Finally, for the first time in history, and many years too late, the Lebanese government will buy energy from the private sector which will generate it from a renewable source: wind.
This week, the cabinet gave three companies licenses to build wind farms in Lebanon’s Akkar region.
The wind farms are expected to generate around 200MW of power, enough for 200,000 households in Lebanon.
The law which OKs buying electricity from the private sector dates back to 2002, and was updated in 2010. Now, in 2017, projects have finally been sanctioned, 15 years after the first law was passed.
This is great news, especially with talk about billions of your dollars being spent on temporary, environmentally-unfriendly power ships. This at a time the government is trying to hike taxes across the board… It’s unacceptable that billions of dollars be spent on a temporary fix for the electricity, when more permanent, and more importantly, sustainable options can happen.
The government should loosen up laws on who can generate electricity in Lebanon. Especially on renewable energy. I don’t get how people are allowed to run diesel power generators in neighborhoods for decades now, but it takes so long to give a permit and allow production of clean power to help close the massive power gap in this tiny country.
Wind farms, solar farms, hydroelectric dams that don’t destroy entire ecosystems and heritage sites like the Janna Dam disaster, are all viable options, that will cost the taxpayer less, and slow down the butchering of our garbage-drenched, toxically-polluted environment.
Then again, the politicians won’t make as much money from no “moteurs” and dirty sources of energy, so, we need to keep an eye out and pressure up to move towards the private sector and private citizens being allowed to generate clean energy.
Anyway, the companies have 18 months to do an environmental impact assessment, and then another 18 months to complete construction of the wind farms. So, in 2020, we should have 3 wind farms in Akkar, generating 200MW of power.
Remember a couple of months ago, when we went down to protest the tax hike, and the president decided to suspend parliament for a month? The result was the less-than-ideal, tailor-made, gerrymandered new electoral law. Apart from that though, our politicians thought we’d lose focus and interest and that they can reintroduce their savage tax hike again when taxpayers had calmed down.
The Leaked Agenda
By now, all of you probably saw the leaked agenda of the upcoming two parliamentary sessions. The first item is the many years overdue wage increase for many public and private employees in Lebanon. The second, a series of savage tax hikes from those same people, and the rest of Lebanon’s taxpayers.
In other words, Lebanon’s politicians are doing nothing to stop corruption, wasteful spending and outright theft of public money and tax breaks and loopholes for them and their buddies. However, they’re putting on a PR stunt of increasing wages slightly, while hiking up taxes across the board.
What’s funny is how absurd the agenda is. Item 5 is “protection of animals” (how heartwarming). Item 3 is extradition of persons between Lebanon and Russia (why the fuck?)
The other two pages of the agenda are below:
So, prepare yourselves this week for massive protests to stop this disgusting attempt by Lebanon’s politicians to shove new taxes down our throat, when growth in the first 6 months of this year did not exceed 1%, unemployment has reached an unprecedented 30% and the government’s proposed budget is more like a chicken with its legs dipped in paint walking around randomly: no direction, no vision, no reform.
It’s sad that our corrupt leaders have become so predictable. I remember when we heard the news of the president suspending parliament for a month while protesting in the Central District, we all thought, they’ll just wait a little bit and try to pass it without us noticing. Well, we did, and your dirty tricks have become all too familiar.
A note to all the groups organizing next week’s protests: do it in the late afternoon, when the heat wave is more bearable and most people get off work.
We will stop these taxes again. Fund the wage hike by cutting your tax breaks and paying for all the crimes against Lebanese taxpayers, like occupying public beaches while paying no penalty or tax to reimburse Lebanon’s taxpayers.
Shake Shack opened in Beirut in April of 2014. In 2017, it shuttered up its doors. I remember the first time I went into a Shake Shack, in Manhattan near the Port Authority building in Midtown East. I went there cause I wasn’t gonna wait in line at Madison Square Park. Anyway, I had two smoke shack burgers, with extra smoked Niman Ranch bacon and some fries.
Their burgers were pretty good, and I loved the idea and story behind the brand: from humble beginnings as a hotdog stand to the valuable brand it has become today. Their fries suck though, in every Shake Shack I’ve ever been to. When it opened in Beirut, I was naturally ecstatic to go try it.
The Lebanese Shake Shack Experience
I went down to the new Shake Shack in Beirut, went up to the counter, and immediately ordered my favorite item on their menu: the Smoke Shack Burger. It was veal, hickory-smoked bacon. Not the smoked pork bacon that was my go-to at Shake Shack.
After that disappointment, I never went back. I really hate it when brands and restaurant chains we know, change something so essential in their menu for reasons I don’t find convincing.
Choice Works, Forced Doesn’t
Remember the ZwZ Hamra vs ZwZ Bliss thing? Inno why the fuck would I go to ZwZ Hamra if there is no Halloumi Bacon? Turns out the ultra-conservative landlord in Hamra wants it that way. Now, before you jump up and down yelling that a place has the right to choose what to serve. To that, I say absolutely, but when you’re a chain, we go in expecting that chain, not the watered-down, kahleej-ified version. It’s not like we’re going around forcing people to serve pork and alcohol, but when we go in expecting a brand we like or know, and it’s been amputated for religious purposes, we’re probably not gonna go back.
If I wanted a place that doesn’t serve pork or alcohol, I’d go to such a place. However, to go in expecting something, only to realize that someone higher up the chain of command thinks its bad for his chances at an afterlife, then no thanks, I’d rather spend my money somewhere else.
Other Examples that Kinda Worked
Back when CityMall opened, it had a huge Geant supermarket. They partitioned the delicatessen and alcohol part, kinda like they do in Gulf countries. It caused an uproar, and people stuck to other supermarkets like Spinneys. Some over-zealous people even wanted to organize boycotts. Geant didn’t stay stubborn though, and eventually rearranged their floor plans to be a normal supermarket, not a khaleeji-style one. Eventually, it got bought up by TSC, which has now downsized significantly, but at the time, this decision turned the tide for them.
Why Khaleeji-fied Brands Fail Here
Remember Fuddruckers? Many others too? See, I know that Lebanon isn’t a big enough market for regional conglomerates to put much effort, but the things that work in Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, etc. won’t necessarily work here.
Lebanese people love choice. We’re a country where you can wear a micro-bikini at the same beach a woman is in her burkini. Both are fine, as long as people can choose what they want to do, wear, eat. etc.
To gut a brand people know and like, such as a restaurant with just a handful of menu items, for religious reasons, isn’t gonna fly. Instead, there should be a choice, to either have it as pork bacon, or non-pork bacon, like most successful Lebanese restaurants do. To have beer, or have a shake. It’s all about choice.
Imposing on consumers here will never guarantee success, only eventual failure. There’s a ton of better local burger chains where it’s not a rich Gulf man deciding what I can and cannot order from the chain I already know.
So, if any of you guys are thinking of getting chains from abroad, try to get them here directly, without them passing through a Khalijification phase, opening up here, then closing soon after because of bad performance.
So, ABC Verdun is officially opening on July 28th, 2017. Later this month, the newest ABC branch will open its doors in the Verdun area.
Now, before you all start whining about traffic jam (as if there’s never traffic in Beirut, and especially Verdun :P) here’s a look inside the almost-ready mall.
The Beirut Geek Fest 2017 is happening this weekend at the Beirut Digital District (BDD)! Video games, VR games, board games, geeky merchandise, a cosplay competition and a rooftop party on Saturday night are all part of the geek-centric fun this weekend!
Tickets are for $7 online, and $10 at the door. The fun starts at 2:00PM and keeps going till past 8:00PM.
I highly recommend you try out “Vindicta” by Game Cooks, the first Lebanese game to make it to E3 this year! If you’re excited about VR games, this one is quite the gem, and the best part is it was Made in Lebanon ❤
If you’re into cosplay, make sure you wear your favorite character to Geek Fest cause there’s a competition by Lebanese Otaku.
So, whether you’re a cutting-edge builder, an aspiring game developer, a proper board game aficionado or just your run of the mill geek like me, then see you all at the Beirut Geek Fest 2017!
Did I tell you guys I love Techno? Of course I have. Within Techno, Analog has a special place in my heart. There’s nothing more exciting for me than to rave in an abandoned factory, dancing to Techno. Mechanical noises have been replaced with Techno, and assembly line employees (that Trump is so worried about) have been replaced by rave subcultures.
That’s why, I’m especially excited about this week in Beirut, which features the industrial sexiness of Detroit, and of Turin. Both are industrial cities, where the abandoned factories have been transformed into the incubators that brought us the 4-kick culture that keeps us going from weekend to weekend.
The first act I’m excited about this week is the Boston 168 analog duo. They’re playing at TeknoAnd’s 1 year anniversary at B018 this Friday!
Oblivion — Boston 168
Black Hole — Boston 168
Acid. Yum!
The second act I’m extremely excited for is Jeff Mills, arguably one of the forefathers of Techno in its nascent Detroit days. This is HUGE, so here are some of my Jeff Mills live performances ❤
Some of his newer stuff
Some magic from the late 80s, when it all started!
Cafe Del Mar — Energy 52
Nina Kraviz dropped this gem in a set recently, and it brought back warm feelings to my heart, so, I’ve included it in this post ❤
I can’t believe it’s happening. Jeff Mills is coming to Beirut. Jeff. Mills. Jeff Mills is coming on Saturday… Any true Techno fan will have had goosebumps tingle up their back when they saw it in the summer lineup video of The Garten, but it definitely hit again when you saw the event posted on Facebook.
Detroit’s finest, a true pioneer of the music we love, is coming to visit, and I reckon he’s gonna love what he finds ❤
The Grand Factory is closing for the season this Saturday, and the party will go on well past sunrise with GOLDCAP, a live performance by KMLN and LUM. It’s a two rooms party, so if you find it hard getting into Reunion sometimes, you won’t this weekend. It’s time to say “see you later” to The Grand Factory, and I promise I’ll have something HUGE on what’s prepared for the rest of the summer with C U NXT SAT ❤
TeknoAnd have been bringing us beloved Techno talents to Beirut, and Boris Brejcha is still one of my favorite acts and nights this year at B018. They’re turning 1 year old this Friday, and Speedy J and Boston 168 (LIVE) are on the ticket. I love Speedy J, but personally, I’m super excited to see Boston 168 perform live. Just look at the analog gem he acidified us with last week on Facebook…
One of my favorite artists from Life and Death are coming to Beirut this Friday! Party starts early, so if you finish work, grab a swimsuit and head down for a dip at Skin City as the sun rises and the party starts really get going. Remember, it starts at 6:00PM, so don’t be too late past sunset ❤
The weekly Friday ritual is back, and this time with Zimmer, one of the Decks’ favorites! Here’s the latest episode of Lary Does Decks, where I pop in for some anti-censorship public service announcements while clubbing 😛 ❤
Electric Sundown is back at Irish Beach Club this Friday with none other than Damian Lazarus. The Crosstown Rebels heavyweight is always an absolute pleasure to dance to, and with Nour and Dephdude, it’s definitely going to be an awesome beachside party that starts before sunset, and goes well beyond midnight!
If fashion is your thing, but you also love clubbing, an inclusive crowd and a friendly atmosphere, then Glitter is definitely where you want to be this Thursday. This month’s instalment features Judy Mordache, a 24-year-old designer with an androgynous approach to clothing. On the 1s and 2s will be TintaMarre, 6INHO and Mel!
It all started with this video edit, posted by @ayamserious on Instagram. It’s edited so that it looks like Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is singing Justin Bieber’s “Despacito”.
We often forget that some politicians in Lebanon aren’t in their eighties, and that Hariri is younger than some of the other politicians’ time in power over the past 4 decades. I guess he watched it, laughed, and liked it, as most of us would do if someone did a funny video clip, tweet or status about us. I can think of a couple of politicians who might think it’s an international conspiracy targeting their reputation if they saw the same thing.
However, other relatively young politicians can’t take a joke in Lebanon, and following the below status, Fidaa Itani was summoned for investigation, and it seems was withheld for a different, unrelated matter in police custody. Mouthpieces loyal to the FPM, which the FM heads, said that he was released after removing the part that the Lebanese Foreign Minister didn’t like.
Under the new president and government, arrests and arbitrary detention have spiked significantly, with all parties involved denying they are behind it. Despite a memo by the Justice Minister to stop arresting people for freedom of expression cases, the judiciary seems intent on bullying those not in power, at the behest of those who are.
Lebanon, a beacon of free speech and press, is becoming similar to most other Arab countries, where rulers take advantage of their immunity and impunity to punish dissent, and hide behind wanting “accuracy of information” as an excuse to throw people in jail over a tweet or status that their think skin couldn’t handle.
What’s Funny
What’s funny is that the “hip”, “cool”, “moderate” FPM has become increasingly autocratic, with 400+ people being prosecuted in one-go a-la-Egypt style, by a minister who enjoys immunity from prosecution. What’s funnier still, is that the FPM used to call the PM and his party “ISIS” just a few months ago (before agreeing to vote for the current president that is). It’s funny the party with “free” in it has become experts at forcibly silencing dissent, while the people they accused of being ISIS in suits, can take a joke.
Now, the below is a post I wrote in February 2016 when I went up to visit EDZ and meet the team behind it. I’ve updated some things, and you can find the original here.
How EDZ Works
How embarrassing is it that in 2017 and many billions of dollars later, we still don’t have electricity 24 hours a day? I guess that’s why Electricite de Zahle (EDZ) and what they’ve managed to pull off in their 250 square kilometer area of operations, was so incredibly exciting and rekindled some hope in issues it seems we’ve all collectively given up on for being almost insurmountable thanks to the world’s worst, most corrupt politicians.
with EDZ chief Assaad Nakad
What’s EDZ?
EDZ is a private company founded in the 1920s. It holds a concession to fulfil the electricity needs of the Central Bekaa. Originally, it both produced and distributed electricity, however, in 1969 Electricite du Liban (EDL) requested that EDZ stop increasing its capacity and basically restricted it to just distributing it. The EDL move back then though, wasn’t sinister in nature, in fact, before the war, EDL was producing a surplus of electricity, which is why this request was made and the contract signed back then.
That surplus is no longer the case though, and hasn’t been for a very, very long time. Longer than most of you reading these have been alive…
The 24-Hour Solution Breakdown
Given that the original contract stipulates EDL has to meet electricity needs of the region, EDZ has been trying for years to compensate for the severe shortages of EDL’s power production. It’s estimated that 1500MW are what EDL provides, when the demand is just a little over 3200MW. This translates to anywhere between 12 and 18 hours of no power a day.
The solution was a tricky one, and as Mr Nakad explained his line of thought, I loved how carefully it had been set up to ensure EDZ can fulfil its promise, while not breaking the law or ruffling too many political feathers by the time customers start feeling the change. Then, as expected, it would be too late for the politicians and moteur cartels to reverse the progress made.
EDZ’s concession is scheduled to end in 2018 if there’s no extension, which means the company and all its facilities will be handed to EDL free of charge. That was when I started to become horrified, hearing that all the progress made might have to be handed back to EDL, that certainly would spell doom for any successful project, given EDL’s horrifying 40+ year history of embezzling our taxes for atrocious coverage. So, I sure hope they extend beyond 2018!
But, building a power plant themselves with possibly only few years on the clock left (and not enough time to at least pay off the cost of the plant from the revenues generated from customers), didn’t make economic sense, especially when most of Lebanon’s major banks refused to help with funding that endeavor (excpet Byblos Bank). That’s when EDZ partnered up with Aggreko, a British company that specializes in temporary power supply with a 2-year lease to supply Zahle with the rest of the power it needs.
The power plant features 60 diesel oil generators running at optimal capacity that can easily be altered based on the demand. Each is fitted with filters and noise cancelling structures to make sure pollution is kept to a minimum, and the entire is less noisy than a busy restaurant at lunch. (As a person who lives in the Zouk area, I can always hear the noises from the notorious power plant, sometimes waking me up at night when it’s “clearing the smoke towers” which, despite allegedly being fitted with filters, still spew toxic sludge and smog pushing everyone here closer to a painful death by garbage fires and the Zouk power plant like some post-apocalyptic distopia movie.)
I was also surprised by the stringent safety procedures and protocols in place, something kind of out of place in Lebanon, where safety is often a joke and work is usually done ad-hoc, even in essential facilities like power plants.
So, basically EDZ buys energy from EDL that is fed into the EDZ grid, and the second EDL stops supplying every day, EDZ maintains the power supply constant with its own generators for most of the hours in a day. This means that for a customer, the electricity never cuts, even for those few seconds in between most of us start cussing at because the router is rebooting and ruined that download you’ve been waiting hours to finish. And more importantly, they pay one bill that is 35–40% cheaper overall. That’s because EDZ’s tariff is based on how many hours EDL fails to provide electricity and the price of diesel oil, unlike the “moteurs” local generators that have refused to lower prices even though diesel is down more than 60% from its peak when their tariffs were set.
Moteurs Cartels
Who doesn’t remember the barbaric savages foaming at the mouth while shooting at transformers, EDZ facilities and workers last year because their polluting, overpriced and impractical “services” were being made obsolete by a better, cheaper and less-polluting option. Who can forget how the police sat cross-armed and did nothing about it?
Nakad and his family were constantly harassed and threatened, and you get a feeling of how bad it got by how secured the power plant is. I joked with Jimmy “this looks more like a US military base”, and that was true, especially when it coms to safety and security procedures. That kinda shows you how desperate corrupt people would go to protect their embezzlement of people’s money because of the public sector in Lebanon failing miserably. It also shows how sticking with your plan and not succumbing threats can pay off if you stick to it and help make people’s live better, or at least, less bad.
EDZ is far less extreme in their dislike of the generator owners than I am, and in making sure they don’t force anything upon the people living in their area of operations, they install, free of charge upon request, special switches that allow you to remain with your local moteurs and EDL only, without EDZ’s supply. However, a measly 15 out of 55,000+ households opted for that option (probably those that own the moteurs, hahahaha).
At the end of the day, folks realize paying a cheaper single bill for continuous power supply was awesome and the violence and crimes by the moteur cartels subsided after virtually everyone abandoned them. It seems the cartels didn’t mind that too much though, given how experienced they are in the dirty moteur business (since Zahle area has been experiencing shortages since the 70s) they have expanded to many other areas in Lebanon, and their business of profiting off of people’s suffering for an unfairly high price, sadly continues outside of EDZ’s area of operations.
Plans for Jbeil? Tripoli?
After the resounding success of EDZ, many folks started talking about Jbeil or Tripoli following in the footsteps of EDZ. I asked Mr. Nakad about that, and if he was at all involved. That’s when he explained there are several obstacles to that, first of which is EDL.
In Zahle, the electrical infrastructure was built and is owned by EDZ. Given the concession, they don’t need EDL’s permission to use their own network. They also don’t need to refrain from generating power too, given EDL broke its commitment in the contract to provide 24h power. Unfortunately, most of Lebanon’s electrical infrastructure (poles, lines, transformers, etc.) are owned by EDL, and given its track record and an administration that is as corrupt and un-reformable as Ogero, that happening is very unlikely without actually breaking the law and using the EDL lines and infrastructure to supply electricity generated by companies or individuals like EDZ.
Tripoli does have a company with a concession similar to EDZ, but it also expires soon. So, in terms of most probably able to imitate Zahle’s success story, Lebanon’s second city, Tripoli, is best poised to finally enter the 21st century in Lebanon that includes 24h electricity like virtually ever other inhabited place on the planet (even in a remote Nepalese village in the Himalayas I stayed in where there wasn’t even a paved road…)
All in All
It is extremely encouraging to see such an ambitious project being undertaken and succeed despite all the security and corruption hurdles it faced. It’s rare to see a problem actually fixed in Lebanon, whether it’s a vacant presidential seat or more than 6 months of drowning in garbage in the darkness. EDZ represents hope in changing stuff for the better without waiting for the crippled, illegitimate government to do something about it, which we all know it won’t unless it involves the politicians making a cut, regardless if taxpayers get what they’re being overcharged and overtaxed for.
I really hope the same can be replicated in different parts of Lebanon, both in terms of power supply and other basic necessities (such as waste management perhaps, as I have called for since August 2014)
This also puts to rest the unfounded fears of “privatization” in Lebanon, which usually just means unfair and inefficient monopolies and oligopolies (like our telecom sector), since the customer has the choice to either subscribe to EDZ or one of the other options and is not being forced to pay for something they didn’t choose to be part of. It also shows how IPPs (Independent Power Producers) can help solve the electricity issue once and for all in an ISO-certified manner that is cheaper for the consumer overall.
The question that remains is, will EDL remain keeping the millions of Lebanese people hostage so they can protect their concession while failing to deliver? And will the moteur cartels always be a dangerous and violent obstacle to progress from IPPs and other non-governmental entities that seek to fix this country’s woes, especially the power cuts, which even refugees running away from war have had difficulty getting accustomed to…
I’d like to thank Assaad and Zeina Nakad for their insight, time and hospitality, and Naji Jreissati for explaining more about the technical side of the operation. And of course, Jimmy Ghazal for helping set this field visit up and taking awesome shots of it!
It’s like every other week, we get a whole new fuss about ratings on certain shows. MTV is particularly obsessed with ratings, making time on their nightly news bulletins to announce their alleged leadership in whatever category they choose. Remember the whole “s-word” debacle for their Dancing with the Stars vs Take Me Out thing?
Why MTV Hates Real Ratings
It’s no secret that the ratings ad buyers count on are something MTV isn’t particularly fond of, given that LBCI and Al Jadeed consistently rate better on it. Attempts to rock that boat in the past failed though, and even with auditors double-checking, the current IPSOS standard was adopted again by all major TV stations in Lebanon when it comes to pricing their ad slots.
MTV sometimes announces it is the “first”, but upon further inspection, they admit that these rankings are made by them, usually by walking around with a camera and MTV microphone asking passerby what their favorite TV station is at the moment.
Now, you don’t need me to explain how unscientific that is. Remember when we used to call up a radio station to enter a contest, and the presenter would ask “what’s your favorite station”, people obviously tended to say whatever station their voice was being heard on. I’m not sure a handful of people on the street’s answer with an MTV crew asking them is actually a standard to be trusted…
The Perfect, Bizarre Experiment
Anyway, in a cruel twist of fate, LBCI and MTV are airing the same show, in the same time slot, on the same day. It’s like the absolute best control experiment, where MTV can’t argue that the quality (or “high moral standards”) of their content is actually superior, regardless of the ratings.
I got my hands on the actual ratings for the two first episodes of “Alakat Khassa”, on July 3 and July 4 of 2017.
Here’s the %SHR (SHR% — Share — Proportion of individuals viewing a specific programme or daypart compared to the total number of individuals watching TV during the same time interval.)
On July 3, 19.6% of people watching TV were on LBCI, versus 8.0% on MTV. This means over 70% of total people watching this show, at the same time, were on LBCI, versus less than 30% on MTV.
On July 4, 56% of people were watching the show on LBC, versus 44% watching it on MTV.
Now, it’s just the first two shows, but the controversy that two stations are airing the same show at the same hour, had generated enough buzz that people were aware of this, and more people chose to watch it on LBCI over MTV.
One thing to note, is that air time on July 3rd was almost exactly the same. However, on July 4, MTV aired 36 minutes more. This means that the %SHR of July 4 for MTV was definitely gonna go higher than the day before, given more than 30 minutes extra, where folks might switch after the airing stopped on LBC.
By Territory
One interesting part was also how viewership of the two stations differs a lot from region to region in Lebanon. Overall, during the time of the show airing, LBCI had 17.3% of all TV viewers, and MTV had 10.2%. In Mount Lebanon, LBCI’s share was almost double MTV’s (22.3% vs 11.6%). In the Bekaa, MTV’s share was less than 2% of the total, with LBC having almost 12%.
If anything, this shows that LBCI’s audience is much more diverse and spread out across Lebanon, and that MTV falls behind in all territories and is severely lacking in places like the Bekaa and Mount Lebanon.
Why I Do This
I like keeping people honest, first. Second, what MTV stands for threatens the way of life of many people like us. To me, MTV is the kind of station that has a constant, malicious target on the youth’s back, attacking social justice issues in a conservative, patriarchal, intolerant way we hoped would go away by now.
They’re the kind of station that spends more than 6 minutes of their news defending a plastic surgeon under investigation for allegedly trying to cover up the circumstances of a patient’s death, by bashing those asking questions to try and keep the investigation honest, in a country known for botched and biased investigations…
The kind of station that frames refugees as the source of every single woe in Lebanon. The kind of station that leads witch hunts that land people in jail for a status or tweet, or being gay, or being from a minority group.
It’s natural that I don’t want this station making unsubstantiated claims about their supremacy, which in turn means more ad revenue. I prefer that money goes to a station with views that are closer to ours, who despite catering to the weird fetishes of Lebanese audiences like fortune-telling and stuff, would never call for blood after a homicide case, or fabricate stories about satanic worship and “digital drugs” to pander to their ultra-conservative base.
What I love most about these ratings though, is that they show the majority of Lebanese TV audiences aren’t the self-obsessed, intolerant type. That despite all the self-patting on the back by MTV, LBCI is still the most watched. This hopefully means less people listen to intolerant rhetoric every night around 8PM, and that means there is still hope for this country!
Full disclosure: I’ve never seen the show, and don’t even know what it’s about. Just using the numbers to draw conclusions.
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