Aren't Tear Gas and Bullets Obsolete?

It wasn't so long ago that I mused in a speculative way on uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. I didn't really think it was going to turn out to be so BIG! Tomorrow a protest is scheduled for the Big Enchilada, Saudi Arabia. Is this the End? Will lightning strike twice? My guess is that the Saudi protest will stay somewhat subdued.

Isn't shooting protesters rather old-fashioned and unnecessary? It creates martyrs. The next day there is a public funeral, and the mob is itching for revenge. Maybe a reader knows how it works when they non-violently arrest a protester. Aren't you required to have your national identification card with you at all times in most countries? So they know who you are, and then enter that number into the computer. You are marked for life.

Many of the protesters are young. Do they expect to ever get a government job someday? And that's the biggest part of the economy these days, directly or indirectly. 

Even if the protesters' side won eventually, wouldn't a police record be a disadvantage, with all the unemployment? Successful revolutionaries are likely to become reactionary and repressive once they get in power. At the very least, the boss should suspect the rock-throwing youngster as being likely to hang around the office coffee pot and complain about the boss.

What about college loans, small business loans to open a pita shop, home loans, or health care. A black mark against you, held forever in the computer, means that the government could threaten you in any number of ways. So why does it need to shoot anybody?

So maybe protesters leave their national IDs at home on the big day and can't be identified. But that strikes at the heart of the regime. You'd think people who committed that unthinkable crime would be imprisoned for years.