BuzzFeed List Insults And Debases The Egyptian Revolution

Following a massacre of 50 Islamist protesters, the interim government in Egypt selected a temporary prime minister on Tuesday and detailed a six-month timetable to restore democracy. BuzzFeed, a news website that mixes serious articles with entertaining lists or “listicles,” decided to summarize the conflict with a list of .gif images from the 1993 movie “Jurassic Park.”

Laura Dern's face in the above image is sort of how I felt when reading this "listicle."

Look, Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies (I may or may not have had a few dinosaur posters as a child), but it has absolutely nothing to do with the revolution in Egypt. BuzzFeed “staff writer” Benny Johnson does nothing to actually help explain the conflict to those who may be unfamiliar to it. He merely reduces the complex and violent struggle of an oppressed people hoping for democracy to CGI dinosaurs.

There isn’t a single mention of the hundreds of lives lost in the protests. Instead, the Egyptian people are compared to a bloodthirsty, acid-spitting monster.

The worst part is that it’s not even good at its own insulting metaphor. Jeff Goldblum’s character apparently represents the “international community” and Egypt, and Morsi is represented by three different Jurassic Park characters.

It seems pretty clear that the website has no ambition to be anything more than mindless entertainment. And that’s fine, but they can at least try to do a good job of it. Aspire to more, BuzzFeed.