Let’s not romanticize the Egyptian protests

The Egyptian protests that threaten the power of Mohammed Morsi, the nation’s Islamist president, are a very welcome development. But lest anyone conclude that all opposition to Morsi is benign, check out the photo accompanying yesterday’s New York Times article about the demonstrations, in which Morsi’s face appears inside the Star of David on the Israeli flag.

Given Egypt’s parlous economic situation and inherent instability, is it far-fetched to hypothesize that, if Egypt had elected a good democratic secularist a year ago, we’d be seeing the same kinds of demonstrations that are occurring now, with the Muslim Brotherhood filling in for the democratic secularist portion of the current foot soldiers?

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