Does It Matter That Lebanese Nurses Support March 14?

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Lebanese politics

What loud celebratory gunfire and second-order elections have in common in Lebanon.

The measure of greatness…

Two relatively-new phenomena have been taking hold in Lebanon since we got into our famed political standstill. The first is the increasing importance partisan media is placing on second-order elections. News websites are spatting over the tiniest of university elections and the old media are joining in: Today, for instance, Hariri’s Almustaqbal newspaper run a major story on its first page about the preliminary results of the elections in the order of Lebanese nurses, in which March 14 had a strong showing.

The other is the new habit of shooting in the air whenever a political leader appears on TV. Sure we had that before, but only the holiest of holies, the ones that have beards and promise the destruction of Israel got that privilege. Today, even those who promise modernity are hailed with storms of Klashnikove bullets.

All this is happening because the Lebanese can’t have a real civil war. We would love to fight but the memory of the last one is all too fresh in our memories. so we go to the next best thing: We fight proxy wars in which supremacy is measured by who enlists more dentists or whose gunfires during public appearances are louder.

Well, at least we get distracted until the big boys decide our fate.

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Discussion

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I have to say that I’m a bit offended that you equate (somewhat, using words like “having in common”) a modicum of democratic practice: elections (even if it’s for dentists and nurses) to the barbaric practice of thugs firing in the air.

In any civilized country, even the smallest of elections, where a constituency gets to express its preferences for policy and leadership (be it a presidential election, or that of student body in high school) is the foundation of civic life and democracy. Such practices should always be encouraged and showcased by the media, if only to educate the people as to how civic life SHOULD work.
It pretty normal that partisan media outlets would use any given election results to strengthen and publicize their own agenda. You might not agree with it, but that’s how democracy works everywhere.

The practice of firing weapons in the air, on the other hand is a savage and barbaric (to say nothing about idiotic) practice, that accomplishes nothing for anyone, except to inflate the egos of thugs (my gun is louder and bigger than yours!). It is the very antithesis to democratic practice and should not even be compared to the former (let alone mentioned as “having something in common”).
The media should be covering said barbaric practice only in demanding it be banned, and its practitioners be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Posted by Bad Vilbel | March 31, 2008, 8:18 pm
yeah i agree with bad vilbel..
it’s better than being made busy with football games.. (remembering sandmonkey’s point and the new Arab law for satellite tv)

Posted by Afif | March 31, 2008, 8:42 pm
Guys,
Before you get too carried away.

I’m not disputing the elections themselves, I’m criticizing the level of pettiness in their coverage in the media.

Posted by Mustapha | March 31, 2008, 8:53 pm
Mus,

You did say something about “what do they have in common”. I understand what your point is though. You’re not talking about the elections per se, but about the media coverage.

My point still stands: I think it is important for the media (petty, partisan, or not) to cover any kind of democratic process. We all know partisan media will put their own spin on it, but at least the audience out there is getting to delve into pettyness about the democratic process (much like here in the US, we delve into all kinds of pettyness about Obama’s pastor, or Hilary’s outfit, and have in the past, dwelled on such things as Howard Dean’s yell, and John Edwards haircuts).

My point being, pettyness is not an unusual thing, and as long as it confines us to the democratic process (having discussions by words, not weapons) we’re already better for it.

Posted by Bad Vilbel | March 31, 2008, 9:03 pm
ELECTIONs are the backbone of any democratic process. I for one am very happy that Lebanese are being ushered into a civil culture…speaking through your votes!
Whether media spins it or not; that’s also a part of democratic culture.

My ONLY hope right now is that the boys of the parliament also follow these steps. I am not holding my breath though as I do not see any functioning pariliament or elections of prez till IT is operational.

Finally…what’s so mucho about firing in the air???

Posted by Danny | March 31, 2008, 9:20 pm
its all about who has the loudest roars
they think they are lions
of course they are barely pigeons
RRAAaahhhhhhhhhh

Posted by Roch | March 31, 2008, 9:45 pm
I agree with some of the comments above: firing in the air is quite despicable.

I’m also slightly confused: who is it exactly that has promised modernity?

Posted by M. | March 31, 2008, 11:47 pm
Mustapha, excellent post, i was thinking exactly the same thing and thought about blogging it…but you covered it already.

People need an outlet and shooting in the air or an over-coverage of some election provides just that…i hope.

Posted by Riemer Brouwer | April 1, 2008, 6:17 am

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.