Information is soft power. This is what we tell students in the classrooms. But it does turn out to be a lethal power in this environment as modern technology has given this tool more power than we had thought off or even anticipated just a few decades ago. Readers will be surprised to know that more than 1,000 TV stations are broadcasting to Arabs from every corner of the planet, 18 of them describe themselves as documentary i.e. educational, the rest are either pop music, or political programmes, and most of them have one goal: to capture the heart and mind of the ordinary Arab citizen.
The impoverished imagination of the Arab television producer is clearly seen with the number of TV shows copying the name and the methods of some international television shows — the American Idol becomes Arab Idol, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, takes the exact name in Arabic, even Hidden Camera, uses the same technique in Arab shows. Dozens of copied programmes besides Turkish, Indian, and Spanish series are adapted and other television series from all over are either subtitled, or dubbed in Arabic, bringing the influence of other cultures to Arab masses with very serious social side-effects.
Turkey, Russia, US, Britain, France, even China and Iran, among others, all have TV stations serving the Arab public, and broadcasting in Arabic, with news and comments daily. Twenty-eight government bodies are responsible for official television and 582 private companies, owned by a number of persons or one person alone, are in this crowded field.
One can imagine the effect this bombardment of news analysis and gossip can have on mostly illiterate and impassioned audiences, who can be easily affected by words or images and are led to believe what is being broadcast. But more devastating is the impact on the morals of the general public.
Some of these stations in their race to garner more viewers, and earn more revenues, resort to the topic of sex as an added attraction. It is used mostly by the privately-owned stations, broadcasting outrageous language and with characters who are either homosexual or lesbian sharing their fictitious stories on screen. Hard drugs used by artistes, which look very attractive in certain Arab TV series, encourage youngsters to do so, or to look for supplies, thinking that it is “modern” to use such stuff.
Women are the subject of abuse most of the time on our TV screens, as they are shown being beating by men, and are also subjected to profanities and second-class citizen treatment. Women are looked upon as a commodity, to bring more viewers for commercial purposes only. The way dialogues are conducted — a number of talk shows end with curses exchanged between contributors, to the extent that some even throw glasses of water at each other, ending in foul language and at times fisticuffs.
Lure of consumerism
Arab educators complain of this television broadcasting bombardment, as a danger not just to morals, but also to the Arabic language. The language used during serials is slang or the local dialect or corrupted Arabic which harms the learning of the language, to the extent that our youngsters are now using television slang to communicate.
Consumerism is another problem. Commodities are presented in ways that drive people not just to spend their money on things they probably don’t need, but also to borrow money to satisfy their compulsions. For example, one third of the Kuwaiti population is heavily indebted to banks, to the extent the government has established an institution to tackle this problem. The same problem surfaces in both poor and rich Arab countries, helped by television commercials.
And last but not least, Arab TV networks pose the danger of spreading hatred on prime-time shows. It’s a combination of sectarianism, identity clashes and political propaganda, which makes Arab audiences live in fear and confusion. It’s no secret that a good number of youth are flocking to Syria and Iraq to fight with jihadists, driven mainly by what they see and hear, and read on their computers.
There is no other remedy for this mess but proper education that makes people use their mind to differentiate between what is rational and irrational, right and wrong. This requires efforts by the government and other institutions, such as the press, to clarify to the public the nature of the media, and to put everything we hear or read in perspective. Otherwise words can easily become bullets in this arena of confusion.
Mohammad Alrumaihi is a professor of Political Sociology at Kuwait University.
