Blogging in the Arab world

This post has been brewing in my mind for a while now. A couple of months ago, I received as usual an email from a journalist requesting an interview. I never thought that my rantings & musings deserve any kind of recognition let alone an interview. But I do understand that being Libyan is probably what makes me so ‘interesting’ in their eyes especially that Libya is so ‘mysterious’ in a way. So I usually either politely refuse, or honestly admit that I have no way of answering the questions they want from me even thoughI try to find what they are looking for.

For this purpose I always tried to put the links to each blog that comes out by Libyans which could perhaps answer those questions better than I would as each Libyan blogger, whether residing home or living abroad, forms a part of this kaleidoscopic puzzle.

However, this last request did not get my usual treatment. The reporter was very clear about what he wanted and followed up with a questionnaire. He was doing an article on Arab bloggers, and why were they blogging. I thought that sounded cool and for the first time I actually wanted to reply. I was allowed a free hand about how much info I wished to divulge, the only request was that I send my reply before the deadline for publishing.

Here is what happened. I wrote my passionate essay about blogging , then I just left it into the draft box to give myself the chance to reconsider. I was thinking that once my words were out I could not collect them back anymore, and that was difficult for me to accept because I like to be in control. I mean look at it this way , I had no way of controlling what would this gentleman do with my words ? Isn’t it a bit silly to think that I was so important lol. Who cares about a Libyan blogger after all . aaaaaaaah the grandiose ideas we hold sometimes he he he.

Anyway, this guy goes on vacation and sends me an email with his private email address in case I want to contact him there. So after a few weeks of deliberation with myself , plus I had other important personal stuff to do anyway, I finally send my email two weeks before the deadline, with a last prayer that things would be allright…..
Well, I don’t hear any news from the guy nor about the other things we discussed by email, so I write to ask what happened with those other things in which I was kind of interested and also that I would like to read his article. See I’m bad I’m curious after all.
Anyway, this gentleman kindly replies that the article was published but because I was late, I was not included. Phew , I sigh with relief and thank my lucky stars ,saying that this was a clear sign from God … I really had hesitated before sending that email. Then I go and read the article only to realize that it was although very nice, not scary or threatening as I thought it would be. I found it similar to many other articles about Arab bloggers. It actually containing nothing of the in-depth study I had expected from the questionnaire sent to me but only the usual stuff ;) ….

Here is the said article in which several of my favourite bloggers are mentioned "Attack of the blogs" by Nicholas Nesson. I would like to congratulate them again. And if you are interested you can read here ( in Arabic) and here ( Arabic) and "Blogs for everyone" only a little of what is said about Arab bloggers in the media.

Tune in for Part II soon as I've decided to post my ‘essay’ The purpose of blogging . So the readers will have to put up with it I guess , and this will ensure all my words come through.

Oh and lest I forget, I would like to thank all the journalists, reporters and film producers who got in touch with me over the years thank you each and everyone, it was really flattering but a difficult choice for me as I am not used to that kind of attention.