It sounds like you're generalizing from a couple of conversations. The Arab Spring of 2010-2012 started because citizens in the Arab world wanted more freedoms. The idea that citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, or Syria are "intellectually incapable of understanding" the idea of freedom of speech is insulting.
>The Arab Spring of 2010-2012 started because citizens in the Arab world wanted more freedoms.
I'm not sure they were. They kicked off when food prices spiked, and proximate causes were corruption and unemployment.
Officially endorsed foreign protests against government we don't particularly like are always described as being about freedom in the west for reasons that aren't always good.
>The idea that citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, or Syria are "intellectually incapable of understanding" the idea of freedom of speech is insulting.
As an Egyptian who took part of the arab spring, I really laughed on your argument (sorry no insult). But as simple as argument it is, It doesn't hold because you see the Egyptian currency is no almost 6x less with 10x or more on average for food prices and there is no movement to overthrow the current regime.
And for corruption and unemployment, they are much worse now than before. Then more than half the country are under poverty line, most of middle class became lower class in a couple of years.
There were no particular reason why the uprising happened, of course some people joined because of that. But this wasn't my reason (or majority of people I know).
