Tag Archives: Twitter

Modern Day Lebanese “Activists”

Long gone are the days when being a Lebanese activist meant bracing yourself against the tyranny of the Syrian army in order to get them off your land. Long gone are the days when being a Lebanese activist meant physically protesting the Israeli occupation of your country. Long gone are the days when Lebanese activists were truly active.

Today, you are called an activist if you have the following: a blog and a twitter account. Why so? Because the majority of self-proclaimed activists use those two means the most in communicating their ideology. The ideology in question is a neo-leftist manifesto that hides under an umbrella of no politics.

And so the activism begins. Some child is killed in Gaza, let’s tweet about it. Some woman is raped in Lebanon, let’s post a Facebook status about it. Gas prices are going up, let’s blog about it.

Now you might ask me: but you’ve done those exact same things!

Yes, I concede. The slight distinction is I’m not a self-proclaimed activist. I don’t want to be an activist. I don’t have the word activist in my twitter bio, nor on my Facebook account. I don’t want activists to start “free Elie” campaigns if I end up going to jail for something illegal that I did. I don’t want my blog to be that of a Lebanese activist. I am simply a proud Lebanese who shares his interests and the woes of his society that he finds relevant.

Lebanese activists nowadays have redefined activism.

A Lebanese “artist” possibly defames our president and is brought into questioning? This is an obvious breach of freedom of speech. Why? because libel is under the jurisdiction of free speech these days.

Two Lebanese “activists” decide to write anti-Assad slogans on a wall and they get arrested? This is a travesty. How is vandalizing public property not a form of artistic free speech?

An “activist” is called out for a blinded mentality? They all rally behind their own. They can never be wrong. You are never right. You cannot criticize them being arrested for any reason whatsoever. You lack empathy. You lack compassion. How patriotic can you be when these people are giving their all to save you?

You really don’t understand, do you? These are neo-holy creatures. Their sacrifices are incomparable. You cannot fathom how much they take out of their time just to give you a better country and community.

An activist gets arrested? It cannot but be because security had an eye for him/her for a long time. Someone who has done SO much for your country cannot be in the wrong. Ever. This is a fact.

They call for a state of law. Once the law is applied, which happens once in a blue moon, they cry against it. Why? They argue that worse things are still happening elsewhere. Well, try to make sense of that argument.

What’s worse, if you don’t agree with most of what’s previously mentioned then you are simply unworthy, for lack of better words.

Activism in Lebanon is tweeting your fingers away, updating your Facebook status, while checking in at the protest or at the site of where you’ve decided to draw a graffiti on foursquare . It’s choosing passepartout causes and going with the flow. Today’s topic could be AIDS, tomorrow let’s make it gay rights. The day after that, why not dabble our fingers in some cinema? And down the list we go.

Their revolutions are ones that consists of drawing graffiti on a wall or writing a scathing blog post about an issue. Their logic is so impeccable that comparisons are drawn between, well, anything: graffiti and gas prices? Why not. Movie bans and electricity? Of course.

Today, even our activism has become sedentary.

But don’t tell them I told you that.

Kelly Clarkson Endorses Ron Paul For US Presidency – Receives Twitter Backlash

I may not be a fan of her latest album, Stronger, but I definitely appreciate the guts it took Kelly Clarkson to come out and support a conservative candidate for the US Republican ticket – and ultimately, the presidency.

Like Ron Paul or not, like Kelly Clarkson or not, everyone is entitled to an opinion and ridiculing them because of their opinion is not really the way people should behave in the 21st century where your opinion has become more public than anyone thinks. A tweet, deleted a few seconds later, can have its screenshot taken and forever be present in the digital age.

But no matter, back to the Kelly Clarkson issue. The pop singer tweeted the following a few hours ago:

The rest of the tweet goes as follows: “I love Ron Paul. I liked him a lot during the last republican nomination and no one gave him a chance. If he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he’s got my vote. Too bad he probably won’t.”

Immediately after, Clarkson started receiving hate tweets because of her views, some of which are too indecent to be posted, well, anywhere. So Clarkson tweeted again:

“I am really sorry if I have offended anyone. Obviously that was not my intent. I do not support racism. I support gay rights, straight rights, women’s rights, men’s rights, white/black/purple/orange rights. I like Ron Paul because he believes in less government and letting the people (all of us) make the decisions and mold our country. That is all. Out of all of the Republican nominees, he’s my favorite.”

And then subsequently, when people who were bashing her did not relax:

 “Man my eyes have been opened to so much hate tonight. If y’all ever disagree with something I say please don’t feel the need to attack me. I will listen to what you say and any articles or viewpoints you have when you say it with respect. Being hateful is not a healthy way to get people to see or hear you. I was raised to respect people and their decisions and beliefs and I hope you will grant me the same decency. If you don’t agree with me simply unfollow me. It’s really that easy. I hope you don’t because I would love the chance to hear what you have to say but if you’re so blinded by hate you can’t seek peace and progress then that is your unfortunate prerogative.”
But enough with the introduction. The whole point of this post is not to be pro-Ron Paul or against Ron Paul. It’s simply a defense of free speech, one that I frankly expected people of the country that calls for this type of freedom the most to at least know what it means.
Freedom of speech does not entitle you to bash or harass another person just because they have an opinion that differs from yours. Freedom of speech allows you to respectfully disagree and voice your concern or idea to that person in a respectful debate.
And the ironic thing is, I’m a Lebanese preaching this.
The other point behind this post is to say that Kelly Clarkson, though admittedly republican, voted for Obama in the last elections. And yet, this particular point doesn’t seem to be addressed by many. I wonder why is that so? Is it maybe because being a Republican artist in the US is frowned upon as uncool while being a Democrat is revered? There is definitely a double standard here. If Clarkson had endorsed Obama, I’m more than certain this whole debacle and this subsequent post that I’m writing wouldn’t have existed in the first place.
Third, many reply tweets to Kelly Clarkson mentioned that Ron Paul was anti-gay and a racist person, mostly basing their ideas on the following “quotes” attributed to Paul:
“The rate of AIDS infection is on the increase again. From the gay point of view, the reasons seem quite sensible. First, these men don’t really see a reason to live past their fifties. They are not married, they have no children, and their lives are centered on new sexual partners… because sex is the center of their lives, they want it to be as pleasurable as possible, which means unprotected sex. Third, they enjoy the attention & pity that comes with being sick.””If you live in a major city, you’ve probably already heard about the newest threat to your life and limb, and your family: carjacking. It is the hip-hop thing to do among the urban youth who play unsuspecting whites like pianos.”

 These quotes are misleading because 1. They were never written by Ron Paul and 2. They are part of an infamous newsletter that he absolutely denies writing.
Ron Paul is obviously anti-gay, as are many US politicians, but there are definitely more important issues, such as the economy, that are in the forefront for many Americans, including many homosexual men and women. Call me old-fashioned or conservative but I think having a home to raise your family and a job to sustain them, as well as a secure environment for their proper upbringing, are more important than which gender gets to marry which other gender. I’m not advocating for or against gay marriage. I’m simply saying there are more important things that a person can base a vote upon.
Finally, kudos to Kelly Clarkson for speaking her mind and stating her opinion. Back in 2008, when people were “baracking” the vote, somehow when all celebrities endorsed Obama, no one was taken aback. But when you stray away from the “media-approved” political path, you get bashed.
At the end of the day, celebrities all have an opinion and a right to state it. Whether you like their opinion or not, whether you approve of them voicing it or not is a different matter altogether.

The French Experience – Lourdes

We left St. Etienne and the family that welcomed us for three nights on the morning of August 10th.

We had a ten hour route to Lourdes, the infamous pilgramage sight that many Lebanese have/want to visit/ed. And with delays bound to happen, and with the French law dictating thirty minutes of rest for every two hours of driving, we got to Lourdes twelve hours later.

It was 7:30 pm and time for dinner, as set by the French. We didn´t even have time to take pictures as we ran to the huge grass field we were seated in for some fish and rice.

Soon after, we had about thirty minutes to visit before mass. Naturally, I visited the infamous cave where St. Bernadette dug to reveal a small stream of holy water. Then, with two Lebanese girls, I ran to the statue of Mary that was set as gathering point only to find no one there.

Then, we were joined by ten other Lebanese who couldn´t find the remainder of the group. And it was time for a Marial Procession around the grounds. Imagine ten thousand people of a multitude of nationalities chanting Ave Maria together, to a backdrop of an epic-looking church, and you get the sense of what Lourdes is.

Not only is it a Holy place but it´s a location where I, as non-devout Christian, and despite the looming idea of having to sleep on the floor with two hundred other French guys, in a gym, and not being able to shower, was able to find some peace.

The idea of sitting there, looking at nothing except the statue of Virgin Mary and her smiling at you – there´s just something comforting about that.

Then a French woman came up to us after seeing the flag we were holding. She told us how she visits Lebanon often and how she is mesmerized by the culture of the country. In fact, and I quote, she said the following: “I have no roots in the orient, but I love your country, Lebanon, as much as I love my country, France.”

Needless to say, I felt proud. And this sense of pride about my country – despite all our problems – will only grow as my trip moves forwards.

But back to Lourdes… even at 11 pm in the evening, the queue line to visit the Grotto was about a hundred meter long. So we had to wait for the other Lebanese who actually attended mass (yes, we got reprimanded for getting lost although it wasn´t really our fault) to visit.

And while at Lourdes, I lit a candle as a prayer for many people who asked. My cousin asked me to pray for her success in Lebanon´s second round of official exams. Micheline Hazou asked me on twitter to pray for her too and my aunt had a private wish she wanted to pass on. I did all of those in one candle. And you know what, I think my prayer was answered, at least somewhat. My cousin passed.

I guess we have to wait to see if the remaining part of my attempt at a prayer worked. But I´d like to believe it did…

And so we had a long walk back to the gym. You see, Lourdes was closed soon after 12 pm for rehearsals for a play that was shown on August 15th. After all, Spain and Toledo awaited us in a few hours…

 

When Companies Swap Logos

After all the seriousness of my previous few posts, which I’m sure bored a lot of you, it’s time to post something fun. And I recently ran across this and found it to be quite interesting.

Have you ever thought about how it would be if Pepsi and Coca-Cola swapped logos? Or if any of the world’s rival companies did so?

Well, no need to imagine that anymore. Here are pictures that will show you.

Pepsi and Coca-Cola:

McDonald’s and Burger king:

Ferrari and Ford:

Fedex and UPS:

Google and Yahoo:

Audi and BMW:

Visa and Mastercard:

Skype and Google Talk:

iPhone and Android:

Nike and Puma:

Twitter and Facebook:

Dear Lebanese, Stop Selling Your Country Short

Lebanon is not a perfect country. It has its obvious and grave flaws. But it exists.

It might be rickety. You might think the foundations are not solid. But the country has pulled through too much: civil war, several occupations, invasions, Israeli wars…
We pride ourselves on being resilient. We describe Beirut by saying it’s a “phoenix”, albeit quite cliche, always rising from the ashes.

But I digress.

What we also do is bash our country left and right, up and down. And every direction in between those anytime something we do not agree with happens.
Let me illustrate this.

The most recent example is the arrest of Zeid Hamdan today, after being accused of libel against the Lebanese president, following a rather useless song.
The moment Zeid was taken into custody, Lebanese twitter and Facebook users were up in protest. The Facebook page dedicated to freeing Zeid gained about 2000 followers in a few hours. All good, right? I mean, the arrest was ridiculous. The law upon which the arrest was based needs to be revised. It’s no longer 1926 when our constitution was “inspired” by the French one at the time. France changed theirs. It’s high time we change ours.
Another side of the Zeid Hamdan arrest was a lot of Lebanese people bashing their country, some calling it a useless place, others calling it a failure of a nation, while some called it a piece of sh*t.

In another example, some people have expressed their desire to change their citizenship and abandon this tragedy of a country. The cause for such feelings? Some beaches in Lebanon only allow couples to be admitted.

Some have called the nation a failure because our phones are not cheap and our internet isn’t fast. The basis for that comparison? A country whose system is a failing monarchy.

Others have expressed that sentiment when they got stuck in traffic. I’m sure those people haven’t heard of the ridiculous traffic that hit L.A. a few days ago, or the traffic that lasted a week in China. But you know, you’re Lebanese. You nag.

Just because our political system is in a perpetually fragile equilibrium doesn’t mean the whole system is a failure. Just because power transfers easily doesn’t mean the country is a failure.

And you know what the most ridiculous thing is, our expectations are so low of anything Lebanon-related that we’re willing to believe any rumor that defames the country as a whole. I’m sure you all remember how NewTV decided to announce that our National Anthem is stolen from some dead quasi-Moroccan kingdom, which named itself “The Kingdom of Peasants.” The news spread like wildfire. Some of the Facebook statuses and tweets at the time: Even our anthem is stolen. We’re such a ridiculous country.
And what do you know, the whole rumor turned out to be false. It turned out that those Moroccan peasants stole our anthem. I wonder, why weren’t the NewTV people arrested for defamatory behavior against the whole country?

This is historically a chronic problem in Lebanon, selling the nation short while idealizing a foreign ideology as it might be the quick fix to our problems. In the 1950’s and 60’s many thought that Nasser’s Arabist ideology would be the great fix for Lebanon. People thought that his brave speeches and anti-West sentiments is what the country needed. Yet I wonder if those people realize that Nasser turned Egypt into a police state, banned political parties and demonstrations, evicted countless minorities, lost at countless wars which bankrupted Egypt, and even used poison gas on people in his war in Yemen. Meanwhile during that time Lebanon was in the midst of a golden age , yet people called for his brand of Arabism thinking it would solve things. And shockingly we have erected a statue to such a bloody dictator right on our own sea front promenade.

We lament our sectarian system and lack of national semblance. Let’s take a closer look at our neighbors that we envy so much. Sudan has recently split into two states. The South finally won its independence after years of bloody civil war, and yes a civil war longer then the Lebanese civil war! Southerners revolted against a forced campaign of Arabism and lack of freedom. In Iraq where Kurds were victims of genocide, they now have their own autonomous zone, and the state acts as a loose federation. Morocco has witnessed a huge rebel movement in its Western Sahara province which now has its own autonomy. Egypt for the last three decades has seen spats of sectarian violence where the Coptic minority still does not have the right to build churches. And one can only begin to imagine how Shiites are treated in the GCC states.

This may come as a shock to many Lebanese but Lebanon is still #1 in the region for media and civil rights. According to pew polls %97 of Lebanese Muslims view Christians favorably while only a dismal %48 of Egyptians do and far ahead of the Arab nations, and for bizarre reasons we say that we aren’t a model of coexistence. Our literacy and education rate is one of the highest in the region and Lebanese universities continue to attract students from across the region. Even Western critics admit that Beirut is the most cosmopolitan city in the region as well as the culinary capital. While many in the Arab world are dying just to ask for presidential term limits, better civil society and free elections, we’ve continued to be on top in those fields for years.

People need to start dwelling on the positives. YOU come from a nation that has produced poets like Khalil Gebran and singers like Fairouz. YOU actually have the freedom to criticize your own state – regardless of what happened today. YOU actually have the freedom to start your own NGO. YOU have the freedom to vote for a political party of your choice. YOU have the freedom to wear what you want. YOU have the freedom to protest for change. YOU have nature reserves. YOU live in the most diverse nation in the region. YOU have banks that weathered the financial meltdown. YOU have cabinet ministers that actually respond. YOU have freedom of press. YOU have the freedom of how you want to identify, i.e. Arab, Phoenician, or whatever.

A few days ago, #BlameTheMuslims was a trending topic on Twitter. People thought it was racist because they missed the point. A Muslim girl started it as a sarcastic approach to how Muslims are portrayed in media. Her initial tweets?
– My battery died. #BlameTheMuslims.
– My shirt got dirty. #BlameTheMulims.
– I’m sleepy. #BlameTheMuslims.
You get the picture.
With some Lebanese, their lifestyle regarding their country is like this.
– My food is cold. #LebanonIsAFailure
– I can’t go to the beach because I don’t have a girlfriend #LebanonIsAFailure
– iPhone is expensive! #LebanonIsAFailure
– It takes me two hours to download a porn video! #LebanonIsAFailure.

So dear Lebanese, when you start selling your country short and whoring your pride around so other people start making fun of you and your heritage, you become a failure. Think about the people that read or hear your words before uttering them. Odds are, if someone non-Lebanese says these things about your country, you’d be all up in a fistfight. So why do you say them?

Look at what others in the Middle East are facing before you start complaining again. Take pride in your nation instead of constantly selling it short, and envying others. If we actually took more pride in our own nation and its unique diversity there would be more national cohesion instead of fragmentation. Let’s appreciate what we do have and work towards a better common future. A lot of what we need for change is right under our own noses. Lebanon is a middle income country, and many of its neighbors are ranked much lower, so stop and think about what they’re going through and what it really means to live in a failed state.

We have a long way to go. And compared to more advanced countries, we fall short in many aspects. But at least be proud of what you have accomplished.

Take this symbolically

PS: Thank you to my awesome friend Boulos for his great input and help in making this post.