Western thinkers and analysts speak of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Nouri Party as representing extremist idea and attitudes. But these are real, uncensored, people voicing those same ideas and exhibiting those same attitudes. It is wrong to think the Egyptian masses do not hold these attitudes toward Israel the Jews and the West.
The “Candid Camera” I love to watch concludes with the phrase “Smile, you’re on ‘Candid Camera.’ ” There was nothing in the Egyptian version to make me smile. It only made me cringe.
Micah D. Halpern is a columnist and social and political commentator. He maintains The Micah Report website (www.micahhalpern.com). His latest book is “Thugs: How History’s Most Notorious Despots Transformed the World through Terror, Tyranny, and Mass Murder” (Thomas Nelson).