Resolving with Rhetoric

This week I was filling out an application for the Presidential Leadership Academy at Penn State and I was asked to write an essay about the "Arab Spring." Considering I have not updated myself on current events, I researched the topic. The severity of this revolutionary movement shocked me.  How could all this be going on and I haven't heard anything about it? But as I analyzed the disputable origin of the topic, I realized that rhetoric could be a step toward resolving this great turmoil.

Here's my summary in order to update yourself on the topic:

Sparked by the bold protest of one Tunisian man, the fire of the "Arab Spring" was fueled by inflation, unemployment, and lack of freedom of expression. Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, the President of Tunisia, promised to take action. But this action wasn't referring to ceasing the effects of inflation, unemployment, and lack of freedom. Rather, it was a reference to simply stop the protests, which ironically represents an effort to eliminate these great sufferings that fuel the despair facing the Arab world. Therefore, the dominant factor that resulted in this array of protests was not the spark felt by the fire of the first protestor, Mohamed Bouazizi; but rather, the impact of the government's absence of action.  Feeling pressure to take action themselves, protestors press on. The Tunisian people’s uprising protests led the rest of the Arab world to question their government’s authority. Ben Ali fled his own country from these horrible attacks. How can the people feel safe when even their own leader is hiding from what they have no choice but to face? "The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity," Obama said. But instead through the lack of government reassurance, great turmoil has been caused. Although there has been change sparked by these protests, peace will not come until democracy rings throughout the Arab world. If one country obtains democracy, another is going to press harder, with stronger protests, which will result in the Arab spring’s impact being long-lasting. This impact will consist of more violent attempts but it will eventually result in a sense of unity among the Arab world through the need for action and freedom.

The lack of communication between the government and the people prevent democracy from forming. People are becoming impatient with the government not acting or even speaking of a plan to form democracy and be at peace.

This image displays the revolution as a roller coaster- which is exactly what it is.  People are scared and consequently acting rashly over and over again.  The governments are attempting to solve the situation by simply stopping the protest and trying to quiet the dispute of their people.  But the protests will only become more frequent.  They must except that there is turmoil among their people in order to resolve the situation instead of avoiding the argumentative issue at hand.  Rather than assessing this issue head on, the governments try to simply prevent the protests by stopping them through military forces, instead of trying to understand their people.  Obviously the protests are a sign that this isn't a productive way of governing.  Avoiding arguments are common among everyday disputes, but I didn't realize that it could be the source of a long-lasting political issue.