American blogger Michael Totten, living in Lebanon for several months to give a first-person account of its politics, society and government, is handing off the blog reins to a Lebanese blogger as Totten heads to Cairo, where Internet access (unlike Lebanon) may be spotty. The Lebanese blogger, who shall remain anonymous, usually writes for other Lebanese, so this will be different. The blogger is a self-professed moderate, making me wonder if our patron Joe isn’t moonlighting in his spare seconds:
Like many Lebanese, I have American citizenship. I was in Chicago on 9/11. That event profoundly effected me.
I also saw the assassination of Hariri. I’ve felt the effects of the bombing campaign that swept Lebanon between February and September.
I’ve watched terror transform two societies.
The 2004 American Presidential election was a very hard moment for me. I couldn’t bring myself to vote. Bush failed far too many times for me to support him. Kerry was too incompetent for his position; it hurt me not to vote for him. Nader, even though he is Lebanese American, lost his competency years ago.
This makes me politically independent. Americans may believe that there aren’t many moderates in the United States or the blogosphere, but they’ve never been to Lebanon. Moderation is almost impossible to find in these parts. Most people who claim to be moderate are, in fact, promoting some sort of self-righteous cause that they believe all other Lebanese must follow.
Best of luck to him/her (and for the sake of American male bloggers who love pics of Lebanese women, let’s hope it’s the latter and she comes out – if it’s safe).
I’m a tech journalist who’s making a TV show about a college newspaper.