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More Images From Lebanon's Cedar Revolution: Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy; Or Civil War?.

In the President weekly radio address this morning, George W. Bush advanced the issue of freedom in the Middle East, noting:

Today we're seeing hopeful signs across the broader Middle East. The victory of freedom in Iraq is strengthening a new ally in the war on terror, and inspiring democratic reformers from Beirut to Tehran. Today, women can vote in Afghanistan, Palestinians are breaking the old patterns of violence, and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese are rising up to demand their sovereignty and democratic rights. These are landmark events in the history of freedom. Only the fire of liberty can purge the ideologies of murder by offering hope to those who yearn to live free.

We've offered pictures (found here, here, and here) of Lebanese protesters, but here are some more (click images for larger versions):

In some ways, the Lebanese demonstrations resemble some kind of supercharged, post-feminist pep rally at Stanford University.

No offense to the lovely ladies of Stanford, but Palo Alto would be lucky to have the kind of talent on recent display in Beirut.

Why does WILLisms.com continue to post pictures of Lebanese demonstrators, days after the demonstrations?

Solidarity.

The Lebanese lovers of freedom need our support.

Syria is still trying to intimidate the forces of freedom and indepedence, a point the recent car bomb in a suburb of Beirut underscores.

Syria must not succeed.

One question you may ask looking at all these pictures: do women vastly outnumber men in Lebanon?

Light Seeking Light blog explains that Beirut does indeed have far more women than men, noting this tidbit from a Slate article:

Because the economy is so bad [in Beirut], and so many younger people, mostly men, are forced to emigrate to find work, the ratio of marriageable women to men, my friend Rouba explains, is something like 4-to-1.

Four-to-one seems way too lopsided, but it is probably true that there are slightly more women than men in Beirut due to economic pressures, although Lebanon's economy has been growing at a steady pace over the past few years. Women are more likely to attend college, and Beirut is Lebanon's capital of higher education, so that could have something to do with it.

More likely, the Lebanese opposition has been consciously highlighting its women, and that echo-chamber of sexiness has brought in other young women who want to see their faces on the covers of magazines like Newsweek, The Economist, and The Weekly Standard. Meanwhile, men otherwise relatively content with the status quo are drawn to the movement to meet (or merely gawk at) chicks.

Much more on The Babe Theory of Political Movements coming soon, so stay tuned to WILLisms.com for more.

Posted by Will Franklin · 19 March 2005 01:49 PM

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