The Big Lie
Stop the hypocrisy. Lebanon is a terrible place for the free word.
My mother, a fan of May Chidiac, told me this today: “We Lebanese are used to the freedom of expression. This is why it’s impossible that the perpetrator be Lebanese”. This is a very common misconception. In fact, our politicians brag all of the time that Lebanon takes pride in its freedom of expression, and that (this is my favorite), the Lebanese will not be afraid of freely expressing their opinions.
To listen to all these people talk, you’d think that boldness and free speech is in the Lebanese DNA. With all due respect to all of us, it is not.
Take a look at our Lebanese Blogosphere. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it is the collection of all the blogs that have to do with Lebanon and the Lebanese people. You can find a nice summary of them here. See if you can find a single blogger who proudly wears his/her full name. Hardly any.
Why is it so? It’s because we DON’T have freedom in our DNA. What we really have is FEAR. The Reporters Without Borders can be “deeply shocked” at May Chidiac’s fate. The Lebanese on the other hand are upset, very upset, but they’re not “deeply shocked”. When I first put up my picture here on my profile, my friends and colleagues were “deeply shocked”. “Are you insane?” seemed to be their instinctive reaction.
It’s part of being Lebanese and it’s not only about politics. This lady writes mostly about social issues, but just because she’s a bit “open minded”, she thought it would be better to hide her identity. It doesn’t matter that she lives thousands of miles away from Lebanon, it’s just the way things are. Another Lebanese Blogger from the same list hides his identity because of his sexual orientation.
This is Lebanon, the country that banned “The Davinci Code”, the country where you could be arrested for “devil worshiping” if you were listening to Muse, the country that shutdown a TV station, the country where religious figures are sacrosanct, the country where journalists die if they side a bit out of the conventional.
Lebanon is a great and beautiful country, but we have a very long way to go before we understand the true meaning of free speech.
Do you like this post? Would you like to be always updated with new posts on this website? If so, please subscribe to this blog's RSS feed? (tell me more)Share This Post:
Print it: 
Email it: 
-->
Discussion
No comments for “The Big Lie”
Post a comment
Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.
Latest Posts
Recent Lebanon Video
Lebanese Bloggers
Middle Eastern Bloggers
Naharnet RSS Feed
Yalibnan RSS Feed
NowLebanon RSS Feed
Latest Lebanese News
Blog Featured In
Categories
Most Emailed
- Lebanese Bloggers Not Happy With Kuntar Celebrations - 1 emails
- Having It Both Ways.. Literally - 1 emails
- The PR Battle Over Samir Kuntar - 1 emails
You are very right. Plus the factor of never actually saying what is truly meant and never actually naming names when it comes to corruption etc…
Of course the irony, is I hide my identity, but only because knowing my name would color how people view my comments, something that you have suffered from, I have noticed.
Mustapha I’m actually quite honored really. You are right, I have concealed my name for various reasons. First, blogging is a place where I can let go of all my emotions and angst without people whom I personally know (or related to) will be reading what I have to say. Also, by revealing my full name that opens up another issue with my family (especially in Lebanon). The funny thing is, I still get a little paranoid that my cousins in Beirut are going to found out who I am by reading some of these blogs. My nickname is a dead give away. Anyway, I have updated the poster on my blog! Thanks for the inspiration. :)
Mustapha, we are still relatively more free in our press than other countries in the Middle East. Don’t be too bleak in your assessment. Every time something happens that upsets a certain group, you find them getting together and protesting (drivers protesting gas prices, civilians calling to build pedestrian bridges, teachers protesting salaries, etc…)
But when it comes to us, the people, I must say that yes I was raised during the war to be afraid to speak out, afraid to say “Assad”. I lived to speak in code words on the phone; my father feeling unsettled when I start mentioning names and talking politics over the phone. I lived to be afraid of the ghosts “moukhabarat”. To speak in a low voice when we talk about the Syrians. I still have a couple of paranoias until now. What can I say? It’s sad, but it’s true.
You are 100 % right Mustapha.
That’s why I admire someone like As’ad Abu Khalil who says everything he has on mind and does not use an alias. Even if you don’t agree with the guy, you gotta admire his guts.
Great
The other reason why people hide behind aliases is the thuggish militia mentality that remains prevalent in Lebanon. Some were raised in the cult od the personality of Bachir, and if you tell them their Bachir was a fascist murderer, they come up to your place and beat you up. Same goes for liberal and progressive chiites who dare to criticize Hezballah. They get beaten up or ostracized.
But anoymous bloggind does have its benefits. It allows people to vent their anger and to speak what’s really on their mind. And that’s good for democracy
Except that Abu Kahlil lives in the States. Would love to have seen him these past ten years living in lebanon bitching about syria with same verve that he bitches about the States, he would have ended up in a dank cell. The US as an aside, a country that has taken him in, provided him with a living and citizenship, yes that same US that is the root of all evil according to him.
I don’t share the admiration that the Hyocrical Lebanese has for As’ad Abu Khalil. He is on the side of those who are the perpetrators of the horrible and cowardly acts committed in Lebanon these days. He, Wiam Wahhab, Talal Arslan, Assem Kanso and others who share their views don’t have to worry about being targeted.
As’ad is in Lebanon very often. And no, he is not in the same club as Wahhab and Kandil. He just criticizes everybody. It is healthy. And hmmbmm, the “ungrateful” argument is flawed. He never criticized the US free speech values. He criticizes US foreign policy. Everybody is allowed to criticize his governmment policies
I have issue with your statement that the Lebanese do not “understand the true meaning of free speech”
There was a Zoghby poll not too long ago done in most of the countries in the MidEast. It involved ranking the importance of certain social / political issues. And the results for Lebanon where vastly different from the rest of the MidEast countries. Lebanese ranked Freedom of speech near the top, and were the most open to talking with the pollster. To such an extent that they wouldn’t leave him alone :-)
In my opinion the Lebanese understand the meaning of freedom of speech, but with 15 years of civil war, and the Syrian occupation until recently, you have to admit that the environment in Lebanon was not conducive to freedom of speech, as say living in Stockholm!
Angry arab attacks both US and lebanese culture and history. He is a pompous pontificator that is ashamed of his roots, and despises his present surrounds. He should live in Cuba since he is such a communist. It is not healthy to critisize everybody, it is healthy to agree with somethings and disagree with others, to stand for some principles and to fight others, that is healthy, to critisize everything and everyone is inane and ridiculous, and not to take a stab at solutions, compromises, building bridges is cowardly. It is a lot harder to believe and be disappointed than just to hide behind a shell of cynicism.
hummbumm
you seem like a typical right winger who wants to send every dissenting voice to Cuba.
The guy is not running for office. He is just expressing his opinions freely. And he is funny.
He is an anarchist, nothing to do with Castro.
He exaggerates only for the sake of provocation and fun, and to make conservative people think. We need a few more like him in Lebanon. We have so many obtuse pretentious conservatives
And by the way, his blog is impressively popular. Check his stats
“See if you can find a single blogger who proudly wears his/her full name. Hardly any.”
I found one!!. ME :)
Riad,
Angry Arab blog, may be funny but as a political analyst the guy is terrible. Just look back at the way he portrayed the March 14 events. He was just itching for things to go towards civil war..
His political analysis is so bankrupt that he resorts to attacking everything. He was on TV once I think and the white shirt he wore was so bad. It looked like he was wearing a straight jacket from a mental institution! :-)
A typical right winger cause I don’t like Angry Arab? The guy is a putz, he says he is a communist, I will take him at his word. I don’t care if his blog is popular, fox news is popular would you use the same criteria for that?
I don’t like him because he has never voiced support for anything concrete (palestine and communism big ideas but no steps on how to achieve results in the real world), because he has never found any redeeming feature in either lebanese or US culture (beyond the food) when of course any society has both its good and bad, If I highlight some good points about lebanon, does that make me right wing? or of the US? I want to send him to CUba so he can live in the workers paradise that he desires, with no capitalist or imperialists to worry about. I am wishing the best for him.
Hey Mustapha, the only reason I don’t put my full name up is because I’m scared of identity theft. I might just put up a more recent and clearer picture though. Just for you man! :)
Angry Arab is a demagogue who doesn’t know how to sell his books. There’s nothing courageous to say that you’re an Arab nationalist, this is kinda of cool in Lebanon, nobody will beat u for that.