Today marks the one week anniversary of the flaming anti-freedom riots that exploded through Beirut's suburbs. Freedom of speech was targeted in these riots. It was targeted by two kinds of people. The first kind is the one that is blindly loyal to the party that he supports or is a member of. He does not question the motives behind any political move, and considers the leader or leaders of that party somewhat like family. Although he's never known them or met them in his life. He is prepared to punch,hit,stab and wreck havoc throughout an entire city when the "integrity" of that leader comes into play.

Then you have the other kind of person. That person does not believe in freedom of speech. The former is a victim of his own ignorance, or more accurately, he's a victim of those that want to keep him ignorant. After all, the least educated are the most easily manipulated. But this kind of person, know what he sees, he laughs at other people's leaders when he sees them on TV. He accepts all political shows to make fun of other leaders. The leaders that other people look up to and mostly follow blindly like him. The sole difference however is that they do not wreck havoc when their leader is made fun of. This is the first time that Lebanon has witnessed such an incident like the one of last Thursday. I believe that most of you know what I am talking about.

I am referring to the Basmet Watan episode where they imitated but did not mock the leader of Hizbullah, which is Hassan Nasrallah. These hooligans on the street were calmed down by Hizbullah, but don't you think that by this small detail in the evening news which did not receive much importance, that the government has shown how weak it was. How it was not able to intimidate the people, and stop them from wrecking havoc without having to use deadly force? Isn't it ironic that a government cannot calm down the citizens of its own nation. What we are witnessing over here my friends, is a small alternative replay of the 1860,1958, and 1975 events. All which lead to a destructive civil war. The Lebanese have yet to learn their lesson, but this has to be expected since most of them have allegiances to countries outside of Lebanon. There are few political parties, the FPM and GOC being one of the few if not the only, that have yet to be influenced by the continuing pressures of foreign powers. What the Lebanese have not learnt is that not one single country in the world wants what's best for Lebanon. Lebanon has always been the thorn in the Arab's side. It was the only democracy in a sea of dictatorships. It could have been the road to the liberation of Palestine by creating an alternative state in Lebanon. The Lebanese however did not allow such a thing to happen. But it does not only stop there, it is in everyone's interest to keep an ongoing fight in Lebanon. The Americans to justify their presence in the turbulent middle-east. The Syrians to justify themselves for occupying Lebanon since we Lebanese cannot seem live with each other. The Israelis will have an excuse to target the Palestinian camps as ruthlessly as they did during the Lebanese war. The list goes on...

The Lebanese people have to understand that by occupying themselves with such pathetic topics, such as rioting because of a comedy show, which I have seen by the way, and which will be posted at the end of the article. Instead of rioting for such a comedy show, why don't the same people, including other Lebanese stand up for their rights in front of the government. Why don't they riot (not that I advocate rioting) because taxes are too high? Why don't they riot because the government is not giving them what they need? What I'm saying over here is why don't the people revolt. Enough waiting for your useless political leaders. They are only doing what they see is fit. They are not living between the people and gained a first hand experience of their suffering. They do not have water shortages. They do not suffer from electrical shortages. They have everything they need. The people are the ones who are suffering, yet they lay on their backs being passive like they always have. Merrily like sheep waiting for their Shepard to send them to graze.

It's amazing how the sheep terminology can fit the Lebanese. They will not react if their leaders do not tell them to react. They will not move an inch if their leaders don't tell them to move an inch. It's the culture of the zoama (zo3ama) that still exists in Lebanon today. It's still being inherited from father to son, and so little of the Lebanese tend to realize that. There's no reason to question a zaeem, he knows what's best for us (usually referring to their sect).

Below here is the video of the controversial episode of Basmet Watan. If anyone can please point out to me where this video is offensive I will be glad to withdraw the following statement.

The hooligans that started the riots because their "spiritual leader" was made fun of on that episode of Basmet Watan have no sense of freedom of thought, and neither do they know the meaning of freedom of speech. They do not realize that Hassan Nasrallah is involved in politics, and him like so many other political leaders will be subject to critism. He is not higher than critism. No one is higher than critism, but it would be difficult to understand that if you are constantly victimizing yourself, and hearing the on sided truth. The people are not to be blamed completely. The government is lacking, severely lacking, which has allowed religious extremism to flow throughout the deprived societies.


Basmet Watan - Hassan Nasrallah



Basmet Watan - Bachir Gemayel



I do know that the immitation of Hassan Nassrallah is not projected in the same way of Bachir Gemayel's immitation, but nevertheless, niether of them are provoking. If some one can please show me where and at what point Hassan Nasrallah was provoked as a religious figure I'd be grateful.