Tagged: freedom of speech
Yeah, I’m Biased.
“Be totally objective, because if you’re not being objective, you are not doing your job,” our professors said.
In school, they always taught us as future journalists, we should never be biased. This is true.
Objectivity is the foundation of real journalism. It’s the way things should be and personally, I’ve always firmly stood for objective journalism. But, since life is not how it “should be,” we’re obliged to change things up a bit and put our own ideas in some of the things we write. Sometimes journalism has to take different forms. As long as you acknowledge that others have a different story and you are willing to listen, there is no reason why it shouldn’t take these various forms.
In light of recent events, discrimination has been creeping into our lives, hindering our thoughts, and our freedoms. We are forced to take a stance on certain issues, otherwise we’d be compromising the essence of who we are, and sometimes even compromising our integrity.
For example, Muslims are the new Jews. Cliche, but hell yeah I said it. Today’s Muslims are being treated almost exactly the same way Jews were treated by the Nazis before WWII. When you talk to some people about this problem or ask them why Muslims are being scapegoated, they respond by saying, “Well, the terrorists are Muslims!”
History is repeating itself, even though people lost their lives and fought world wars to prevent it from doing so.
So this brings me to a second point: Really? Is “they did it, they’re Muslim” going to be your educated answer to every problem thats going on in today’s world? So every time a rapist who just happens to be a Christian or an atheist or Jew rapes someone or kills someone in some kind of gang related incident in the world are you going to blame it on his or her religion? Or to remind you of a more recent example, since some man like Pastor Terry Jones from Florida wanted to burn the Muslim holy book, the Quran, this past September 11th, can I now assume that all white Christian males from Florida are close-minded, kooks who don’t know how to act responsibly for their country and their race?
Well, the answer is NO! I can’t and I won’t. Why? Because we should all refuse all forms of discrimination. At the end of the day we are all people. Whether you are straight, gay, black, white, brown, pink, purple, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, rich, poor… I couldn’t say this enough, people. We are individuals. That’s why I’m in love with the country that I’ve lived in since I was a child, the country that brought me up to be who I am today. That’s why I defend this country everywhere I go around the globe because inequality is not what America is all about: Individualism & Equality. Yes, they deserve to be capitalized, italicized, and bolded.
Maybe at one point in history, America might have been filled with bigotry, but we’re not letting that happen again. We’re speaking out against injustices, whether people choose to listen or not, we’re speaking out for what’s right. We are all people and we are all different. Being diverse comes with the territory. We are unique not to use our differences against each other, on the contrary. If you think a certain group of people is weird or bad, or if you hate someone just because of their skin color or creed, then you need help. And, its OK that you need help, but you should be willing to accept that you just don’t know enough about that group of people to pass any kind of judgment. We are different so we could learn from each other. We are different to help not hinder.
I know the world will never suddenly change, but that won’t stop people with views like mine from standing for what we believe in. If defending peace, equality, & diversity seems to be biased, then so be it. Yeah, I’m biased.
Let’s obsess over sex… but secretly!
photo courtesy of www.watan.com.
In recent news, Saudi officials sentenced a Saudi journalist who works for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) to 60 whip lashes. Shortly after she was sentenced, a Saudi judge summoned her colleague, who also worked on the same show. The show, which is called “A Thick Red Line” explores sexual and social taboos that are present in the Arab world.
In one of the episodes, a male participant bragged about his sexual life and how he lost his virginity at the age of 14. However, Rosana el Shami, the journalist sentenced to 60 whiplashes did not particpate in this actual episode. Also, her colleague is being summoned simply because she works with LBC. So, why are these two journalists being punished?
Is it simply because they were working on a show that discusses sex or is it because they are women? On the other hand, Mazen Abdul Jawad, the male participant on the show was arrested and sentenced to five years in jail along with 1000 whiplashes. There may be many causes behind the government’s decision to reprimand these individuals. Maybe they are trying to teach them a lesson. A lesson that encourages people to continue to hide their feelings and remain closed off from society. Either way, these cases wreak of unfairness. The main issue here is there is absolutely no fairness in the Arab world, especially Saudi Arabia. By now, I am sure the world is well aware of the super conservative laws that govern the Islamic country of Saudi Arabia. Laws, which are in reality, very un-Islamic. Historically speaking, this type of punishment was a prominent practice during pre-Islamic times.
Moreover, there is virtually no freedom in countries like Saudi Arabia, especially for women. Why am I criticizing the Middle East this severely? Because I want the people who share my heritage to recognize their problems, so we can fix them together. Our problem here is that we don’t talk about our problems, we think it is more convenient to sweep them under the carpet instead.
However, in this case concerning freedom of speech, two questions really boggle my mind: how can the government really believe that whipping people is a valid punishment? And, how can they punish them for portraying the truths of their society? Even if the show was in bad taste or a bit crass, the participants should not be tried in a court of law and they certainly should not be whipped.
This brings me to another issue that plagues people throughout the Middle East; especially those who are living in more radical countries such as Saudi Arabia. Extremely closed societies produce extremely closed people, who tend to have a lot of built-up energy that they don’t know how to release. In other words, the more these countries continue to shelter their people from the truths of life, more and more individuals will become frustrated. Thus, the Middle East will continue to produce disheartened citizens who see things from behind a black curtain of radicalism.
“A Thick Red Line” is not the only show that gets banned in the Arab media. Almost every show that discusses social or sexual taboos in our society is either kept from airing or extremely criticized. And, it is extremely naive of governments to think that people don’t talk about these sexual issues or engage in them in some sort of way, especially in Saudi Arabia where sexual harassment against women is very prominent. After living in Egypt for over two years now, it becomes obvious that harassment in the Arab world is partially due to the sexual frustration that many of these males harbor. However, the problem is not just sexual frustration. The issue lies in the fact that many people engage in sexual activities behind “closed doors” and are not allowed to discuss them publicly or privately. Sometimes people who date (especially females) have to keep their love lives secret from even their friends in fear that they might get a bad reputation. Therefore, it becomes obvious that when people bottle up such secrets, feelings of confusion, or sexual repression they tend to develop psychological issues at some point in their life. These issues can produce anger, depression, and dissatisfaction with life and the world overall.
In short, the Saudi government needs to wake up and pay attention to what is REALLY going on in their society. They should look into the issues that are making their people frustrated, instead of causing them even more problems. The fact that journalists are being whipped simply because they portray people’s problems is ignorant and disgusting. We, as Middle Easterners need to start being fair to ourselves and to our fellow citizens before we demand respect from the rest of the world.In this case, the only thing that the Saudi government succeeded in doing is turning these journalists into martyrs for the those who truly believe in the sacredness of freedom of speech, something the Arab world will probably never understand. They also further proved the point of those who believe the Saudi Government is irrational and unfair when it comes to freedom and justice.
