What did President Hosni Mubarak say when his top advisor came into his office and said, “Congratulations Mr. Mubarak, you won the election with 99.9 percent of the vote?” Mubarak replied, “Bring me the names of the other 0.1 percent.”

I heard jokes like this all over Egypt during my nearly four months studying there, although rarely in public where Mubarak sympathizers may have overheard them. That fear has now been overcome by the millions protesting in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria, by the military standing with the protestors, and by the “Big Brother” posters of Mubarak being torn down. So why do they hate him so much? And why are they standing up now?

First of all, for a couple of reasons, not all Egyptians hate Mubarak.

For one thing, Mubarak has maintained peace and stability in foreign affairs for the entirety of his 29 years in office. Egyptians really value this lasting peace, and Mubarak’s foreign policy is respected. His maintenance of peace with Israel and close ties with America have also brought in over $2 billion in U.S. aid per year, and the Egyptians aren’t exactly sending it back.

Additionally, Mubarak is seen by many Egyptians as the lesser of two, or perhaps many, evils. Whether it is because his regime has repressed opposition leaders, or simply absorbed them into his own party through patronage, a viable second party has never really challenged Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP). The Muslim Brotherhood, the second most organized political party, is also feared by secular Egyptians, and even more by the United States.

That said, the vast majority of Egyptians do want Mubarak out. His regime bans political parties, rigs elections, lies to the people, arrests thousands without cause, and cuts off the Internet. During my time in Egypt I witnessed three instances of abuse of power that made me want “Ramses the Twelfth,” as Egyptians call him, out too.

He steals. He bribes. He Photoshops.

When I traveled to the southern city of Luxor, I visited the Valley of the Kings, where over 30 pharaohs are buried. A new tomb had recently been discovered there, stocked with burial riches and priceless artifacts. Yet apparently, the week before I visited, one of Mubarak’s sons came to Luxor, temporarily shut down the operation, and took whatever he wanted from the tomb. The Egyptians are proud of their ancient predecessors, and I saw this abuse of power in Luxor as a slap in the face to the nation’s history and to the principles of governmental responsibility.

On Election Day, I went to a polling station in Alexandria and found police at the gates “checking” party ID cards. Every single campaign banner was for candidates in the ruling National Democratic Party, (NDP) and it was rumored that you could get up to 200 pounds, or even some Viagra, for a vote for the NDP. Protests were rare and subdued by the Amon Markazi, or Central Security, whose members kept their eyes peeled and their batons and tear gas ready for potential upsets. Over 1,500 Muslim Brotherhood members were imprisoned in the time before the election. Opposition parties won a total of six seats in Parliament, with the banned Muslim Brotherhood winning zero seats, down from 80 seats in the 2005 election. Most of my Egyptian friends decided not to vote; they saw no reason, no hope for change, and no chance that their vote would be counted.

Mubarak also controls the flow of information. The most circulated newspaper, Al-Ahram, is government controlled and funded. In the aftermath of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Sharm El-Sheik, Al-Ahram published a Photoshopped photo depicting Mubarak and Obama together, while the real photo had Mubarak behind the rest of the leaders. Other newspapers published the real picture, the un-Photoshopped version, but with 80 percent of Egyptians reading the government paper, false information was always the norm.

I was outraged by these incidents, but I was also outraged by the fact that nobody did anything about it. The people were scared into being quiet, not voting, not joking, and, most seriously, not hoping.

But the revolution in Tunisia gave them hope. The embattled people of Egypt realized that if they reached a critical mass, they couldn’t all be beaten or arrested. It sounds trite, but four months in Egypt made me realize how lucky we are in America to have the freedoms we do, to have an independent press, to be able to walk the streets without fear of police. Many are worried about what will happen next in Egypt, and I can only hope that my friends in Egypt will someday, sooner than later, be able experience these freedoms as well.