comments.

comment 1: obviously, i was wrong with my last post yesterday; it was just pathetic paranoia.

comment 2: michel aoun.

so much to say, and so little time; i'll try to keep this short. although the media which has commented on the demonstration today obviously left out many of his comments (of course, the lfpm forum makes up for that by containing his entire speech), it is again clear that aoun is not a solution, because he does not offer any means to an end. so the corrupt government has to go, and some need to be held accountable. i do not disagree, as i've stated time and time again. of course, aoun has granted himself a carte blanche for not being in the country for 15 years, but this is only because he has perpetuated the false notion that accountability only matters in the time after he had left. by pushing back this self-created limit a few years, aoun can himself be held accountable. conclusion? sweep him out with the rest of the others. some dream of seeing their communal leader be ruler of lebanon; i dream of a noah's arc like structure, which contains all these failed politicians, sailing off into the sunset.

the thing is, although it is easy for a populist to shout slogans and rally a group of supporters, it is becoming increasingly clear that aoun has failed to really map out a viable and individual path for himself. i.e. he has failed to map out a strategy that relates his "strengths" to the "better lebanon" he claims to seek. as borat would have said in reply to aoun's speech, "issa nice. how much?"

in this case, how much longer will we have to deal with such demi-gods across this currently bipolar specturm of one-dimensional rhetoric (i hesitate to use the word demagogue, but perhaps it is more apt). aounists and jumblattists and geageaists have created a saint paul out of their leaders; they once have sinned, but changed their ways when they saw the light. conjuring up such romantic tales makes for great bedtime stories, but it must be noted that this country has been put on hold for quite some time. i have no idea when this will change, but most probably not before such leaders either die or are kicked off their pedastals. (of course, it would be naive to just blame such "leaders," as there is a destructive social culture that propagates such romanticism in terms of myths and legends.)

the point of this comment is not to just criticize aoun, although plainly it is one of the points. the main point of this is to suggest - this is only a suggestion as i have not given an argument - that the solution is not with aoun, or with jumblatt, et al. it is with us. are we up to the task? i don't know.

comment 3: there is way too much historical revisionism going on. it's really beginning to bug me.

comment 4: something about this line in a CNN article fascinated me on so many levels (ok, not really), but i just can't put my finger on why that is.

Lebanon, a polyglot nation, has been held together since the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s by a Syrian occupation that ended after massive protests following Hariri's assassination.

comment 5: have a nice weekend.

posted by Lazarus, 12:53 PM