perfidy

Occasionally coherent news site Al-Bawaba is reporting a "social and political crisis" over shooting an Arab version of the tacky reality show "Big Brother" in Bahrain.

Production was suspended after a "general outcry" over the show, meaning 1000 protestors hired by Islamist MPs made alot of noise about the show violating Islamic traditions. Whatever that means- does the Koran specify a particular television show over another? How would one watch TV in a properly Islamic manner? Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC), the channel producing and airing the show, made some mild protestation about the hubbub but readily caved.

But if you read the whole piece, substituting "Clear Channel" for "MBC" and "Howard Stern" for "Big Brother", you will probably be amused at first... then that icy knot forms in your gut and you realize that it's really not as funny as it is terrifying.

So it seems the West and the Arab worlds are really not so far apart culturally. Each world allows a tiny but angry religious right to decide what people can see and hear.