The blogosphere in Jordan

If there is one thing I’ve learned from this class (I assure you that I’ve learned more than one thing!), it’s that the Web has great potential to bring people together. This week I’ve really seen that in action while scanning blogs from across the globe. Issues begin to take new meaning when viewed from a different perspective, people are able to shed light on problems that might not get much notice, and people can work together on projects, games, etc.

I chose to focus on blogs from Jordan for the assignment. Admittedly, I don’t know much about Jordan other than where it is on a map, so it was a real treat to read some blogs from the country.

The first thing posted about Jordan on the Global Voices site is that Jordan’s Queen Rania has her own YouTube profile in which she is starting a discussion to “foster values of tolerance and acceptance, and increase cross-cultural dialogue.”

There are also several blogs discussing the arrest of five Jordanian journalists in two separate cases. In the first case, two newspapers were found in contempt after publishing a story about a lawsuit filed by a Jordanian against a judge’s decision to take away his citizenship. The second case brought slander charges against a newspaper after a satirical article was published about the Higher Media Council. Bloggers from Jordan spoke out about the supposed freedom of the press they enjoy. The Black Iris said, “When HM King Abdullah said some time ago that ‘the sky is the limit’ when it comes to press freedoms, I don’t think this is what he had in mind.” Mental Mayhem wrote that she doesn’t see a bright future for the press in Jordan. And Into The Wind wonders if these journalists really did anything illegal?

Bloggers also took to the Web after Wikipedia refused to remove illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad, even after 180,000 called for their removal. And Far Away showed her support for Wikipedia’s decision, saying, “History doesn’t just belong to modern-day Muslims, especially if it is related to Islam as done by Muslims of other centuries.” She also argued that allowing others to see the illustrations would help spread Islam. Abed Hamdan responded to the post saying, “So if Wikipedia is showing these pictures of the holy prophet, then it gives a false image about how Islam was “SPREAD”. Even if some “modern Muslims” find it convenient, this doesn’t change the Islamic law.”

Finally, Jordanian bloggers aren’t all about serious issues and current events. A group of bloggers were participating in a contest to see who could build the best snow-women or snowbabes. The Black Iris provided his own step-by-step instructions and even created a mate for his snowbabe. Blogger Tololy asked, “Why waste my time and risk catching pneumonia making a huge, beer-belly snowman?” She opted for a tiny snowbabe. There were lots more and Global Voices collected the photos in one post. I think these posts surprised me the most because I had no idea it even snowed in Jordan!

Explore posts in the same categories: SCS Spring 2008

Tags: blogs, global cultures, Jordan

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