I started this as a comment on Natasha’s post (which was inspired by Firas’s) but then I realized it was getting too long for a comment and decided to post it here. During one of our JP Blogger meet-ups, we discussed the issue of the absence of politics and comments on current political issues on Jordanian blogs as opposed to their Arab counterparts, and Naseem also raised this point in his article about Jordan Planet in JO magazine; why don’t Jordanian bloggers discuss local politics, especially when compared to their Arab counterparts??
Going as far back as I can remember; I see my early childhood days when the 8 o’clock news on Jordan television was the bed time signal and we’d leave our parents in the company of Ghaleb Al-Hadidi recounting the latest on the Intifada (the first one in the late 80’s). My images of the news were kids throwing stones, and I grew up believing that the only goal of every young Arab was to liberate Palestine. As we were growing up, and before we could insist on listening to what we want in the car, we’d get a daily dose of the news as dad listened to nothing but BBC and Monte Carlo while driving us to school… from the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, to the Iraq/Iran war, to the second gulf war, to Jordan’s economic crisis in 1990, to Oslo, to Madrid… and on and on, our generation grew up in the aftermaths of the earlier defeats, and to a culture of defeatism, and a very dim negative image of the political and economic situation in the region. If anything, we learnt that there isn’t much we can do to change it… so why bother? Why lose any sleep over something that was completely outside our circle of influence, and that was constantly depressing and frustrating?? Arab leaders met summit after summit, and they taught us that talking about politics is just that: talking!! Venting, ranting… no outcome!! We’re too hung up on the big issues, on the nation’s defeats, and on theatrical emotional speeches!
Quite often I’d be sitting with older people, and the men just love to discuss politics… listening to them is probably what makes me refrain from talking about these issues myself, because I was constantly realizing that they were all saying the same things, that they saw everything as part of the big conspiracy theory; the Zionist plot, the American scheme, corruption in government… and it felt that people were rarely seeing different perspectives. I guess I didn’t want to sound like that. Quite often I feel like posting an opinion on stuff happening in the local political scene… but I feel that my thoughts on the issue are not solid enough or mature enough, sometimes I feel I contradict myself, and sometimes I feel I don’t know what exactly I support, so I keep silent – which I admit is not necessarily the right choice.
The total apathy and lack of political awareness among University students and youth in general is very disturbing. Like Isam pointed out, there is no lack of important issues to be discussed; but the majority of youth in Jordan have no idea what is going on and couldn’t care less. When the confidence-vote crisis between the Parliament and the Government took place a few months ago, most of my friends did not know a thing about it, and right now, while the National Agenda committee is having a serious debate on the election law and modifications to the one-man-one-vote system, most young people don’t even know such a committee exists.
I am always checking Abu Aardvark for commentary on Jordan’s political situation; and every time something happens – a minister’s resignation, the King’s address to the parliament, surveys on public attitudes towards government and politics… I rush to see if he wrote something about it, because mostly, no Jordanian would.
Another reason for this might be as Natasha said that most Jordanian bloggers use their real names. It’s not fear that would stop them, but the fact that you’d have to take responsibility for what you say, that you can’t take it back, and once it’s out there, it’s difficult to erase it and change your mind!
Look at the other Arab political blogs, how many of them go by real names???
There’s a lot more to be said about this and the approach to political awareness and involvement, but I don’t feel like making this any longer right now (believe it or not!)
Coming up soon: Lack of youth-led media, and poor university student publications…
Going as far back as I can remember; I see my early childhood days when the 8 o’clock news on Jordan television was the bed time signal and we’d leave our parents in the company of Ghaleb Al-Hadidi recounting the latest on the Intifada (the first one in the late 80’s). My images of the news were kids throwing stones, and I grew up believing that the only goal of every young Arab was to liberate Palestine. As we were growing up, and before we could insist on listening to what we want in the car, we’d get a daily dose of the news as dad listened to nothing but BBC and Monte Carlo while driving us to school… from the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, to the Iraq/Iran war, to the second gulf war, to Jordan’s economic crisis in 1990, to Oslo, to Madrid… and on and on, our generation grew up in the aftermaths of the earlier defeats, and to a culture of defeatism, and a very dim negative image of the political and economic situation in the region. If anything, we learnt that there isn’t much we can do to change it… so why bother? Why lose any sleep over something that was completely outside our circle of influence, and that was constantly depressing and frustrating?? Arab leaders met summit after summit, and they taught us that talking about politics is just that: talking!! Venting, ranting… no outcome!! We’re too hung up on the big issues, on the nation’s defeats, and on theatrical emotional speeches!
Quite often I’d be sitting with older people, and the men just love to discuss politics… listening to them is probably what makes me refrain from talking about these issues myself, because I was constantly realizing that they were all saying the same things, that they saw everything as part of the big conspiracy theory; the Zionist plot, the American scheme, corruption in government… and it felt that people were rarely seeing different perspectives. I guess I didn’t want to sound like that. Quite often I feel like posting an opinion on stuff happening in the local political scene… but I feel that my thoughts on the issue are not solid enough or mature enough, sometimes I feel I contradict myself, and sometimes I feel I don’t know what exactly I support, so I keep silent – which I admit is not necessarily the right choice.
The total apathy and lack of political awareness among University students and youth in general is very disturbing. Like Isam pointed out, there is no lack of important issues to be discussed; but the majority of youth in Jordan have no idea what is going on and couldn’t care less. When the confidence-vote crisis between the Parliament and the Government took place a few months ago, most of my friends did not know a thing about it, and right now, while the National Agenda committee is having a serious debate on the election law and modifications to the one-man-one-vote system, most young people don’t even know such a committee exists.
I am always checking Abu Aardvark for commentary on Jordan’s political situation; and every time something happens – a minister’s resignation, the King’s address to the parliament, surveys on public attitudes towards government and politics… I rush to see if he wrote something about it, because mostly, no Jordanian would.
Another reason for this might be as Natasha said that most Jordanian bloggers use their real names. It’s not fear that would stop them, but the fact that you’d have to take responsibility for what you say, that you can’t take it back, and once it’s out there, it’s difficult to erase it and change your mind!
Look at the other Arab political blogs, how many of them go by real names???
There’s a lot more to be said about this and the approach to political awareness and involvement, but I don’t feel like making this any longer right now (believe it or not!)
Coming up soon: Lack of youth-led media, and poor university student publications…
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