It took me a while to get updated with what was happening in the La Reina nightclub on the Bosphorous in Istanbul. It undoubtedly put a huge damper on what was a safe and secure NYE in Beirut, that saw all of its clubs packed with revellers celebrating the new year.

There are several things that made me cringe, not least of which was the media and politicians’ reaction in the aftermath. However, the reaction on some social media channels ways also very painful to read and says a lot of the state of the world and in Lebanon in 2017.

Media Failing

Lebanon has a lot of experience when it comes to covering tragedies and massacres and terrorist attacks. When you have TV stations like MTV that consistently fabricate stories from “satanic worshipping” and “digital drugs” and accept paid content like a new chicken sandwich place opening as a feature on their evening news, what else would you expect from them?

When they still host a tortured gypsy or whatever Michel Hayek is, and do a multi-hour “news” show to try and explain how his “predictions” from the past came true, what else would you expect? When one of their main popular shows is about ISF operations against “criminals”, when none of these cases has been to court yet, and they always focus on crimes done by non-Lebanese and non-Christian suspects, what do you expect? Fair and balanced news? Reporters that are “news” reporters, are more like tabloid trash, clickbait adventurers taking a dump on whatever humanity that might reside under all the polished, fake exterior of their “news”.

Then, on the opposite side of the fabricated news spectrum, you have Al Manar. One of their “journalist”, Hasan Hamzeh, tweeted gleefully that “Isntanbul is paying the price it deserves/owes”. MTV and Al Manar are basically the exact same level when it comes to integrity. One of them caters to extremist shiite fundamentalists, the other panders to extremist christian ones. It truly is like two opposite sides of the shit news services, with whatever credibility left in Lebanon’s mediascape lying somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

This applies to several other media outlets in Lebanon, but as usual, MTV outdid them all last night in their ever-declining level of professionalism (assuming they ever had any).

Martyrs or Not?

Another thing that bothered me was how several pro-Hezbollah accounts where sharing videos and photos of their fighters killed in Syria, with captions like, “how do you like that, my friend Hussein, nightclub victims are now called ‘martyrs’” (example).

One thing such disgusting religious vitriol shows is how identical both sides of the extremist religious struggle are. If pro-Hezbollah folks are sworn enemies, fighting to the death against the ISIS fighters who carry out such attacks, then this should be a straightforward condemnation of a barbaric act against unarmed civilians. Instead, they question the “righteousness” of the victims’ deaths because they are at a nightclub, and dare I say of a different sect, which makes their lives, and deaths, mean less to such people. Which begs the question, how is that attitude any different from that of ISIS folks? Or Saudi Arabia’s, who’s ashamed that its citizens would party, and won’t release the names of its killed citizens.

If anything, it shows how religious conservatives are two sides of the same, hateful, violent and intolerant coin.

As for my personal opinion, I don’t like the word martyr because it has such a religiously-charged connotation. Also, when you are murdered in cold blood, when not even aware of it, I don’t get how you are a martyr for a cause. You’re a victim, and your killer and his ideology and backers need to fucking pay for it. “Martyr” is a word Lebanese politicians throw around to remove the guilt of them not doing anything to solve a crime or murder: “Khallas, he/she is a martyr with god now, you should be proud and glad” and case closed. No, not case closed. Find the son of a bitch who did this, and put him behind bars and do the jobs that our taxes pay for.

ISIS Cowards Hate Clubs

When ISIS targets clubs around the world, it tells you a lot about what a club represents to them, and what it should to us. Aside from the alcohol being served, the entire idea of a nightclub or party is like cancer to ISIS and co. It’s a place where folks are happy, no one wants to decapitate or crucify another person, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a guy, girl, gay, straight, white or black. Whether you like it or not, places like Bataclan and La Reina are now symbols of hope and resilience to the hatred and violence of religious extremism.

To this effect, I hope police forces and governments stop bullying clubs and club-goers over a joint of weed, and focus on protecting them from religious fundamentalists hopped up on god knows what drugs. After all, whether it’s in London, Beirut, or Istanbul, governments and their sympathetic religious conservatives always push back against clubs and the open and liberal culture that surrounds them. A kind of culture we are in need of most these days, with ISIS, Trump and Brexit threatening to make intolerance the new norm around the world.

Fuck Da3esh.