that people are realizing that other people are willing to speak out. that other people are willing to take risks and then they're more willing to take risk. as you heard, as people sacrificed their lives for this -- in protest, then you have funerals and that begins to escalate. that's a cycle we've seen in many countries. but in syria, it really takes tremendous courage. >> the police state in syria is omnipresent. it's the same phrase breaking down that wall of fear, same phrase we heard in egypt early on, people saying "fear had been defeated." it's interesting that the demonstrations in syria, that so far at this point the people have not been calling for the president to actually step down. and yet he's not taking that as an opportunity to kind of show his willingness to, you know, go after corruption, go after reform. >> that's right. although of course they are asking for things that would make it much harder for him to rule. they are asking for the release of political prisoners, they're