On my last visit to our country during the month of Ramadan, I was anguished by the degenerated status of our media, where the Arab Satellite TV broadcasting is competing over trivial matters and is using sex as an essential factor, obviously or indirectly, to excite sexual instincts in viewers, a thing that Mr. Arfan Nizam Al-Din called “The Dominance of the Cabaret Mentality” in his daily column in Al-Hayat newspaper. This might be a strange remark to come from a person who has been living in America since 1982, but the truth is, I don’t find it difficult to watch meaningful shows in America, as serious shows are well-known and humorous shows are well-known as well. The TV shows on Arab satellite TV channels, however, have mixed what is serious with what is farcical.
What is supposed to be cultural programs has turned into daily jokes and contests about the names of singers, and singing and dancing has become more prominent than taking, whereas talking has turned into flirting between the TV broadcasters and the viewers. There is also a lot of resemblance among the female broadcasters, as if they were all chosen by the same person or a group of people who graduated from the same school.
Commercials in general are majorly dependent on sexual excitement to promote products, and women became a means of marketing different products including “shisha” or even ceramic tiles, and some noble families do not mind associating their names with such farces.
A viewer who comes from abroad will get the impression that the whole nation has turned to singing, dancing and flirting.
I support the spread of freedom of thought, exchanging of ideasand respect of different opinions and opening the door to dialogue on all levels, I even believe that the freedom of thought and expressing it is the responsibility of the intellectuals of the nation, but liberal enthusiasts who care about their societies and nations do not agree to let such an important media outlet turn into a Trojan horse, as described by some authors, to eliminate whatever is left of morality in the nation, to destroy their societies and drag our generations into deviation, violence and forfeiture.
The responsibility lies upon the whole society, including media personalities, announcers, partners, financers and educators to find the substitute of meaningful TV shows.
And whoever believes that he could avoid all that by merely boycotting these shows is like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
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