While I was away from Qatar over the holidays, what one journalist has called a "national cultural war" broke out over an online post by a friend of mine
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I was amazed that Lisa caught so much flak for this.
anonymous
January 25 2010, 08:02:00 UTC
Her original post was sarcastic, sure, and clearly she'd had an awful afternoon in traffic and was venting. But I read it in that vein. A few respondents said things which I can see were offensive to many -- but QL is rife with posts and posters that push people's buttons. 'All theists are delusional.' 'All Arabs are backwards.' 'All westerners are immoral.'
It's nothing new to QL (or any online forum for that matter).
I am curious to know how the "anonymous" poster above thinks Lisa SHOULD have expressed her criticism about the day's events, if he/she thinks what was said on QL was so outrageously offensive and over the top. Should she have started off with a "This country is so wonderful and great, thanks to the wise leadership of....and then led into an anemic observation of what happened, a la "a few people weren't paying attention to the road rules", and finally ended with a suggestion for the authorities to look into the matter as soon as they could? Would that have been more palatable?
Clearly, we have very different ideas about the nature of freedom of speech, civic responsibility and respect.
But I have to concur with Marjorie's experience. I, too, have known many people who have lived here their entire lives, and few of them are naive enough to think that they have any real power in this society (or that they ever will). They understand their "place" and have made peace with it.
When the Qataris I know make very clear distinctions among themselves based upon whether that guy over there is "Qatari Qatari" or "Iranian Qatari", and when I am told that most self-respecting Qatari families would never allow their daughter to marry a black Qatari (it would be beneath her), then the regular folks who comprise the 80% expat population have a snowball's chance of attaining anything beyond 'guest' or 'temporary visitor' status.
It's nothing new to QL (or any online forum for that matter).
I am curious to know how the "anonymous" poster above thinks Lisa SHOULD have expressed her criticism about the day's events, if he/she thinks what was said on QL was so outrageously offensive and over the top. Should she have started off with a "This country is so wonderful and great, thanks to the wise leadership of....and then led into an anemic observation of what happened, a la "a few people weren't paying attention to the road rules", and finally ended with a suggestion for the authorities to look into the matter as soon as they could?
Would that have been more palatable?
Clearly, we have very different ideas about the nature of freedom of speech, civic responsibility and respect.
But I have to concur with Marjorie's experience. I, too, have known many people who have lived here their entire lives, and few of them are naive enough to think that they have any real power in this society (or that they ever will). They understand their "place" and have made peace with it.
When the Qataris I know make very clear distinctions among themselves based upon whether that guy over there is "Qatari Qatari" or "Iranian Qatari", and when I am told that most self-respecting Qatari families would never allow their daughter to marry a black Qatari (it would be beneath her), then the regular folks who comprise the 80% expat population have a snowball's chance of attaining anything beyond 'guest' or 'temporary visitor' status.
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