On 09/01/2014, at 11:17 PM, Charles Brown <cb31450 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Amid these rival claims, Aswany’s passionate defense of the military
> sits squarely in the mainstream of public opinion, and yet it has
> surprised and disappointed some of his admirers. After all, we expect
> our writers and intellectuals to be moral giants, holding up a mirror
> to the world’s inequities.
Well not moral giants, but some minimum level of honesty is not asking too much. Call me old-fashioned, but an intellectual should at least be able to call a spade a spade, or in this case be able to call a military coup a military coup. Without putting it in inverted commas.
> “There was a warning, and Morsi refused to step down. The Army
> interfered to protect millions who were already in the street. This is
> not a coup d’état.”
Yes, it is a military coup. Warning in advance is irrelevant.
Anyone who can't acknowledge that is either dishonest, or simply far too stupid to merit being called an "intellectual".
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas