Meet The Alarmists

They might be malicious, paranoid or just naïve, but their message is simple: Christians, be afraid.

In a comment to a previous post about the necessity of the resignation of president Lahhoud, a person by the name of “Maroun Khaouaja” said what amounted to this:
The Christian President is being attacked by a handful of Muslim thugs who want to rule the country and deprive the Christians from their right to the presidency.
When another commenter replied that the incompetent President has to go, Maroun rushed to volunteer the URL of some Saudi Wahhabi TV program that basically says that Christians suck.

Maroun’s hidden message is simple: “The Christian we know is better than the Moslem we don’t know”. A more elaborate variant would be: “Hariri is teaming with the Saudis (and Americans) in a “Crusade” (ironically) to achieve a hegemonic Moslem control over Lebanon.”

Maroun’s comments might seem like an aberration to most Lebanese. Who in his right mind will believe such lunacies? Unfortunately, they’re not. Maroon’s logic is commanding a growing number of Christian followers, the most famous of which seems to be May Shedia’ from the LBCI.
Why is this happening?

To say that intelligent Lebanese people are believing fictions being spread by Lahhoud associates is simply naïve. The problem is that some people in the other (non Christian) camp, might indeed have ulterior motives. This is causing a troubling crisis of trust.
Also, the Lebanese Christians, a minority in the region, are famous for their existential paranoia (unlike say, laid-back Sunnis). A lot of them, like this blogger, go out of their way to announce that they do not want to be what they call “second class citizens” in a country that was originally created for them.
Also, Images from Iraq and from Saudi Arabia and from the rest of the world, of bearded men cutting off heads, blowing themselves up and forcibly veiling women are not sitting well with the Lebanese Christian Psyche.

But all that does not mean that President Lahhoud (or previously Sleimen Franjieh) is the Christian fortress that is withstanding vicious Moslem bombardments. Defending Lahhoud because he’s Christian is the moral equivalent of defending Mustapha Hamdan because he’s Moslem.
Remember, the Moslems were more than happy when Omar Karami, a Moslem Prime Minister, was forced to resign

Christians have to be very careful not to fall back on their instinctive fears, and they have to be clear-minded enough to separate their friend from their enemy.