{"id":34344,"date":"2024-09-06T10:31:19","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T08:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?p=34344"},"modified":"2024-09-06T10:31:19","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T08:31:19","slug":"lebanons-holy-gatekeepers-of-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/lebanons-holy-gatekeepers-of-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon’s Holy Gatekeepers of Free Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Many are convinced that freedom of speech has limits, that it should exclude hate speech, or insults, or derogatory comments, or offensive opinions, especially those related to religion. But if it did, why would free speech even need protection?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIf liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u2014George Orwell<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joumana Haddad<\/span><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tabbouleh is a traditional Lebanese salad made with bulgur, parsley, mint and chopped vegetables, seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice. It is extremely popular and beloved in Lebanon, to the extent that it has become a source of collective pride and a national symbol, just like our famous cedars. Once, some ten years ago, three hundred people gathered in Beirut and broke a Guinness world record by preparing the largest bowl of tabbouleh ever made. People still brag about it to this day. That\u2019s how iconic tabbouleh is in our country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now imagine that I do not like tabbouleh, however exquisite it may be to the majority. And let\u2019s suppose that one day, I express my dislike and criticism of tabbouleh outspokenly, on some platform of mine, whether virtual or in the real world. I might even throw in a joke, saying that it comes a close second in uniting Lebanese people after the national faculty of denial. In principle, this is my own taste, my own point of view, my own \u2014 however cynical \u2014 sense of humor, and I should be free to express it. Right?… Wrong! You see, there are tabbouleh fanatics out there. They LOVE tabbouleh and are very sensitive about anything related to it. They read or hear my criticism somehow, somewhere (I wasn\u2019t even addressing them when I stated it; I was just venting in my own space and they happened to stumble upon it) and they feel deeply hurt (you might say \u201ctriggered,\u201d a word very much <\/span>\u00e0 la mo<\/span><\/i>de nowadays). So, they launch a witch-hunt against me. Their trolls stalk me everywhere and try to destroy my morale, my reputation, my work, etc. They demand that I apologize, ask for forgiveness, be \u201ccancelled.\u201d For how dare I denigrate something they feel so strongly about? How dare I disregard their feelings and talk about tabbouleh the way I did? I might argue that I criticized the product, not its devotees; I could add that I didn\u2019t call for the lynching or killing of those who love\/revere the product; that, after all, I am entitled to my personal opinion, and that they can simply criticize this opinion of mine, or ridicule it, or ignore it, or unfollow me, or block me.\u00a0 But that wouldn\u2019t be enough for them, would it? Their right to free speech (slander and harassment, more often than not) is far more important than mine. Moreover, their personal sensitivities and intellectual\/religious\/political etc (in this case dietary) comfort are way more precious and valid than my views, so I must completely disappear. Then and only then, justice would be served.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scenario above might seem quite absurd, exaggeratedly Orwellian even, but I\u2019ve intended this vulgarization to sound an alarm about the dangerous direction in which we are heading, slowly but surely. And I\u2019m not just talking about Lebanon or the Arab world. This is happening everywhere, on a daily basis, and is scary and distressing to say the least. Social media platforms like X have become a hotbed of toxicity, negativity and calls for censorship. Now you might say that I\u2019m belittling the existing polemics, some of which are crucial, by making an analogy between significant causes and something as trivial as a salad, but I am not. For this is how every descent into totalitarian darkness begins. It is a slippery slope. And those who feel strongly about trivial things can easily be drawn into considering them as important as, let\u2019s say, an issue as controversial and sensitive as religion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me be clear here on one point: To me, religion and tabbouleh are of equal importance, or should I say, unimportance, but I chose religion because it has always sparked widespread controversy about whether we can, or cannot, criticize it, or belittle it, or make fun of it and its symbols and figures (we definitely can, by the way, and should be able to), as if it deserved some kind of special treatment. Who says something like tabbouleh won\u2019t be put on the same level somewhere down the road? Fanatics are fanatics, and they tend to emulate each other. Right wing Islamophobes and Islamic fundamentalists in the West are but two among many examples of this dangerous trend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me also be clear on a second point, before the guns are loaded: By no means am I aiming to defend the racists and homophobes and misogynists of this world, and their nasty likes. However, in my humble opinion, these have always existed, and they always will. We might hear their voices more loudly now because of social media and the open world of the internet. Unfortunately, the right to free speech encompasses the pricks and imbeciles as much as it does the decent and kind, and cancelling the pricks and imbeciles won\u2019t make them disappear. Quite the opposite: they feed on what they perceive, or pretend to perceive, as \u201cprejudice\u201d against them, and gain more fame, and even more endorsement and leverage in some cases (which is why they might have launched their provocations in the first place, in a world where even bad publicity is good publicity). It\u2019s a series of useless, energy-consuming vocal wars between what will forever remain a relative right and a relative wrong, depending on which side you stand, while pressing problems like poverty, famine, human trafficking, genocides, etc remain largely untackled.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not pretending that there aren\u2019t topics I feel very strongly about. They are many, and I am invested in each and every one of them. On top of my list are, obviously, women\u2019s rights and the issue of inequality. But I have long stopped wasting my time debating with sexists and giving them the time of day. They are simply not worth it, and such an exchange won\u2019t lead to any transformation in their behavior or way of thought (I once was idealistic or na\u00efve enough to think it would), not to mention that I\u2019d be granting them the attention that they crave. I\u2019ve learned that there are better, more efficient ways to shed light on these issues, fight for them, and maybe, just maybe, make this world a better, more dignified place for the oppressed. I\u2019m not trying to encourage indifference and deter watchfulness or debate here, I\u2019m only saying that many of said ongoing debates, especially on social media platforms, are mere distractions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because there\u2019s a crucial distinction to be made between, for example, declaring that women are less important than men and that they\u2019re only good for cooking and making babies and declaring that women \u201cdeserve to be beaten up.\u201d The first is an expression of bigotry and idiocy (undeserving of a response or reaction per my current standards), and the second is an incitement to violence, which should be punished by law. It\u2019s one thing to make jokes about homosexuals, and another to advocate that they \u201cshould be killed.\u201d Many people are convinced that the line between expression of hatred or bias (free speech, however disgusting) and calls for violence is a blurry one, but it\u2019s actually quite clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, I\u2019m not saying you can\u2019t or shouldn\u2019t take active action against people who spread hate speech. I\u2019m merely saying that censoring them is not the most efficient punishment. You are merely covering up the dirt, not actually cleaning it. And since when did sweeping the dust under a rug make the dust disappear?<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason for this rant is an ongoing \u2014 and increasing \u2014 concern for the state of freedom of speech in Lebanon today. Obviously, there have always been things you cannot think in our dear country, let alone say, or do. This is the world I grew up in, and this is the world I am still living in right now, unfortunately. <\/span>Religious leaders and institutions in particular have long been the gatekeepers in Lebanon. <\/span>Only a few months ago, Lebanese stand-up comedian Shaden Faqih was accused of blasphemy because of some jokes she made about Islam on stage. The death threats she received were so serious she was forced to take the decision to leave the country for good. Faqih is, by the way, from a Muslim background \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter to me, of course, but it does matter to the story. She was accused of \u201c<\/span>inciting religious and sectarian conflict and undermining national unity,\u201d according to Dar El Fatwa, Lebanon\u2019s seat of Sunni authority, and also of \u201cthreatening civil peace.\u201d One cannot but be amazed by such a level of hypocrisy. This is a country where corrupt political leaders have completely ruined the State, where catastrophic explosions and assassinations have taken place without anyone\u00a0 being charged for the crimes, where banks stole citizen\u2019s deposits, and a whole region, the South, is being bombed by Zionist criminals \u2014 among many other calamities brought upon us on a daily basis. Yet a simple joke can seemingly outdo all this and annihilate us. Now if this isn\u2019t the actual joke, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do Muslims have a monopoly on this heightened touchiness? Not in Lebanon. As I mentioned before, zealots love to copy each other, and that is for various reasons: one could be a certain form of social jealousy (\u201cwhy should their cause be more relevant than ours?\u201d), another is covert mutual interests (\u201cif we provoke them into attacking us, we\u2019ll be more credible victims and our cause will gain more traction and validation\u201d). Lebanese Christians are just as thin-skinned as the rest of our god-fearing population. To cite but one example, a radical Christian group called Jnoud el Rabb (a.k.a. the soldiers of God, as if God doesn\u2019t already have enough armies and parties), has emerged in the past couple of years, waging a religious war against the LGBTQ+ community and the so-called \u201cspreaders of sin.\u201d Only last summer, they attacked a gay-friendly club in Beirut and assaulted its patrons and owners. Shortly before that, the Lebanese <\/span>interior minister had decreed a ban on any activities related to Pride Month after pressures from different religious groups, Christian and Muslim both<\/span>. And there have been many other incidents in the past which have showcased the lack of tolerance for free choice and free speech amongst Christian religious leaders. In 2013, a group of Lebanese Orthodox priests protested the use of a popular church hymn in a modern dance show at the Baalbeck Festival, and called for its banning. In 2019, the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Byblos claimed that <\/span>Mashrou\u2019 Leila<\/span><\/a>\u2019s songs “violate religious values” and demanded their show at the Byblos festival be canceled, which it eventually was.\u00a0Church leaders accused the band of blasphemy and many people sent them death threats on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is one of the best materializations of the famous proverb \u2014 especially pertinent in Lebanon \u2014 \u201cyou scratch my back and I\u2019ll scratch yours.\u201d For when fanatic Lebanese Muslims and fanatic Lebanese Christians aren\u2019t fighting one another, they make the best war comrades, waging the same battle against modernity, secularism, open-mindedness and against freedom of expression and choice (specifically any choice related to one\u2019s gender and sexuality), in order to protect \u2014 not their convictions, not really \u2014\u00a0but very much so their interests, their power and their lucrative grip on the Lebanese people, a grip which ultimately serves the corrupt political elite with whom they conspire.\u00a0And it is about time this country\u2019s religious leaders take their chokeholds off our lives and voices, whether in politics, culture, sexuality, or any other field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many are convinced that freedom of speech has limits, that it should exclude hate speech, or insults, or derogatory comments, or offensive opinions, especially those related to religion. But if it did, why would free speech even need protection? Should it just be a conduit for sanctioned beliefs and praise and compliments? Our opinions, whatever they may be, can easily be considered hate speech or an insult or an offense by someone who feels strongly about what we are critiquing or ridiculing. The principle of freedom of speech is specifically meant to protect the speech that someone else might find offensive or mean or wounding or objectionable. Shouldn\u2019t we be able to say anything as long as it doesn\u2019t incite violence or crime? Do human beings have a birthright to not be offended? Being able to hear all kinds of opinions, even \u2014 especially \u2014 ones you don’t like, even \u2014 especially \u2014 ones that hurt your feelings or your beliefs, however sacred these beliefs are to you, is an essential part of a free society. We need to remember that \u201csacred\u201d is both a relative and subjective category. We also need to remember that if someone says something on social media or elsewhere, it doesn\u2019t make their statement true or a \u201cfact.\u201d But herein lies the conundrum: to many, unfortunately, it does indeed make it true. It\u2019s frightening how countless people can be so quick to believe (and relay and spread) something they read on some platform, posted by some anonymous account, even if, especially if, it is saying something negative. This is our real problem: a universal lack of consciousness, lucidity and ability to question and evaluate. Free speech requires societies that are aware, discerning and able to practice the art of critical thinking. That is why human ethics and basic decency and civility are the solution, and promoting them over discrimination, exclusion and aggressiveness can offer a major breakthrough in this otherwise unfruitful and counter-productive debate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been a fan of political correctness. I believe that insolence, irreverence and desacralization are vital to shaking us out of our comfort zones, combatting the cancer of duplicity, and protecting us from brainwashing and indoctrination. We need to constantly fight for our right to diverge, to not fit in, to not be \u201cmainstream,\u201d to not conform with the masses. Last but not least, let\u2019s keep in mind that there is a name for a place where everyone agrees with each other: It is called a dictatorship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Look around: our Arab world is rife with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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