We’ve read a lot about this morning’s YouStink #BeirutShutDown stunt that blocked a couple of highways and trapped thousands of Lebanese citizens in their car on their way to work. Some encouraged it, but the overwhelming majority was against it.
Were YouStink delusional enough to think their unilateral call for a general strike and closing down all access to the capital would be followed, especially after most activist groups distanced themselves from it? Not so sure. It seems they knew exactly what they were doing, and their motto was clear: “we’re not doing it against you, but for you.”
One of the YouStink activists plainly said it to a TV reporter: “maybe they [the Lebanese people] need a shock, a little slap in the face to wake up from the nightmare.” (video below)
So slapping the Lebanese people for their own good… That’s what some parents say about their children, don’t they? So basically, YouStink see themselves as a parental figure, and we, the people, as children in need of a good slap every once in a while!
Is there any need to ask the obvious questions: who gave them that authority? Or what kind of experience do they have to take on such a role? Nevertheless, there’s a big question one needs to ask: do they realize that everything from their rhetoric to their unilateral actions is in many ways similar to every populist movement that plagued modern history?
For the sake of the cause we are all fighting for – each in his or her own way – I hope they quickly come to their senses.
YouStink wants to give the people a “slap in the face”
Posted by My Beirut Chronicles on Monday, March 14, 2016