Caution: this post is nowhere near politically correct, or maybe very much so, and is quite sexist whatever this word means anyway. Someone should coin eastist and westist to go along.
Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia … etcetera etcetera share a lot more than their misery and ‘east-ness’, they all also happen to be ‘western’ careers.
Observing what defines credibility in covering ‘the East’ is incredible, and stomach churning undoubtedly. I am feeling nauseous right now actually.
Covering ‘the East’ involves, most of the times, hormonal humans with severe testosterone imbalance (and that applies to both males and females, with elevations in both cases needless to say). It also involves an impossibility in uttering the words I DO NOT KNOW. There is always an answer, no matter what the question at hand is … there really is an answer to every single thing you ever imagined or will ever imagine. That’s jaw dropping to be honest … and the jaw does not drop impressively, it drops shockingly … how the hell do you dare give definite answers to something that is as far away from clarity as your knowledge is from ‘the East’? What makes you think you know it all when all you do is repeat the present and the near past like a parrot? On some occasions you repeat the distant past … but that does not mean that you are not repeating. You want to talk about the misery of others, go ahead … not because you are privileged but because you might mistakenly shed light on something not everyone knows about, which MIGHT be good … but acting as if you own the region of the misery is purely disgusting. I actually wonder who is less credible than you. A drunk can be credible if getting drunk equates to speaking the truth, a ‘mad’ person can be credible given that wisdom is sometimes born from madness. There are more examples, but seems that you top the list. Of least credible that is.
Whether you are a reporter, journalist, humanitarian, or just a famous “tweeter” (using this word deserves a Will Someone Kill Me … Please?), you normally claim that you are doing it all for the people (of the poor ‘east’ waiting for you and your democracy to solve their problems). What you seem to selectively neglect is that even altruism serves your ego … you want to report it first, you want to write about it first, you want to provide aid first, you want to tweet and get likes and retweets first (again, Will Someone Kill Me … Please?) and then it slowly turns into an official competition, a popularity contest, a fierce one … controlled by hormones and thriving on misery … and on some occasions this contest blinds you and forces you to say or write absurd things, and sometimes even spread unconfirmed news (also known as rumours) just for the sake of being FIRST! Yes! You won! You did it! Here is your gold medal! … Now what? and so what?
Honestly, your testosterone is faster than rumours … and that’s astonishing. That’s something to be proud of … you might end up in the Guinness Book of World Records … maybe with a picture of your lovely face too! Until then, enjoy the rollercoaster of competition where you will sometimes win (or think so), lose (you never think so though), and of course please do enjoy “manufacturing consent”.
Finally, the East is not just a career, it is also a popularity contest … a fierce non-‘eastern’ led one.
الخلاصة: الشرق مش بس صنعة، الشرق سباق شهرة وتنافس مشاهير … وطبعا معظم المتسابقين مش من الشرق
Chapeau bas … to all the 1st place douchebags
