The delusion that Aaron Swartz is Mohamed Bouazizi

Some people have compared the suicide of Aaron Swartz to the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, an act of desperation which ignited the Arab Spring.

Mohamed's suicide stemmed from an affront to his dignity, a situation that the majority of Tunisians readily identified with; while Aaron's suicide stemmed from the hopelessness felt by those who are trapped in the brutal American injustice system, a situation that the majority of Americans have either passively tolerated or enthusiastically supported for quite some time. I don't fully understand why, but they have. 

Only a relatively small number of Americans know who Aaron Swartz was. And the ones that do have influence mainly in the virtual world of the Internet. As important as that influence may be, it doesn't equate to real world influence in the way that Mohamed's death did.

Even if those who do commiserate with Aaron's predicament were to completely cripple the Internet and/or the financial system, the powers that be in the real world would still have the ability to kick the shit out of both them and the rest of us. And would not hesitate to do so. Anyone recall those videos of police gleefully spraying protesters in the eyes with chemicals, a malicious act for which no one in authority was punished?

So ... there will be no American Spring. At least not because of Aaron. And that is a shame.