My column was done. It’s an insightful, irreverent, hilarious, academic look at the dynamics of waiting tables. Matt edited it, and I was really excited to submit it. It has been very difficult for me to write lately – for personal reasons that will make me look more like a whiner than a writer – even though the two are not that far removed from one another.
I was touching up my column one last time before turning it in, when I read a story that made my blood boil. All my writer’s block melted away. In its stead materialized confused annoyance.
The article rips Queen Rania. The writer castigates Queen Rania of Jordan for being a bad representation of Arabs. The writer thinks Rania is full of shit, an atypical looking Middle-Easterner, and an all around waste.
I am a ‘Rab, so I feel like I can write intelligently about my representation. I usually avoid performing the meta-analysis that is so prevalent online now – but I couldn’t today. I love discussing and writing about race and human interaction because most people are not mature enough to discuss the topic without having to peak around corners.
If Queen Rania is a bad representation then I should probably feel embarrassed to show my olive complexion around town.
After September 11th I was crushed and scared, as all of us were. I was also ashamed and uncomfortable in my own skin. I was embarrassed to be Arabic. I became Italian for two years following September 11th. Between you and me, if there were an actual racial draft I would hope that the Italians took a late-round flyer on me, but I digress.
I feel a weird race-specific guilt. I play soccer every Sunday with Mexican migrant workers, African foreign-exchange students, a couple of Brits, three Canadian girls, and a litany of others. One of my closest friends, and the smartest cat I know, is Jewish. I smoke weed with a Greek guy. I date pretty white girls that look good in bikinis. I drink white Russians. I do nearly everything that fundamentalists find deplorable. I am not religious and I hate fundamentalism in all forms. I try to be good, and appreciate others who live by the same mantra, regardless of religious affiliation. I know that I am not the only person that feels this weird shame. I try to present myself as a good person – and overcome stereotypes. But to be honest, if I weren’t Arabic I don’t know if I could look past the extremists.
I hate that the foremost Arabic representation in this country is Osama bin Laden.
Between psychotic ‘Rabs declaring fatwas on South Park. Between Al-Qaeda attacking all-girl schools because educated women mortify them. Between shoe-bombers and shoe-throwers. Between Osama video release dates. Between articles about newly uncovered terrorist cells. Between all this shit sit people like me, people like me who are nothing like them. ‘Rabs like me who wish our representatives where Khalil Gibran or George Shaheen or even Paula Abdul.
So when I read an Arabic writer castigating Queen Rania for reasons like:
Much of the reaction to (Queen Rania) in the States is informed by a sense that she is special, a unique voice, a light in the darkness of the Middle East.
Perception is more important than reality. The Middle East is perceived as an ominous region unwilling to catch up to the 21st century. It is not, and if she can help illuminate the non-Osama world, then what is the problem?
The writer sarcastically refers to Queen Rania as a “humanitarian” monarch [...]
I don’t really give a shit if she plays X-Box all day and leaves her palace just to take advantage of the photo-op at a newly opened school for girls or underprivileged kids. Because without her celebrity and her interest – feigned or legitimate – that school would not be built. I don’t care about her motivation if the results are positive. I take the consequentialist view; her reasoning is worthless to me if the outcome creates positivity.
Some of us can look beautiful, some of us can operate in the corporate business world, some of us speak perfect English, some of us do well according to your cultural standards. In other words, “we can be like you. Look at me. Don’t you wish all Arabs were like you, I mean, like me?”
This combative view is what is most annoying. Who gives a shit if she is pretty or if she speaks perfect English. The writer’s complaints are not negative, they seem petty and full of the same fear of the western world that makes ‘Rabs appear to be stuck in the 17th century. This narrow-minded view is why positive voices are lost in the white noise of negativity.
The writer does ask a poignant question and I can see past my annoyance to, hopefully, the crux of her argument - Is it true that the Arab world has no better (a) leaders (b) women and (c) activists to show for itself than the queen of Jordan?
The Arab world does have better leaders, women, and activists for social change than Queen Rania. Herein lies the problem, though – these positive Arabic archetypes are hidden behind the shroud of negativity that has been built up by the psychotic few. The fact that she is not the greatest representative does not diminish her value. She is trying to rise above the negative representatives. She may serve to motivate other positive figures. I am proud to have her appear on Oprah. I am proud that she has two million Twitter followers. I am proud that she writes children’s books. I am proud that air time is taken up by Queen Rania instead of Bin Laden. I am not ashamed. I am not ashamed to have Queen Rania represent me.
If I pretend to be Italian now, it will be out of preference, not fear.
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Thank you for writing this, Muaz. I’ve been spending a few days back-and-forth with a Muslim from Indonesia where they were defending Surah 5:38 about cutting off the hands of thieves (“Only thieves would be greatly concerned about this verse.”, etc.) and reading up on how Aceh has been going from a implementing a ‘benign’ secondary-to-civil Shari’a to putting stoning of adulterers into law.
As one who also never limited my friends by what faith they professed, 5:51 and 5:80 in the Qur’an were also a shock, more so to realize some would take those as commands at face value in this day and age.
I really needed a breath of fresh air. Just knowing that Queen Rania exists in the free state that she does helps. Your small blog entry helps even more. In the online realm of shouting, I occasionally despair of finding moderates :)
I abhor fundamentalism of all stripes. If not war – and who is to say it will not be the cause of war – then fundamentalism is what will take us back to pre-technological times. The “good old days”… were not so good.
Thanks again, and cheers!