Lies, Damed Lies & Petitions - 22M Egyptians Can't be Wrong

Advice, information and discussion about Egypt in general.

Moderators: DJKeefy, 4u Network

Post Reply
User avatar
Hafiz
V.I.P
V.I.P
Posts: 1284
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:23 pm
Has thanked: 614 times
Been thanked: 632 times
Gender:
Australia

Lies, Damed Lies & Petitions - 22M Egyptians Can't be Wrong

Post by Hafiz »

In case you needed any more information about the ever increasing petition.

As at 12.52 GMT 29 June there had been 22,134,465 signatures collected. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/mi ... ition.html

Its growing like topsy, up over 30% in three or four days. Amazing! At this rate the petition will end up bigger than the pyramids. Has anyone seen it: it should be unmissable from several kilometers. Photographs of it are sure to be saleable to the press agencies so get your cameras charged and start earning! On the other hand there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, so the organizers might need to be careful that the final number counted by them does not exceed the total population of Egypt. A tip for the wise. Compounding at 30% increase every four days means that our liberal friends might need to get worried next week and turn off the machine before it goes over 100%.

These types of statistical ‘anomalies’ plague the region. The well killed Libyan lunatic was always getting 110% and there seem to have been similar computer glitches in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria etc. The votes were never less than 100% in Iraq under Saddam and could that be a bad thing. No one since has got close to that. Mubarak’s votes were always ‘assisted’ in a way akin to assisted suicide but that’s the past. Even in Australia, political activists greet each other on polling day with the great fraudsters cry: “Vote early and vote often”. Getting more than 100% should therefore be seen as political exuberance and not the fraud the nanny state Europeans get their (Bombay bloomer) nickers in a knot about. Only the Germans want things to add up to less than 100%.

A not very good joke. What is an Egyptian election? It depends on whether you won or lost. If you lost it was a farce which you bravely and courageously boycotted (well almost, or boycotted after the results became clear) and the fact that the brothers won just proved how corrupt the election was and how right you were to boycott.

What is an Egyptian petition? It’s a bit like an election except that there aren’t parties or even multiple questions. There is only one question and the only ‘votes’ you collect are for the question you set and you count the votes yourself. You don’t need to boycott a petition (nudge, nudge). All the appearances of democracy without the ‘confusion’ of running one side against another. Just like bad Gallup polling: fix the question to get the answer you want. Just like push polling in the west, the question is negative – much easier to get agreement to a single negative than confusing people with complex alternatives.

With such a lot of complex work involved in managing this monster petition you would have expected that the smart young things who previously claimed to have brought down Mubarak with the power of Facebook would be now taking a modern approach on this one. You would be wrong. For example, the petition has no on-line signing capacity. So, how have they done it using humble pen and paper? You download and print the form, get some signatures from your mates, submit the signed hard copy, which is then scanned into a database which is then checked for double counting. All very efficient, in an Egyptian type of way. Such a lot of manual work, so few volunteers. I’d love to see the scanning technology, it must be world leading because I know everything in the west is s..t.

Keen observers like me note that the heroic volunteers have to do a lot of work in high summer and, like all of us, are probably short of money in a way which is not going to be fixed up with a communal ‘whip round’. We would be right parts of the work are very expensive. Not only do our friends do the collection and tally they also, for ‘security’ reasons, move the hard copy every few days. This must pose huge logistical and financial demands: fleets of heavy trucks, unloading docks, armadas of fork lifts not to mention the complex and expensive work of scouting for new acres of secure commercial storage every day or two. There must be a lot of large-scale storage space available at short notice, for very short lets and at rock bottom prices to make all this possible.

They don’t solicit donations for this expensive work. This seems odd. I’m concerned that they might be out of pocket. Maybe they are very rich or have rich or powerful friends otherwise how are they going to pay the high security rental and the poor truck drivers who are moving the paper mountain every two days? Computers aren’t cheap either and their regular press conferences at salubrious venues are unlikely to be entirely free.

If half of what they credit themselves with doing is true then it would be the best job application for president I can think of. Corruption free, delivered on time and above expectations and at a rock bottom price. As they say themselves, a perfect job done perfectly. One problem, job applications normally come with independent referee reports.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspec ... -wave.html

Some might think that I’m a wee bit obsessional about the petition. It only looks like that. Really, its fraternal concern for this gigantic task and the skill and efficiency, which obviously underpins this democratic project. After all the decades of lies and fraud I think we can feel confident that this petition shows exactly how far Egypt has triumphed over its dark past and moved into new broad sunlit uplands. I’m also very worried that these kids are seriously out of pocket and need some money. When I emailed them they gave me the account details of a bank in British Virgin Islands. This didn’t seem right so I’ve emailed them again and will keep you posted on how you can help.

A tip. If you can get a shot of the petition I reckon you could ask at least $US1,000 from Reuters, AP, AAP, AFP or the BBC. You will need a wide angle lens, maybe even a fisheye. On the other hand Al Jazzera, with its better local knowledge, will probably call the shot a fraud and refuse to buy. It would only be fair for you to donate the fee back to the volunteers and as I said I will give you the banking details when I get them.

Marx: “History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce”. I hate the old commo. but it’s a good line that seems to fit the bill.


User avatar
Brian Yare
Royal V.I.P
Royal V.I.P
Posts: 2566
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 4:11 pm
Location: Worcester, UK
Has thanked: 720 times
Been thanked: 647 times
Gender:
Contact:
United Kingdom

Re: Lies, Damed Lies & Petitions - 22M Egyptians Can't be Wr

Post by Brian Yare »

"A not very good joke. What is an Egyptian election?"

As anywhere else in the world the man measures in inches (6 or 7, maybe) and the woman confirms the size in cm. And there is also the debate between diameter (or even radius) and circumference.

Sorry, should not be diverting what could be a serious thread, but the news is very slow in coming through today.
Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post
  • The camera never lies!
    by newcastle » » in Politics and Religion
    4 Replies
    1048 Views
    Last post by Horus
  • Lies, Leaks and Regeni.
    by Hafiz » » in News and Sport
    10 Replies
    796 Views
    Last post by newcastle
  • Egypt massacre - then the lies begin
    by jewel » » in Know Egypt
    26 Replies
    2944 Views
    Last post by Dusak
  • Egyptian History Lies-Farag
    by Hafiz » » in Know Egypt
    1 Replies
    1010 Views
    Last post by Hafiz
  • Admitting Wrong
    by LovelyLadyLux » » in Know Egypt
    34 Replies
    2348 Views
    Last post by LovelyLadyLux