[lit-ideas] Re: News via the web
- From: Scribe1865@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 14:05:55 EST
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2004/2/beckerman-iraq.asp
This, reinforcing what John and Omar have written, from the same article in
CJR:
Accepting the Contradictions
Anthony Shadid, The Washington Post
Last August, Anthony Shadid of The Washington Post spent a day on Mutanabi
Street, a narrow alleyway of bookstores and shops in old Baghdad. Because he is
an Arabic speaker (his grandparents were born in Lebanon), Shadid says, Iraqis
tend to be more comfortable in his presence. â??Gaining trust or gaining
personal access and confidence is much harderâ?? than in other places he has
reported
from, Shadid says, and so his appearance and ability to get along without a
translator allow him to get in close. On that summer day on Mutanabi Street, he
was able to hear the debates among a group of lounging Iraqi men. One of them,
Mohammed Hayawi, a bookstore owner, turned to his friends and said, â??I
challenge anyone to say what has happened, whatâ??s happening now, and what
will
happen in the future.â??
This is how Shadid tries to understand Iraqis. He doesnâ??t force an answer. â??
Anybody who says they know how Iraqis feel is talking bullshit,â?? says Shadid.
â??
You are going to find somebody who is going to express contradictory
sentiments in the same conversation, at the same moment.â?? Shadid believes the
best way
to deal with this problem is not to fight it. On Mutanabi Street, when a
stationery store owner, Amran Kadhim, challenged his friend Adel Jannabi on his
critiques of the American occupation, Shadid printed the exchange.
â??The Americans are doing well,â?? said Kadhim. â??Theyâ??re working slowly
but
theyâ??re doing well. If there were no Americans here, people would end up
killing
each other.â?? Jannabi countered, â??No, no, my friend. There should still be
much more progress.â?? â??Why do we blame the Americans?â?? Khadim shot back.
Shadidâ??s Arabic allows him to understand the small talk, the intonation, the
turn of phrase. But he also knows that the nature of the sentiment is complex,
and he says the best way to capture this is to lay it all out. â??In your
interviews with Iraqis you are going to be thrown into a situation where
thereâ??s
chaos; itâ??s confusing; everything is all out there,â?? Shadid says. â??And to
pin
down, nail down this one sentiment of what Iraqis feel is impossible. Iâ??m
sure
a majority is grateful that Saddamâ??s gone. A majority does have problems with
the occupation. A majority is frustrated with where itâ??s at. A majority is
hopeful about the future. All these things are true and youâ??re probably going
to
hear them in the same conversation.â??
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
