The Fire That Is Lebanon

I was too young to understand the chaos. CNN and cable media weren't ratings whores back then, and people still watched the evening news on network television. News was news, not what Paris Hilton ate for lunch.

I have faint recollections of images on television. I knew that the word "Lebanon" meant something bad. But I was the kid who looked at Russian script and thought it all was about nuclear bombs. (To this day I often refer to printed Russian as the "nuclear letters" just for fun.) Why did the Marines die? Why was the President on television so much? They never taught us these things in school. I didn't even know what the Middle East was, and no teacher ever attempted to explain that there was a war on. Why? Were they sheltering us? Were they trying to avoid having to explain why Lebanon was a mess, avoid talking about Israel or the Ottoman Empire or the Balfour Agreement? Or was it just too complicated for them to understand, let alone some eight year old kids trying to wrap their little minds around it?

I learned about the Lebanese civil war from Thomas Friedman. Don't groan - he wrote From Beirut to Jerusalem way before his ego inflated to the size of Beirut and Jerusalem put together, and it's quite a good book. Since then, I've been employed in the Mideast field and have come to learn much about what used to be an enigma to me. I've even learned the language. Sort of. Still, keeping track of the factions and the alliances over Lebanon's recent history is difficult to do. I wish those who say Americans don't care about Lebanon could understand why that just isn't true. Lebanon is a confusing place, and I don't think many Americans comprehend what is going on, especially in light of the fact that American media is a multibillion dollar industry. The Fourth Estate has burned to the ground. It's dead.

I've been reading as much as I can about the current situation. I don't want to have an uninformed opinion about it, although that's pretty much what all of the opinions are out there. I've read some real hate in the last few days - Arabs blaming Jews, Jews blaming Arabs, Arabs blaming Americans, Americans blaming Arabs, Americans blaming Jews, Jews blaming Americans, Arabs telling Americans to clean up the mess, Jews telling Americans to stay out of it...it's all so maddening! Get a grip people! I did discover a blog today with some sense (and a sense of humor.) Go to The Lebanese Bloggers for some rational insight into what's going on.

cross posted at In Search of Shamash