I received many notes and comments in
response to last week’s article about phenomenon of ugliness and ribaldry
prevailing in some satellite channels; most significant of those comments was
what Mr. Ahmed Lutfi, senior professor of aviation physics and ex-chancellor of
the British Aircraft Corporation, wrote.
Before presenting the message he wrote,
I’d like first to praise his wealth of information and what I learn from him,
for I receive fresh authentic information in a literary-scientific style we
were used to long time ago when we were school-age children. I’d like also to affirm
that I do appreciate all comments I receive – whether agreeing or disagreeing
to my opinions –and consider this a positive experience I do cherish like I value
writing to Almasry alyoum newspaper which – in my opinion – still plays a
significant role in forming the public opinion and enlightening it through
dialogue running between its writers and editors on one side and readers on the
other side.
Here is what he wrote:
Good evening…
First of all, happy new year and many
happy returns on the occasion of celebrating Prophet Muhammed’s birthday which
happened to take place this year along with that celebrating Prophet Jesus’
birthday, Peace be upon both of them.
Here we are bidding a year farewell and
welcoming a new one hopefully wishing to be better than the past one praying
for God to fulfill our wish.
Regarding your last article titled
“ugliness here… deception there” and what you discussed in the first issue, I’d
like to say I have both a comment and an illustration. As to the phenomenon of
ugliness and ribaldry that has dominated some satellite channels and currently
running and recurring on some media anchors’ tongues, and the axiom you made clear
that generalization in making judgments and taking stances is a wrong deed that
may be considered to be a sin, as you literally said in your article last week,
is completely true.
Actually sir, I believe we have to
adopt another more general and comprehensive angle to take a look at the whole
scene. Media – surely you know better about what is happening in this field –
is a mirror reflecting the society with all its stumbling events and incidents.
Those responsible and working in this field in addition to those funding them –
whether businessmen owning satellite channels or advertising agencies – are
part of this society; they live in it and work according to its ruling laws and
common customs. It’s no surprise then when we read, hear, and watch all these ribaldry
and obscenity that are odd to traditional ethics and contradicting common
values.
Well… I will go a little bit far away
from this controversial issue and tell you about the phenomenon of ribaldry
that invaded and is still dominating our Egyptian society like an epidemic
disease. Back to the roots of this phenomenon and its historical and medical
scientific origins, it’s known as Tourette Syndrome. Symptoms of this disease
appear in a chronic disorder in movement characterized by multiple vocal or physical
jerks coming from the patient himself. Here, the patient loses all control over
his movements and words which most of the time are obscene and abusive ones. It’s
no doubt ribaldry has many forms and styles. For example, verbal ribaldry is
one kind of those styles however it’s not the only one as there are other
behaviors that are ribald to say the least starting by interrupting talk and
not ending by attacking the speaker, ridiculing his words and mocking him, not
to mention the comments you read on others’ opinions on social media which has
become in certain aspects a platform to exchange verbal abuse and insults. That
makes you feel those ribald vocals have different genes holding ribaldry chromosomes
more than any other genetic qualities.
Let me tell you more about this known pathological
condition known as Tourette syndrome. In 1884, a French physician named Gilles
de la Tourette had diagnosed nine patients as having a bizarre genetic disease
whose symptoms were represented by tic disorder of muscular spasms and very obscene
insults. Dr. Tourette had diagnosed Marquis de Dampierre, the matronly old
Marquise, with this disease as she used to make involuntary
movements associated with sudden vocalizations and outbursts of obscenities. She had had this disease since she
was seven. Actually, there are other cases prior to diagnosing this disease; as
a French nobleman – unfortunately my poor memory cannot help me remember his
name right now – used to be hand-tied behind his back for he used to make obscene
remarks using his finger in the presence of King Louis XIV (1638 – 1715);
meaning the man was afflicted with this disorder before it was even known in
medicine. As to insults and obscene wording said in every occasion without
need, it’s a symptom for a disease called Coprolalia. In this disease, ribald insults
spontaneously come out of the patient even if he was not provoked! The same
thing applies when the patient makes obscene remarks using his hand or
continuously touches his genitals; which is known as Copropraxia. I believe you
still remember what Morsi[1]
did during his meeting with the Australian female Prime Minister. A third kind;
known as Coprographia, is about obsession to write ribald words especially on
walls (notice the obscene words written on pubic WCs’ walls to make sure the
disease is already spread and we have a long medical history in this!) There is
also obsession to display naked body before the other sex to draw their repugnance
which too was a common custom at a time when women dwelling in popular alleys
used to adopt as a viable means to disgrace, scandalize, and defame their
enemies. A whole generation is feeding daily over this table of ribaldry; more
than half the Egyptians practice daily such kind of ribaldry. Taxi drivers for
example; they are very ribald and don’t hesitate to start a fight with the
riding customer for a few more piasters. Hawkers with their maddening microphones
are also ribald; a hawker annoys you, disturbs your sleep and doesn’t mind to verbally
or physically assault you if necessary in case you tried to reproach him, although
he’s supposed to earn his living out of selling his goods to you and others…
see! Craftsmen are very ribald… pedestrians in the streets… Chinese-motorcycles’
riders with their loud music… even many mosque worship leaders or Imams whose religious
addresses have become loaded with a lot of abusive wording. Examples are too
many to count; wherever you look, you see ribaldry trending in society. Ribaldry
became a synonym for revolutionary state… chaos is a translation for freedom…
verbal and physical violence is the common language used in daily conversations
in our Egyptian society.
In pre-civilization societies, only
the strongest could survive but things changed and humanity had witnessed ages
of progress and civilization and so survival became for the fittest.
Unfortunately, in Egypt, survival has become for the more violent, ribald, and obscene!
I do believe that nations are raised just like children. I also imagine our
current situation in Egypt these days as a family man who travelled to work in
order to support his family and became busy earning money to provide for the
well-being of their present and guarantee their future and forgot about
behaving his children, and when he came back years later, he was surprised to
find his children mean and low. Unfortunately, Tourette Syndrome seems to have hit
us hard! I apologize for my long comment and again happy new year.
This article was published in Almasry
alyoum newspaper on December 30, 2015.
To see the
Arabic article, go to:
#almasry_alyoum
#ahmed_elgammal #ugliness #satellite_channels #tourette_syndrome #Egypt
#Egyptian_society #obscenity #ribaldry
[1] Morsi: ex-muslim brotherhood president
ousted due to mass demonstrations against his rule that swept across Egypt on June
30, 2013.
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