camel charge

bilby commented on the word camel charge

Toward the end of Hosni Mubarak's reign there was a bizarre moment when a pro-regime supporter on a camel charged the protesters gathered in Cairo's main square. Though momentarily startled, the protesters refused to disband in the face of this odd and somewhat pathetic attempt at intimidation. Within a couple of days the dictator fled.

I therefore propose camel charge as a term to describe the kind of last ditch attempt that is so absurd and reeking of desperation that it in effect signals that the end truly is nigh. The police would no longer do Mubarak's bidding. The army had refused to fire upon the country's citizens. All that was left was for a few cronies of the Pharaoh to be urged to the streets with whatever they could muster to try to break up the swelling public disobedience. A camel charge.

Something like the political equivalent of jump the shark.

e.g.

"Labor's move to form an alliance with the Greens just days before the State election will ultimately prove to be either a master stroke of opportunism or a camel charge."

February 18, 2011

reesetee commented on the word camel charge

I like it--but I hope that doesn't mean I'll be expected to foment a revolution.

February 18, 2011