Being mentioned in Al Ahram Weekly & other things
Dr. R. pointed out to me in this comment that My Blog is mentioned in the State-owned Al Ahram weekly. After checking it out, I found out that they did not only mention me, they mentioned Big Pharaoh and Baheyya as well: The same Trio mentioned in the Christian Science Monitor article. This I consider to be funny, because, like I mentioned before, Baheyya isn't the Biggest fan of me or Big Pharaoh. I am guessing we are becoming increasingly like the Egyptian Blogsphere's political equivelant of the "Axis of Evil". I am betting the Egyptian goverment will probably have as much love for us as the USA has for the original Axis. I just hope I don't end up being Iraq. Just one thing about the mention that pissed me off: Why does everyone insist on mentioning that i am a "Young blogger"? I mean, I am not mad because it's a misrepresentation or anything, because let's face it, I am young. But for that to be the only thing that I am associated with seems kind of condescending so to speak, You know? I don't know, I guess the tone just irks me is all. On a different note, I find myself agreeing with R. that the arabic writing bloggers in Egypt are not getting the attention they deserve (R.'s Beyoned Normal and Mohammed's Digressing blogs are amazing) from the media, but I kind of understand it as well. The international media would have a problem with it because the writer would have to be fluent in reading arabic and able to understand the expressions used, and such a writer would probably be rare to find. On the other hand, the local media, since it's mostly state-controlled, would probably not want to attract the attention of the average egyptian population to the existance of blogs, because that would make them a far more effective venue for information and organization. Not to mention, those blogs- like me- are often critical of the local media and the kinds of public "Ass-kissing" that they adminster to the President on Daily basis. But it's not like they were never mentioned: The independent weekly newspaper El Dostoor, when it first came out, used to dedicate a page to Blog posts from various arabic-writing egyptian bloggers; altough they stopped doing that now for some reason. Why none of the other independent media venues and newspapers didn't see the potential and the quality of writing of arabic-written egyptian blogs is just beyond me. Oh well R., I don't know what to say. At least you know i am a fan. ;)
posted by The Sandmonkey @ 8/28/2005 12:25:00 AM
5 Comments:
[slow day at my place. hurrican news pulling the crowds away? thanks for letting me coming over to your place for a while instead!]
I absolutely agree that if foreign media reports on blogging and its possible impact on the elections etc. it should be about arabic language blogs who would have the local audience. What's been said so far in these reports are not necessarily wrong, but hyped, at least as far as the CSM story goes. Fact is though that the egyptian blogscene isn't big enough to impact the local scene; at most we're acting as bridges between different worlds, cultures and people.
Re. the Al Ahram story... the writer's own (now largely defunct) blog is/was as superficial as you would expect from people in that position. Voicing opinions in public isn't very popular, better stay on the asskissing path. I'd think the next gang on the blogscene will be students. Regular people with jobs are way too busy - or not interested at all.
And as you noted, the gov. wouldn't be overly interested in what doesn't risk reaching the big masses.
Dude, dont' worry about being called a young blogger. All that means is that you'll be around longer than the "old" bloggers :p
Hi Ritzy! All blog pages have been loading really slowly for me the last couple days, but especially yours, for some reason. Might be something wrong with my broadband here at home I guess, bu loading blogs has been pretty sluggish.
This hurricane sounds like it's going to be really bad though. They are saying New Orleans may be underwater :0
It's expected to be a category 5 (worst possible hurricane) at the time it reaches shore.
Thanks man. I know that foreign media prefer the English stuff, but I wish that sometimes people like Ahram Weekly will be our liaison to the outside world. I bet any Ahram Weekly reporter knows to read in Arabic.
By the way, the ass-kissing AkhbarelYom has finally mentioned Mohammed among others in an attempt to show objectivity and fair coverage. (Although they talked about digressing as a website, and about Mohammed as "the site editors*!!!") Hehe.. I'm sure Mohammed's work looks to Al-Akhbar people as done by a huge team :)
To tell you the truth, I wish I can translate my anti-terror paradigm into English; but I think the diagrams are enough!! However, since it's probably anti-war and pro cluture conversion, no one would like it!
By the way; wouldn't you be curious to take this quiz? It's spreading like a virus in the Egyptian blogosphere...
*
مدعوما بالصور التي يمده بها متطوعون أو القائمون علي الموقع ويقوم الموقع بعمل تعليق علي تفصيلات كل مظاهرة وتصرفات رجال الأمن معها بأسلوب تهكمي ساخر
#However, since it's probably anti-war and pro cluture conversion,
#no one would like it!
You may be onto something there, at least for American readers. The anti-war crwod in the US is not pro-culture conversion, they pro-denial-of-existance-of-a-problem :)
I think the solution to terrorism is cultural though. I think the military aspects of the struggle are intended to force that change. I'm in the minority in that though... even my "pro-war" friends (this is a sucky term! who is PRO war!?) are frustrated because they think the US is spending too much time and money "fucking around" (that's a quote!) in Iraq.
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