and economic repression. Social revolution in Egypt flourished because of so many factors. One of the factors was what was seen as inheritance of power when Gamal Mubarak was seen as being groomed to take over after his father Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. Many Egyptians who were irked by this possibility cited the Syrian case where Bashar al-Assad took over the reigns of power after his father Hafez al-Assad death in the year 2000 (Aziz & Hussein, 2002). Egyptians also reviled against the Emergency Law which was enacted after the 1967 Six Day War. The law gave the police extensive powers, suspended individuals' constitutional rights, legalized censorship, and mandated the government to imprison individuals indefinitely without reason (Aziz & Hussein, 2002). It limited non-governmental political activity like street demonstrations, non-approved political organizations, and unregistered financial donations (Shadid and Kirkpatrick, 2011). Under the emergency law political activists were imprisoned without trial in illegal and undocumented detention facilities, and newspaper staff members rejected based on their political affiliation. Police brutality was also a factor that led to the social revolution in Egypt. Police before the revolution perpetuated torture and abuse. The Ministry of Interior, State Security Investigative Service (SSIS), police, and other government agencies presided over torture to extract information and force confession. Bloggers used social media to post videos of police officers sodomizing a bound naked woman. This infuriated the general public. Law enforcement agencies on many instances used excessive on unarmed public. Finally, corruption, coercion not to vote, manipulation of election results, and demographic and economic challenges also contributed to the Egypt's social revolution. Mubarak was the only candidate to run for election up to the year 2005. As was suggested earlier in this paper social media is not the only factor that fuelled the social revolution in Egypt. Other factors included moral reasoning, clutter, and the social movement model of unconventional warfare (UW).

Coming to the level of clutter in Egypt, it appears that the information that was disseminated in the run up to the Egyptian revolution was not receptive to the targeted audience. The recipients of the information were so vulnerable to an extent that information they received was deemed credible no matter the source. The government's attempt at closing Twitter and Bambuser never helped the situation as the general public resorted to using proxies to tweet.

Moral behavior also sparked social revolution in Egypt (Myyry, 2003). Egyptians after enduring 30 years of repression finally gained a moral standing. They were resolute that they had to break with the past where police brutality, corruption, and repressive laws were the norm. They wanted to shape their destiny by taking part in free and fair elections.

As opposed to the widely held belief that social media was the reason behind the Egyptian social movement, social media only funned the revolution 'fire'. The actual causes of the Egyptian Revolution were the moral reasoning, clutter, and the social movement model of unconventional warfare (UW). These are factors that have seldom been mentioned by writers delving into causes of the Egyptian social movement. Egyptians were desperate for any peace of information regardless of how credible it was. After Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule Egyptians gained a moral standing and were resolute that they had to do away with police brutality, corruption, and repressive laws.