He listens to people a lot and uses his brain

July 16, 2013 10:05 AM

I'm here today to help prevent Egypt from becoming a commodity owned by one person. A 12-year-old Egyptian comments on the political situation in his country. (SLYT)
posted by shivohum (9 comments total)

Sensible kid. I liked that he was obviously a bit exasperated by the interviewer talking down to him - "I listen to people a lot, and I use my own brain".
posted by jack_mo at 10:13 AM on July 16, 2013

The cynic in me was suspicious that this wasn't what he was really saying...that the "translation" was being superimposed afterwards. But apparently it's legit.

Give him a show on CNN today and he would instantly be their best analyst.
posted by dry white toast at 10:21 AM on July 16, 2013

I think we consistently under estimate our childrens' ability to reason and understand. Kids learn and reason as well as any of us (better, really), they just don't have all of the context that we do as adults in which to evaluate the things they're thinking about. A child focused on a political situation is just as apt to understand it well as is a child focused on gymnastics or dinosaurs or whatever we might think of as "childish".
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 10:24 AM on July 16, 2013 [4 favorites]

Anyone want to take bets as to how many CNN/NBC/ABC/FOX pundits discussing the Egypt situation have read the draft of the constitution?

So yeah, I'd watch this young man as a talking head discussing the evolving situation in Egypt any day over the current batch of pundits.
posted by el io at 11:18 AM on July 16, 2013 [4 favorites]

A great man wrote: "The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face."
posted by Nomyte at 12:19 PM on July 16, 2013 [4 favorites]

Ali Ahmed: We didn't get rid of a military regime to replace it with a fascist theocracy.

Interviewer [disingenuously]: Fascist theocracy? I don't even know what that means.

Ali Ahmed [without missing a beat]: Fascist theocracy is when you manipulate religion and enforce extremist regulations in the name of religion, even though religion doesn't command that.

Awesome. I mean, even if some of these phrases and ideas are pre-formulated based on what he has read or been told, he has fully digested them and is able to assemble complete, coherent thoughts extemporaneously in response to the questions.
posted by fikri at 12:33 PM on July 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

Smart, articulate and confident lad - good luck to him and his.

Also... Yay, confirmation bias...
posted by stanf at 2:10 PM on July 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Interviewer [disingenuously]: Fascist theocracy? I don't even know what that means.
If he did, he'd see it applied in several American states. Christian Sharia Law, currently in Beta.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:33 PM on July 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

Fascist theocracy is not exclusive to Islam. But we know that.
posted by arzakh at 8:30 PM on July 16, 2013