Comments on: Trouble gets Jordanian bloggers more attention

By: Tololy’s Box » Blog Archive » There’s More To The Arab Blogosphere Than Egypt

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:40:17 +0000

[...] I wrote about this before when I noted that it is only when there is significant trouble that Jordanian bloggers garner international media attention. I think that is truly sad, because in each and every country in the Arab region there are bloggers who make change with every post, bloggers who have distinct voices rarely heard in mainstream media, bloggers who humanize Arabs and who affect, even if slowly, public opinions in their countries. It is such a waste not to listen to what they say or to cram them all under the category of one country and yet ignorantly stamp that piece ‘Arab blogging.’ It is a shame. [...]

By: What Do Jordanian Bloggers Gotta Do To Get In Trouble? at The Black Iris of Jordan

Sat, 03 Jun 2006 08:34:40 +0000

[...] Tololy wrote an interesting post the other day entitled: “Trouble gets Jordanian bloggers more attention”. It was basically about how Jordan is quite the small humble country without that storm of attention that comes by way of national events which have the whole world talking. Which means that Jordanian bloggers only get the attention they deserve when there’s “trouble”. The word “trouble” got me thinking, but that other kind of trouble. The trouble that has lead to Arab bloggers see the insides of a jail cell. And I’m talking about getting in trouble for actually blogging, or for what you’ve written on your blog. Every Arab country differs from the other. Some play a bigger role on the international stage, mostly for doing something bad. And others are more low key. I think Jordan is one of the latter. Also, every country differs in it’s approach to Internet censorship. Till now there have been no signs that you can actually get in trouble for blogging in Jordan. I do know for a “fact” that Jordanian blogs are monitored. But other than that, I have no idea. I don’t know if “they” take it seriously, if they’re waiting for someone up the chain of command to tell them to take it seriously. [...]

By: Faisal

Faisal — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 23:11:36 +0000

Idea well thought out. I agree with Alb Sayed on this.

On another note, I believe the Chinese thing is a curse, Vas, and it goes: "May you live in interesting times." Having said that, I would also like to add that I agree whole-heartedly with what you said.

Whilst it is important to discuss and analyze these "bloody" or news-worthy (or whatever you want to call it), I think Blogs, in their most basic form, should be an expression of who we are.

By: Vas

Vas — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 06:59:35 +0000

There is a nice chinese- if I am not mistaken- saying in which the person begs Fate: "please spare me from living in an interesting era". So, in the end of the day, this hunt for catastrophes, disasters, bombs, the sufferings of other people (a sadistic search after all, under the pretext of keeping informed and updated) may be adding numbers of viewers. But the real interaction, the thing that might make blog an almost classical genre of text, comes with people who connect to each other for more than the fragments of blood-dripping news.

By: Alb Sayed

Alb Sayed — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 02:25:45 +0000

Tololy,
A pattern definitely exist, as it does in most other forms of media. When the Omar Khayam movie came out in the US, people flocked to their browsers to google "Khayam" and "Persian Poetry" for example. After a while, it died off.

What’s more interesting is that some bloggers try and "ride" this pattern. They write for the stats, controversy, exposure, they use their blogs to scream "Look at me!!". I’m more a fan of the ones that write simply to write.

By: Peter S.

Peter S. — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 01:31:03 +0000

I think the best blog writing models itself on the best traditions of essay writing–veering between personal and political, noting that which is worthy of praise and censor.