British Journalist comes to Lebanon and chronicles his day-by-day impressions. Unvarnished, almost comedic impressions of the coutry and its people ensue.
Here is one of my favorite paragraphs, from his visit to the LF.
We park outside the local LF headquarters. On top of the buildings are two immense crosses. There is an urgency to Christianity here; I feel as if Christ died a few weeks ago and the word is spreading.
“This is the border.” A tattooed man guarding the door points to the end of the street. A giant wall painting of Nabih Berry, the Shia speaker of Parliament and an ally of Hizbullah, stares back at me. We can hear the call to prayer. “There are the Shia.”
[..]
Lebanese food is almost never bad, but the conversation makes for a strange meal. At one moment my companion is laughing about how he doesn’t like the dirty, stupid, smelly Shia Muslims who live over the road. Ten minutes later he is earnestly telling me how he has many good friends among them and it’s only the leadership he doesn’t like.
He begins what seems like a rant against Israel, which ends up with him announcing his respect for the Israeli army and how he expects Israeli troops to be operating in Beirut very shortly. His frequent toilet breaks allow me to gather my thoughts. It seems the long-standing identity conflict of the Lebanese Christians continue in the minds of even the most committed LF supporters. Then he turns the conversation turns to that traveller’s classic: “Don’t you think my country has the best girls?”
Read the entire thing..
Hello, my name is Mustapha and I've been blogging about Lebanese society, business and politics since February 2005.
heheheh… The problem is that we take this religion business SERIOUSLY!
Who still does that?
the best part of this article, sadly, has already been corrected: the original version identified Michel Aoun as Prime Minister.
well here we go another assasination, this time Sheik Saleh Aridi…does it ever stop?
this is the sad truth of all lebanese not just christians (coming from a non-christian), we are bunch of self centered brats, and like always lebanon suffers.
How does a Lebanese Christian go from ranting against Israel to saying he likes the IDF?
Perhaps, like the Hizbollis who watch pornography in Hezbollah-owned internet cafés, he admires what he hates and wants to destroy.
Everyone has an opinion nowadays and no one seems to care anymore.
Sam:
“How does a Lebanese Christian go from ranting against Israel to saying he likes the IDF?”
I did not hear him say ‘like’. He said ‘respect’ and it is not the same.
i would love to see such a frank, critical account by such a journalist describing his visit to the jews in occupied palestine, bringing to the fore his comical impressions of their odd mannerisms and contradictory aspects of their identity. yes, the jews. if other religions and ethnicities can be objectively and descriptively dissected like this, then the jews are fair game, and believe me, there is a lot of funny in that regard to oogle at, without the stupid guilt and double standard that brings fear of reprisal to every westerner’s heart, at the mere possibility that “anti-semite” may be directed at him for even looking in the direction of the jews. yes, the jews. jews, jews, jews. orange jews. in the morning. tastes so bad. here’s a possible beginning to his article about a visit to the jews: “There is an urgency to jews-daism here; I feel as if moses parted the sea a few weeks ago and the word is spreading. ‘this is the border.’ a tattooed man guarding the door points to the end of the street. A giant wall painting of yasser arafat stares back at me. we can hear israeli bulldozers flattening houses behind the wall. ‘there are the ayyyrabs.’ he says to me with a new york accent that just begs to go back to brooklyn.
i would love to see such a frank, critical account by such a journalist describing his visit to the jews in occupied palestine,
Umkay e d b t z, or, how about, for that matter “a critical account” of Hezballah and other Muslim thugs? The Western Left’s idiotic derision of religion and religious identity applies only to Christians it seems, whether in the West or in the Middle East. God forbid should they criticize Islamo-fascists and subject them to the same sort of scruplousness or ridicule, regardless of how racist, “un-progressive”, “reactionary”, and “imperialistic” they might be.
Moustapha, thank you for seeing the humor in that stupid piece. I’m afraid it escaped me. But again, you clearly have a more subtle mind than I.
To paraphrase the idiotic commentator above, where in the world is the “critical account” and “journalistic” integrity in that stupid piece you’re blogging?
I miss the days when you used to actually make sense. Writing, and “writing in the sewers” don’t ammount to the same thing Moustapha.
Ramadan Karim.
shaaban ramadan’s name links to the super duper zionist rag, naharnet. and he chose to completely ignore my point. goes to show you.
idi hariri, you seem to know how such an article would be written before anyone does any actual work. News agencies could save a lot of money on plane tickets and accommodations by hiring you.