Gaga googoo
Yesterday, I was having lunch at a restaurant in Kuwait where I live. At the table next to mine, there were 8 young, Lebanese, high school, male students. They were extremely loud... which is OK with me until they started a Lebanese political "discussion." Kids not a day older than 15, who apparently have never resided in Lebanon, were having a aounist vs. geageaist argument. It irritated the hell out of me. They weren't even alive during the war! How can they argue on who is better, aoun or geagea and bring up "files" from the 80s?! Why should they follow aoun or geagea, or anyone else for that matter? Why do the Lebanese feel they need a za3im? If there is a need for a za3im, why aren't there any new za3ims?
posted by Rampurple @ 11:28 AM
7 Comments:
Politics is our national sport. Kids in the U.S. have baseball, we have aoun and geagea. What pity, and rather shitty.
I am a bit confused with your discontent guys.
Should we not discuss Nazism, colonialism and other genocides because we were not alive then? What kind of argument is this?
It is not the first time I hear this. In fact, many times I was told by older fellow Lebanese to shut up and listen because I was a boy during the war and had not suffered as much as them and should not speak about it.
Anyway, it is healthy, in my view, to see young people discuss politics -- they athe future and they should know about the past. This is also a key feature of healthy democracies (though I am not contending that ours is...)
I honnestly feel proud when I see we are politically involved as a people.
I understand what Rampurple is referring to. When I overhear discussions like that, it’s usually a chaotic jungle where everyone just wants to rip the skin of the other. I don’t notice any willingness to consider the other person’s opinion or discuss ideas rationally, just stubbornness and a belief that goes like this: pigs can fly but I can’t be wrong. All I hear is shouting where everyone is speaking and no one is really listening. At least, this happen in most of the cases. Nevertheless, no one can ask them to stop discussing, or shut up, or any of the sort; i'm hoping they'll gain maturity with time.. and practice.
there is no new za3im cos people like you are shuttin the youth up, wasnt mozart a za3im when he was 10 years old? good thing you werent born to publish such a post!!!! :)
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guys dont misunderstand, i encourage the youth to discuss politics, but i discourage them to blindly follow politicians just because their parents or grandparents do, or in some cases coz that political party is the cool one. if u heard the discussion i overheard u would understand what i am talking about, these kids got their details all wrong... they werent stating facts but they were talking about what they heard over the grapevine.
also, just like eve stated, a discussion is when people are open to hearing other people's opinions, understand where other people are coming from and in attempt to respond to that. a discussion is not where u memorize lines and restate them over and over again angrily ...
But there are youth, what do you expect? Their views need to mature and lose the youth passion & fire.
Have we all forgotten how it was a question of life and death when we argued as teens?
The problem from my side is that there are no adults to teach them to make the leap to reasoned and respectful mutually enriching discussions and you accordingly you have what you have in Lebanon: Adults with stunted discussion capabilities.
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