If You Aren't Ready For Revolution, You Aren't Paying Attention

Mr. Mubarek - meet Mr. Shoe

 As I watch hundreds of thousands of Egyptians take to the streets of Cairo in celebration of their glorious revolution, I hope for a positive outcome. At the same time, I wonder when our own revolution will begin.

If you don't think we have anything to revolt against, you haven't been paying attention. Either that or you could be part of that tiny, exclusive club for which the status quo is working just fine. Maybe you are "pulling a Mubarek" and you know what the right thing to do is, but refuse to face reality and do it. It is time for the denial to end.

Hosni Mubarek, ex-dictator of Egypt, represents an abusive, exploitive, old order that flourished under the opacity and privacy of our pre-hyperconnected world. Nowadays it is much harder to hide your sins with things like cell phone cameras, the Internet, Twitter, and Julian Assange bringing bright lights to the previously dim corners of ruthless dictatorships and board rooms alike.

We are beginning to see what was previously hidden, and we are having difficulty making sense out of it due to the enormity of the problems unveiled. With this information, the Middle East, including the Egyptian people, have taken action against the abuse and neglect of repressive regimes. And, so far, they are experiencing the surge of energy one gets while being engaged in positive historical change that ushers in a better world. We can learn something from these brave and determined protesters demanding a more just society.

Citizens of consumer nations have also been arming themselves with the floodlights of knowledge, and although they are more like flashlights currently, momentum is building. It is plain who is really responsible for recent flirtations with total economic collapse and the resulting hardship. It is not the unemployed, or those on welfare, or immigrants. It is not education or health care budgets.

The people are waking up to the decades of lies and self-serving shenanigans of the corporate elites and the governments that enable them. What will we do with what we have learned?

Will we demand positive change, like the good and persistent people of the Middle East? Or are we not uncomfortable enough yet? Do we not feel exploited enough? An empty tummy can be quite the motivational factor. Or an empty bank account. Or an empty gas tank. Or empty promises.

If we were marching on the central square, what would your protest sign say?