I can't help but notice that there is always some story, competition, death, birth, wedding... that keeps people "entertained". I am not sure if it's a Lebanese thing, but we always have some big thing to talk about, and we take it very seriously. Don't get me wrong, I, sometimes, am a victim too.
A few weeks ago, we had the Jeita Grotto competition and conversations were mostly about it. People's way of greeting each other was "did you vote for Jeita?". The competition ended, we lost, so people's Facebook posts, tweets, comments, greetings were about that, too. Then people were busy making a big deal about 11/11/2011; so again, it became the topic of the day. Fast forward a few days, Lebanon Vs. Korea's soccer game came about, every other Facebook post, tweet, text message, phone call was to wish Lebanon luck. Lebanon won, so the "good luck, Lebanon" became "congratulations, Lebanon." Things calmed down for a couple days, then I started seeing billboards, Facebook posts and tweets about voting for Carlos Aazar on the Lebanese show "Celebrities Duets". A couple days ago, a young Lebanese woman got murdered in a very tragic way. It was terrible and disturbing and we all became paranoid. People were mad at what happened, of course, but they made the murder seem as a crime committed by a Syrian against a Christian Lebanese instead of a crime of a sick man against a vulnerable woman. Perhaps making the story a religious, sectarian one makes it more attractive to talk about? It keeps people busier? They would have more things to tweet about?
That "something" that always keeps us busy could be real good, but it could be real bad. And it's not that people wish harm upon others, but it seems like it would be hard for them to function without that "something" every so often. When it does come about, they "salt it and pepper it" to make it more appealing to talk about.
A few weeks ago, we had the Jeita Grotto competition and conversations were mostly about it. People's way of greeting each other was "did you vote for Jeita?". The competition ended, we lost, so people's Facebook posts, tweets, comments, greetings were about that, too. Then people were busy making a big deal about 11/11/2011; so again, it became the topic of the day. Fast forward a few days, Lebanon Vs. Korea's soccer game came about, every other Facebook post, tweet, text message, phone call was to wish Lebanon luck. Lebanon won, so the "good luck, Lebanon" became "congratulations, Lebanon." Things calmed down for a couple days, then I started seeing billboards, Facebook posts and tweets about voting for Carlos Aazar on the Lebanese show "Celebrities Duets". A couple days ago, a young Lebanese woman got murdered in a very tragic way. It was terrible and disturbing and we all became paranoid. People were mad at what happened, of course, but they made the murder seem as a crime committed by a Syrian against a Christian Lebanese instead of a crime of a sick man against a vulnerable woman. Perhaps making the story a religious, sectarian one makes it more attractive to talk about? It keeps people busier? They would have more things to tweet about?
That "something" that always keeps us busy could be real good, but it could be real bad. And it's not that people wish harm upon others, but it seems like it would be hard for them to function without that "something" every so often. When it does come about, they "salt it and pepper it" to make it more appealing to talk about.
I like what I read very much. The thoughts are rich, and the subject is meaningful and worth writing a word or two about. The style is intriguing indeed as well :)
ReplyDeleteHowever, when you say "a crime committed by a Syrian against a Christian Lebanese," you are opening room for further "something" as you called it, because just as some people made it look that way, other people having different political inclinations might look at it differently and might make it look in another way :) This doesn't mean that I am trying to be with or against a certain political group, but I am just drawing your attention that this might make your readers have something to "fight about" when your real aim is to make your readers have something to "agree about, build on, and be more aware to distinguish the something-story from the non-something-story" :) El mohem ma ydee3 el mawdou3 el asesi bi mwadee3 metfar3a iza ballashit ma bet 3oud tekhlas. You know the Lebanese mentality at the end of the day :D Hehehe
Fadi, I definitely agree with you. Although I know that not everyone thought that, I did not make it clear in my piece. I will be sure to do that next time! :) Thanks for your comment.
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