The video above is extracted from MTV Lebanon’s program “Ktir Salbe” and has been portrayed as being racist and not funny by activists and bloggers. Few months back, MTV came under fire for a “racist” report on the foreign workers in Burj Hammoud and Dora.
In all, I wouldn’t go as far as calling MTV a racist channel because of few reports and a show, as the majority of its staff are smart and well-educated people, but I strongly believe they should be more cautious in their reports and comedy programs and send out the right message at all time. For example, they could have easily interviewed few non-Lebanese and more competent Lebanese or some officials in their Dora and Burj-Hammoud report and avoided filming random foreigners while taking about crimes and prostitution. Also, they could have covered the matter as an increase in crimes all over Lebanon, and specifically in poor and deprived areas. In fact, Dora and Burj Hammoud are doing relatively well when compared to other regions in Lebanon.
This is a parody created between friends as a critique of the explicit themes adopted by some artists in the music industry on both the Arab and international scenes.[YouTube]
I don’t know what people like about this video. I like the message behind it but that’s about it.
A woman from Lebanon brought zatar with her which is prohibited in Australia. Her son in law who has lived in Australia for 25 years is determined to bring the food whith him because it’s a typical Lebanon delicacy.
I thought the Lebanese flag was our flag. I really hate it when politics are mixed with sports. Now this guy will probably be kicked out of every competition even though he seems talented.
I wish all stories end the way this one did. The victim was unhurt and the criminal caught. More importantly, people did not overreact and kill the man but waited for the cops to come. If only Myriam was that lucky!
BlogBaladi took part in the report BBC did on the internet in Lebanon as I was interviewed by Howard Johnson on that matter few weeks back. Surprisingly though, they did not include anything I said but simply showed me browsing the net at the start of the report. Di3an kel hal 7ake!
For those interested, I talked about most of the issues the other interviewees mentioned but also noted that the cap given to internet users is very low, that our infrastructure might not be able to handle increasing numbers of internet users specially after the drop in prices and the speed upgrades, and that both issues could prove very problematic in the near future.
Looks like it wasn’t all work and no play for Richard Quest. CNN just aired a segment on the Beirut Night Life scene covered by Richard Quest. Pretty cool. [YouTube]
