Tag Archives: Lebanon

Bullying in Lebanon

I was sitting in a class yesterday when an openly gay guy sat next to me. I’m not very good friends with him (I barely know him) but he seems like a cool guy. I know of at least one incidence after an exam where he was more caring about how my friend and I had performed than many people we know.

So the desk he sat at had the following scribbles: [His name] is gay.

The guy took it with humor. He doesn’t care and the people that care about him don’t care either. He took his pen and scribbled down: And proud. He then signed.

I, however, felt bad for him. I have no idea why but I got the feeling that he put on this facade of the non-caring person who ridicules these kinds of insults, but on the inside he was hurt.

A similar thing happened with another person I know, who was forced to come out because of bullying. Everyone started to make fun of him (and imagine your whole age group making fun of you). But he still held his head high and went through it. While I have some reservations on many things this person did, I have to admit that he was being, in a way, bullied.

Bullying in Lebanon – and other countries for that matter – has always been against those perceived as weaker than us, be it racially, sexually, religion-wise, etc….

So just let me say this. Bullying does not make you a better person – on the contrary, it makes you ridiculous. Whether you enjoy the little surge in power that you get when you make someone lesser than you feel bad, just know that this lesser person is the better person and better people are the people who ultimately get the good jobs, the nice girlfriends (or boyfriends) and lead the better life.

So if you’re a bully, take a minute to ponder how horrible you’d feel if the same things you’re doing to those you are bullying are being done to you.

And as final food for thought: aren’t we all bullies? haven’t we all made fun – at certain points – of people that we see as “lesser” than us?

Drunk Thursday

It is that time of the year again – the time where we attempt to celebrate our ancestor’s traditions in the period leading up to lent.

One of the most loved traditions will take place tomorrow: Drunk Thursday, aka the only day of the year where getting wasted in front of your parents is met with cheers.

The tradition – or at least what I’ve come to understand of it – goes as follows. On the last Thursday before lent, the whole family gets together for one last shindig before lent starts. It used to be that people gave up everything that made them happy for the lent period, alcohol included. So this “drunk Thursday” served as their last serious farewell to the substance, giving it up until Easter rolled over.

Disregarding what alcohol does to your liver and other vital organs, I think it’s an awesome tradition. It just has this Lebanese familial feel to it that I believe has been decreasing over the years. It’s always nice to sit with your parents over a glass of wine and chat. Now take the wine and extrapolate to a certain unknown power and throw in a few extra family members, some of which you do not want to mingle with and you’re in for one exciting evening – be it you are an atheist or not. This is not a religious occasion, per se.

I’ve personally never celebrated the day properly with my family. Other people my age have had their own share of “Drunk Thursdays” but getting drunk has always eluded me. I have no idea why. God knows I’ve tried. I’ve also taken up drinking quite late compared to other Lebanese my age. Apparently the “acquired taste” of alcohol required extra-acquiring by yours truly. So it looks like this year will be the one time my family gets together to “celebrate” this day properly. And I have to say, I’m excited about it!

Keeping up with traditions – even though our understanding of them might have become different – is always important because it roots us further in our identity. Even if the tradition is as simple as binge drinking with your dad.

So is your family getting together tomorrow to get drunk?

 

A Middle Eastern Revolution Overdose?

Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria… and now people wanting to overthrow the system in Lebanon. I find myself wondering if it’s getting way out hand – if people are suddenly beginning to take advantage of this surge in regional adrenaline.

Do we really need to march down and demonstrate to overthrow the system in Lebanon? Is it really the best option we’ve got?

We are the only country in the region that actually has a democracy that functions – regardless of whether you think it functions properly or not, we can still vote, get our voices heard and be able to do marches like the one planned today. Sure, we have many shortcomings but I believe they dwarf in comparison to what the people of Egypt, Tunisia had to go through to get where we were in the 1940s, let alone what the people of Libya are going through as we speak.

To change the system in Lebanon, I don’t believe you need a revolution. I think you need common sense, one that is easily blinded when excitement surges among the people. Look at it this way: say the planned “revolution” succeeds and a secular state is enforced, do you honestly think that will happen without changing the basic foundation upon which the state is built? And by that I mean democracy. Do you really think shoving down secularism down people’s throats would get you further?

The people of Lebanon are not secular people because that is not how they were brought up. To move towards a secular state, you need to have a secular mind – one that is only present in a handful of people currently. And I don’t think the current political atmosphere in the country warrants further upheaval.

The best way, in my opinion, to have a peaceful and logical transition into a secular state is via a major overhaul of the education system. You cannot keep on teaching the same things being taught dealing with the way the country is run and still believe a secular state is plausible. People need to be taught on embracing the different other in a more hands-on approach, people need to be exposed more to the other’s religion and we need to at least have a version of our history that does not stop when the French Army vacated its barracks in 1946. By having an education system that invites people to become more aware of the different other, perhaps we can start moving our minds towards becoming truly secular and understanding that if I, a Maronite, do not have the presidency written for my sect, that’s okay. Or if you, a Shiite, don’t necessarily get the speaker of parliament, that’s okay as well. Same thing applies for the Sunnis and all the other sects.

Moving towards a secular Lebanon is a very hard thing to accomplish. The movement towards that should be transitory and not blunt. It should be accepted and not forced. Therefore, uniting Lebanon starts by letting the people of Lebanon share their ideas and come to common grounds with those ideas. Uniting Lebanon does not come by having one idea forced upon everyone. That would be basically a dictatorship.

On a final note, I invite people not to fall into the misconception that atheism is synonymic to secularism. It has become a common belief among many in Lebanon that the two are inherently related. That is far from the case. I also hope that we appreciate what we’ve got in our country and not take it for granted. We are still the only democracy in the region and it’ll take the countries that have had recent revolutions years to get to where we are today – regardless of what you might think lacks in our democracy. Is a revolution an answer? I don’t think so. Do we need to move towards a secular state? I believe it’s a necessity. How? Let’s just say, don’t get carried away by political excitement.

Google Translate’s Hidden Political Message?

I found this out today and thought it’s interesting enough to blog about it.

1) Go to Google Translate.

2) Choose your input language as English, output as Arabic. Type in: Israel Will Finish.

3) Take out the resultant translation and translate it back to English. Check out the result.

4) Try out any other country. I’ve tried Lebanon and the U.S.A.



You can’t blame the interlingual variations for the difference you see here. Thoughts?

Thank You Egypt

For once in a long, long time, we, Lebanese, are not in the spotlight of the political scene. We took a backseat and observed a revolution in Egypt that managed to get the country’s 30 year-president resigned.

So today, instead of saying “Thank You Qatar” for building a bridge somewhere or a sewage system in a remote village, we say “Thank You Egypt” for building hope inside every person who has ever been oppressed.

In just two weeks and despite the many bumps they faced, Egyptians were able to get the president that ruled them for thirty years to resign. Were they scared? Yes they were. Did they lose lives? 300 of them. Were they injured? In their thousands. But they kept on. They persevered.

This perseverance is letting me breathe today with hope that tomorrow will bring a better day for all of us. I am hoping that this dawn of freedom will shine on all states where oppression is still ruling.  Egypt has even given me hope for change in my own country, Lebanon. The courage the Egyptians have shown has instilled in me faith that I can pull off the same thing over here against those that I fear are trying to silence me, be it with harsh words, weapons or threats.

So today, let me say “thank you Egypt” on behalf of myself and everyone who believes this region deserves better than those who are running it. And let me raise a glass to all the brave men and women who, against all odds, triumphed. Maybe some other countries will follow suit? And yes, I am glaring at a bunch of them now.