New Post on Beirut Spring

Posted: 20 Apr 2013 01:39 AM PDT

— Cheers for getting the bad guy —

Last year in Lebanon, a man was caught on camera attempting to burn down a TV station that had broadcasted an opinion he didn’t like. He lead a group of people that shot at the building and hurled molotof coktails at it before attempting to burn the entrance with wheels. The man, Wissam Alaeddine, was identified on facebook and people pressured the government to arrest him. After he was caught, there were loud protests by people in his political group, a few days later he was released.

Say what you will about American politics, about Americans being quick to blame Muslims and about the shrill media coverage, but what happened in Boston today is a specatcle that deserves to be admired by the Lebanese: Someone who did something bad that killed and injured many people was caught by the police.

Land of the free

Lebanon is the land of the free. Criminals roam about freely without being caught. Many politicians have been assassinated, sometimes spectacularly, but not a single bad guy was caught. Bare-faced people hold machine guns on TV declaring that they are about to kill other people and they are left alone. Families arrange news conferences announcing their intention to kidnap members of other families and they are untouched.

It’s so complicated here in Lebanon. It’s all about politics. There is a huge fight about who controls the ministry of telecommunication because of the data it may provide to capture more criminals. Security heads represent different sectarian factions and compete against each other while simultaneously protecting the bad guys on their sides

It’s all so complicated over here. But in Boston it was simple: A guy did something bad. He was caught. And that is something to behold.

✒ Reminder

This blog was nominated for two awards, “blog of the year” or “best news blog” in Lebanon’s Social Media Awards. If you think it deserves the recognition, kindly help with a vote.