History and Politics And The TV In Ramadan

Ramadan has just started and with it began a marathon of TV series that will occupy some of us till the early morning hours. Similar to those of previous years, they are tackling themes that are strongly tied to the troubles of the Arab World. Some series deal with political corruption, these are usually the mildest of all and are sometimes funny. On the other hand, we have historical dramas that deal with particular eras or particular figures. In addition to educating the viewers about the historical content, they try to use the past as a magnifying glass of contemporary political matters, particularly the failures of the political leadership in the Middle East. The productions are sometimes very large and lavish. They are hard to follow but at the ends they are frequently intellectually pleasing.

The most traumatic of all the series are the ones dealing with terrorism. I have been following two. The first one was set in Syria. It was very painful to watch, lots of tears and lots of body parts. In yesterday's episode, the leader of the terrorist cell wanted to use his stepdaughter to blow up a government building. She was 6-7 years old! The scene of strapping her with explosives was hard to watch. Due to a series of coincidences, the police foiled the attack, arrested all the bad guys and saved the little girl. The second show was set in multiple countries, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, and England. The characters were from a larger number of Arab countries. The terrorists are more sophisticated and run a complex organization. Many of them had been in Afghanistan and are now living in some of the Arab states or the UK. So far, there has been some snapshots into their psyche that will, I assume, influence how the plot unfolds. I think that this will be the most rewarding of the two, but let us wait and see, or watch.

I would like to advise all US law makers, politicians, CIA, FBI, NSA, and the White House to watch all these programs. They will give them great insight on the real troubles of the Arab World and how the locals view them. I think that the insight will be larger than that given in any CIA report or expert testimony and will cost much less, 39 dollar per month for the satellite subscription, a TV and someone to translate!