Category Asides

  • All is not well in KAUST, apparently. I don’t want to talk about their last-minute cancellation on Saudi Barcamp last month because I don’t know all the details, but here is a view from the inside by a student there. Noah J.D. DesRosiers called it a “black hole,” where people are too afraid to say anything:

    I worry about being asked to leave KAUST. I worry that I will be booted in exchange for a student who will not speak their mind – or worse, a student who will not care either way for the vision of KAUST. Speaking your mind seems offensive and standoffish here; behaving, being grateful, and accepting what has been given appears to be all that was anticipated of us students. We can’t tell; the lack of transparency leaves our questions unanswered.

  • If you want to make something great then you need to be passionate about it. That’s true for almost everything in life. But there are things in life where passion is crucial, and one of these things is teaching. You must have some much passion just to be a decent teacher, let alone a great one. As we go through school, we are being taught by many different teachers, and usually very few of them truly stand out. Those who stand out will have a tremendous impact on our lives. Fatima is no exception, and that’s why she decided to become a teacher.
  • Fellow blogger Ahmed Ba-Aboud introduces Alternative Saudi Voices. His vision is to make the blog one of the best available windows to life aspects, issues and dreams in Saudi Arabia, and it will be will be open to any Saudi who would like to contribute. I think the new blog offers a good opportunity for people who feel they have something to say but don’t want to start a blog of their own. At least it’s much better than pouring your ideas in the comments section of blog like mine where they will eventually be buried or get lost in the noise.
  • A nice op-ed in the NYT by Tim Sebastian, host of Doha Debates. Talking about Egyptian bloggers, he quotes an influential editor in Cairo saying: “these young bloggers are the real bridge to a better, freer future in the Arab world. But, like the traffic, it may take a few years to arrive.” (via GB)
  • The Buraida girl has shockingly decided to accept her marriage to the 80-year-old man. The girl’s divorced mother also dropped a bombshell by withdrawing the lawsuit she had filed to annul the marriage. Abdulrahman al-Lahem says the government should intervene based on its power and commitment to international accords on child rights that it has signed. UPDATE: HRC said they have assigned a new lawyer to the case, and added that just because the mother withdrew the lawsuit doesn’t mean the case is over.
  • I have always said that the Kingdom of Segregation makes for some awkward moments, but this one is just hilarious: Al-Mass’ad lodged a complaint with the police calling on them to take Al-Rubai “under their wing” until he gives up his alleged “Satanic” views which reveal him as an “enemy of the religion.” Actually, this silly story offers a really good representation of the ideological crisis in our country.
  • Caryle Murphy takes a look at how Saudi women use the internet to interact, connect, learn, and express themselves in many different ways. The story includes a couple of quotes by yours truly.
  • Barack Obama has fundamentally altered the way a president deals with the news media, NYT says, as he has made a concerted effort to tap into alternative avenues, including blogs, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. In his first year in office he gave more than 160 interviews. Now compare this to how Saudi officials and leaders deal with the media. I mean, seriously, do officials here even care to speak to people every now and then? They don’t.
  • Countries are built upon laws, not fatwa. After last year’s cabinet reshuffle, some people started to refer to King Abdullah’s reforms as the fourth Saudi state. Ahmed Adnan thinks King Abdullah can become the third founder of the third Saudi state, but first he has to replace the legitimacy of ideology with the legitimacy of citizens.
  • There is a talk of establishing a media zone in KAEC. It sounds like a joke to me, and Sabria Johar agrees. She thinks Saudi media is still pretty immature, and that’s why such an effort will be like putting lipstick on a donkey and call it a thing of beauty.
  • Abdulaziz Khoja, the minister of culture and information, says citizen journalism lacks credibility and fact-checking. Yeah, right. And local newspapers, that your excellency must approve of their editors, are full of credibility and fact-checking. Hey, how’s that new e-journalism law of yours is going btw?