A cousin of mine in Jordan sent me this video via Facebook. At first, I found it very charming—this toothless old Egyptian man entertaining his friends with a song. It reminded me of the summer I spent living in my uncle’s house in Amman. (Every night after dinner, the whole family would sit in a circle in a big room, telling stories, etc.)
In the video, the old man starts to sing, and you hear commentary from the group. There are lots of fingers snapping in time to the beat and vocal encouragement (“Aywah!”). After a minute, the photographer pans around to show the room. A man in the foreground is playing cards. A few listeners are clapping to the beat. Isn’t this nice? These people don’t need television or video games or YouTube for entertainment! They interact directly with each other for fun! Then the camera pans more… What’s this? Half of the old man’s audience is engrossed in texting on their cellphones! Aaaugh!
Omar's Blog 
January 27, 2008 at 5:10 am |
Actually it seems the guys on their cells are taking pix/video of their entertainer pal! I love that!! They will play back the video to other friends, pass it around, keep the fun going.
March 18, 2008 at 7:39 pm |
Technology is here to stay, so stop hating it because you and your liberal-ass friends (who got rich off technology) think its uncool. Why do you liberals think being a Luddite is fashionable all of a sudden?
Why don’t you go live in the desert like these Arab guys, and wipe your butt with a rock because toilet paper is too high-tech! Give me a freakin break!