Obama Interview
with Al-Arabiya Cause for Arab Shame
"In the eyes of the world, we Arabs are the delinquent students who draw the attention of the school principal, and we're feeling the euphoria that troublemakers get when they attract the principal's attention."
President Obama with one of the first world leaders he called upon entering office: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, from Obama's brief visit to Rumallah lasy May.
Should we, the Arabs, feel
happy and proud that America's new president Barack Obama selected Al-Arabiya to
give his first formal interview since entering the White House?! It's a
question that I felt I needed to answer, after news of the interview took over
most of the world's newspapers sites, including those dedicated to cinema such Variety
in the United States. Reports on the interview describe in a variety of ways, from
those who say Obama behaved like a supplicant toward the Arab world to others
who write that Obama won the enmity of Al-Jazeera by making Al-Arabiya his
choice for the interview!
The answer to the question, in
my view, is that people working in the Arab media should be proud of the achievement
by Hisham Melhem, who is a complete professional who represented the Arab press
with distinction - and that no one can deny.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
But does that mean, for
example, that upon meeting or Chinese or Mexican at a conference, I would say
to him, "Hey, pal," like they do in the American movies, "did
you know that in deciding which network to give his first interview to, he chose
Al-Arabiya?"
This "non-Muslim"
or "non-Arab" would undoubtedly answer: "The President of the
most powerful country in the world doesn’t need to direct his speech in our
direction, because we're not the ones responsible for the world's problems."
This is a fact ... in the end, we Arabs in the eyes of the world are the delinquent
students who draw the attention of the school principal, and we're
just experiencing the euphoria that troublemakers get when they attract the principal's
attention - as though we were actual people of consequence in the world, whereas
the truth is that we're a people who cannot control our emotions and who need
to be quieted with media bribes, such as during the interview, putting a vase
with yellow flowers behind President Obama instead of the American flag.
PRESIDENT OBAMA SPEAKS TO THE
MUSLIM WORLD
All of which is why when Arab
media expresses pride and brags about the Obama interview, the real feeling we should
have is regret and remorse for being in such a pitiful situation. Because in
the end, Obama didn't choose an Arabic news channel because it was superior. Of
all the world's news channels, he chose Al-Arabiya for no other reason than
that it's "Arab!"
