[View the story "Searching for the Silver Lining in the Egypt Elections" on Storify]
Searching for the Silver Lining in the Egypt Elections
Storified by · Mon, Jun 18 2012 23:07:53
Egyptian women lining up outside a polling station in CairoDan Finnan
When Egyptian voters headed to the polls for their first free election last month, the social web was alive with pictures of long lines of people waiting to cast their vote, of proud stances and wide smiles, and of fingers stained in purple. Words like "future" and "change" dominated Twitter and Facebook statuses. This time around, the posts were less than optimistic. In fact, in a search on Storify, the only purple-stained finger found in the list of results is of a middle finger pointed toward the sky. But here are a few examples of people who have viewed the weekend election with optimism, or at least found a way to laugh about it.
As Ashraf Khalil noted in one of his posts on the Egyptian elections, his "single favorite ballot spoiler" was from voter Wessam Sherif, who opted for Batman.
صوتي ليك آباتمان #مبطلون#مبطلون
Beyond superhero sketches, people are on the lookout for good news. Dan Murphy, a staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor, asked whether anyone had written a story on the silver lining of the elections.
Has anyone written a silver-lining, "not as bad as it seems" piece on the events in Egypt yesterday? I have yet to see one.Dan Murphy
There were a few posts that fit this description floating out in the Twittersphere, though they were hard to find. Mahmoud Salem, an Egyptian revolutionary activist who was featured in our 50 Best Twitter Feeds about the Middle East article, said that in mourning their losses, Egyptians should not overlook their gains.
He included a list of accomplishments of the revolution in this post titled "Chapter's End."
Chapter's end!In my humble opinion, today concludes the end of the first chapter of the Egyptian revolution. I know that other people have it divided i...
"No matter what the outcome is, I am neither depressed nor demotivated," he wrote. "Whether we like it or not, whether we live to see it or not, this fight will continue."
"I think this is a chance for us all to stop and catch our breath, and organize ourselves to ensure this very complicated chess game plays to our advantage," wrote Assem Memon, a management consultant working for a political party, in another half-cup-full post on "finding hope in the midst of darkness."
The issue here isn't morsi or shafik. It is, as it always been, SCAFAssem Memon
"Personally I have lost hope for any large transformational change in this country, but I would like to believe (maybe naively) that there is still some hope for some gradual change," he continued. "This little hope is worthy of us clinging to it, fighting for it and demanding a more progressive civil Egypt."
IMG_2404Nehal ElSherif
There were several tweeps that seemed to sincerely see a bright side to the Egypt elections.
On the bright side, no matter who wins, will be the first elected president, regardless of whether the elections were impartial #EgyptRana Wasfy
But others were sarcastic.
Morsy is egypt's new president. Look at the bright side, you won't hear "Eh?" From Shafeeq anymore #goodmorningMuna Ali
One Twitter user, @sotsoy, who identifies herself as a Coptic Orthodox Christian and an Egyptian-American, documented her coping strategy with this Twitter picture after the Muslim Brotherhood declared that its candidate had won the election.
Coping with #egyelex results http://pic.twitter.com/d1XuKoTxM.J.Y.
Sarah Gamal Sobh decided to express her thoughts on the elections without words or pictures of chocolate, but instead, with hashtags and a demotivational poster.
#egyelection #morsy #shafik http://pic.twitter.com/B2PZS0UoSarah Gamal Sobh ♕
