Nilhists (and adolescents who just like excitement, I suppose) will opt for the odd numbered photos. Adults, and anybody interested in building something rather than destroying, will have to opt for the even numbered photos.

For reference, the same could be said regardless of where the photos had been taken. Lebanon in 2007 or Berkeley in 1968 -- the same logic would prevail.

Hmmm yes, the photos with fire in them are a downer for Lebanon.

Although I like the sentiment on the poster in that last photo.

Are the pro-peace posters and billboards in Lebanon generally printed in English? Is that really going to reach those who need to see those messages the most?

In the U.S. a fully masked face might be that of a skier protecting himself from the cold, medical personnel preventing transmission of disease—or a thief. If the first two and similar examples do not apply in pictures, most here will tend to draw the conclusion of dishonesty.

But isn't this just like being Robert Fisk upside down - good guys, bad guys, nothing in between, no ambiguity, no shades?

Surely, reality is more complex than that, as many of your other posts show. Why then ratchet up the binary?

Ken McCracken: Are the pro-peace posters and billboards in Lebanon generally printed in English?

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I don't publish photographs of those in Arabic because few people here would be able to read them.

Anyway, almost everyone who lives in the areas where these billboards are erected speak English, or can at least read and understand it.

Disk on Key: Surely, reality is more complex than that

Obviously. But sometimes photos say things that words cannot.

For example, I can say that there is a democratic peace culture in Lebanon alongside this other nonsense, but some people don't believe me and scream TAQIYYA! and make sweeping genralizations about the jihad culture every time I quote a liberal or moderate Lebanese.

The I (heart) Lebanon campaign was actually started by an independent committee to counter the assasinations and later on the Israeli invasion.

This campaign was politicized by the Lebanese government by placing them in intimidating areas such as next to Hizbollah bill-boards. The campaign cost the broke government millions of dollars which could have been used to feed thousands of Lebanese, or put to better use to gain a better energy service.

The opposition launched their own I (heart) Lebanon campaign. This time, the only difference was the small rainbow at the bottom left corner representing the opposition. On top of this they also always had a footnote under the cation I (heart) lebanon. These footnote include "in dignity", "in colours", "in unity" etc. Therefore the opposition had "I (heart) Lebanon - in dignity" and so on and so forth. This also cost many million of dollars to launch and erect because every single government I (heart) Lebanon billboard and poster was surrounded by another two belonging to the opposition. This was also a waste of the precious money that seems to be so small and limited in lebanon.

Us standard lebanese must therefore accept these posters for wghat they are. So we also have our own campaign that cost 2 hours and 5 cents. "I (heart) Lebanon" as the main caption in english, "I want to live" written in arabic and "I want a bonus" in english underneath. At the bottom left is "employee" instead of corporation or opposition under and upside down rainbow to create a smile.

I forgot to say, both opposition and government mde these billboards in three languages, English, Arabic and French - either to add to the bill or maybe they thought someone outside lebanon was interested enough to look at the translated version.

Our one is in three languages too. But on the internet only, not in the streets. Millions of dollars could be put to better use than a bill-board .

NoN,

The "I (Heart) Life" campaign (the one that appears in the photo above) is run by my friend Eli Khoury. The government has nothing to do with it. I don't think I actually saw any of the "I Love Lebanon" billboards you described. They may be all gone now, or perhaps I just didn't notice them.

Which one, the opposition one or the fed-up-lebanese one?

I have some copies of both and their was thi great blog that had them all and even in video showing them, but i forgot what the blog name was and i cleared my history yesterday so i can't retrieve it from their.

When i do remember the blog name i'll post it straight away.

Sorry, i don't want to be flooding your blog with my un-interesting, non-sided comments, but i saw this today in a blog and really got my bells ringing.

"Today, Sunni supporters of Sanyurah (Harriri Loyalists) raised pictures of Saddam, while Christian supporters of Sanyurah (Lebanese Forces Loyalists), raised the American flag. Very ironic, no?"

Maybe youc ould write something up about that, it would be interesting and it's guaranteed you will discover at least 10 different types of demographical interface - faces - in Lebanon and among allies.

Lebanon is just one really unluky piece of land that everybody wants but nobody is willing to protect.

Well this Israeli wants peace with 'even-numbered' folks.

And I don't care if they are Sunni or Shiite or Druze or Christian Arabs.

We just want peace for heaven's sake.

Excellent photos Mike. Illustrates in a very forceful manner the difference between the choices.

Raising photos of Saddam by Sunnis or American flags by Christians of March 14 group are just to irritate the Hizb-Iran and Shiites! It does not have any significance!

True Arabs dedicated to the cause of Arab nationalism and pride will never support "peace" which is really a cover for Western and Zionist aims in the region.

/Radical Arab/Leftist view (not mine)

Michael,

Two pictures are missing - Nasallah and El Husseini. On first glance, the two may look similar. But look closer and see that one's eyes are full of anger while the other seems to smile.

Let Lebanon Burn in Peace fer Christ Sake!

"Raising photos of Saddam by Sunnis or American flags by Christians of March 14 group are just to irritate the Hizb-Iran and Shiites! It does not have any significance!"

wow Saddm Hussein posters? Can anyone verify this?

That's pretty disgusting.

God, I'm sick of this faith-based murder and mayhem. If there is a Hell, it is reserved for all who justify war with religion.

I see the fate of Lebanon and the fate of the World intertwined. If Lebanon could somehow be made to work and prosper, and if different peoples could somehow learn to live, work, respect and love each other, then I have hope for the World.

But, if the forces of darkness now poised to plunge Lebanon into civil war prevail, then I have little doubt they will be encouraged to plunge the rest of the World into another Dark Age. I'm convinced that this is exactly what these Islamists have in mind. It is so much easier to destroy something rather than build it.

God, I'm sick of this faith-based murder and mayhem. If there is a Hell, it is reserved for all who justify war with religion.

I'm thinking of starting a religion that preaches that the only way to get into heaven is to be an atheist. God hates suck-ups!

Of course I'll preach that if you believe in my religion then you'll be doomed!

The third to last photo seems to demonstrate the reality of Lebanon quite well... note the prominent "wage peace" billboard with the "la-la land" sign below. oops.

yaani michael,

i'm sorry, but the pictures you chose just cracked me up. ignoring the severity of what happened in lebanon, which you don't really attempt to note, the pictures you chose are more blatant than the propaganda future tv uses. in fact, the choice of pictures you have used are just like al-akhbar's choice of using an LF ex-militiaman with a machine gun, or of the various blogs that have pledged their support to the "revolution" that this so-called "opposition" claims to have initiated.

in other words, you have become the quintessential lebanese.

mabrouk!

- manar

in other words, you have become the quintessential lebanese.

Ha ha, oh well. Congratulations on insulting me and making me laugh at the same time.

But come on, give me a break here. I'm not suggesting these pictures explain everything or are nuanced in any way whatsoever. This isn't my final word on the subject!

Hey Lebanon- fewer thugs burning things and more hot protest chicks holding signs please.

Manar, you've mistaken the problem with Lebanon. The problem is not that Lebanse have passionate beliefs, but that they lack a passionate belief in Lebanon. They believe in their little sectarian leaders, they believe in the power of their little group, and they don't see that it's beyond the pale to, that it's treason, to take power by force.

Michael believes in what Hezbollah does not, in the duty of a citizen, to be a citizen. That loyalty, that responsibility has to be to the whole country, first, otherwise there can be no country.

If politics takes place by violence, assasination, by threats of violence then there is no country, and there is certainly no democracy. You can vote all you like, but if there are guns and threats then all that "democracy" is a bit like trying to serve cake while immersed in septic tank, under the sewage. Nothing you serve in sewage will be edible.

As Tom Lehrer said, "Life is like a sewer, what you get out of it depends on what you put into it."

...There is no sense of commonality in the middle east. No politics based on empathy.

You know, one of the shocks of my life was seeing that a cleric involved in the Bali bombing was convicted of treason and got only a three year sentence.

Muslims must have a completely alien concept of the unimportance of loyalty to their country, because treason has always been treated as the highest possible betrayal in western countries, and though transnationalism has been gaining some cultural popularity in the last couple of decades, it still is the highest offense, legally. It's always been a shooting offense.

If you're convicted of treason in a western country, you're never getting out of prison, not while you're still breathing. So we can't have a Nasrallah, we can't have an Aoun, and there could be very few followers of someone who crosses such lines. We know that there's such a thing as too far.

I have my doubts that you can build a democracy if there is no loyalty to the people as a whole.

I have my doubts that you can build a democracy if there is no loyalty to the people as a whole.

Hey-a, my son. I canna tell you plenty upset. I unnastand that. But please donna be callin' nobody here "as a whole", ok? Here have a some of this wine. Do they still have Smothers Brothers there in America? Those boys a make me laugh.

Father Guido Sarducci

wow Saddm Hussein posters? Can anyone verify this?

It was reported in the New York Times

Sort of makes it hard to decide which side to support.

For those of you that don't have English as a first language, you have to sound out the words to get Father Sarducci's joke.

It helps if you use an Italian accent.

It also helps to know that Father Guido Sarducci was a fictional character created by Don Novello (I think). He was somewhat of a regular character on the old Smothers Brothers show back in the late 60's or early 70's. Only those well into geezerhood would even have a clue. He was always dressed in a fancy priest's outfit topped with a dark flat brimmed hat, light sunglasses. Constantly smoking a cigaret. Had a glib, low key kind of delivery.

Sort of makes it hard to decide which side to support.
No-one who knows Lebanon's make-up would be surprised. It was the government with much the same members that, when they decided to release Gaegae from prison, also released Sunni extremists/terrorists as well.

It was Sunni government supporters who went on a rampage in Christian areas of Lebanon when the Danish cartoons episode erupted. They are hardly the "pro-West" force that they are being painted to be. And the only reason they are being painted as "pro-West" is because their leaders are so corrupt and controllable by outsiders.

The LF - well, being Christian, they have always been open to the world and quite Westernised, as Michael can probably attest. Most Christians don't follow them because their leader is a war criminal (like the leaders of most other Lebanese political parties), whose militia even committed crimes against other Christians.

The FPM commands most of the Christian street. It is a party aiming for a strong, secular, independent and peaceful state, equality among the citizens and the rule of law. One of the main reasons it is not in the Government is because it wanted the Justice Ministry to open the files of the past and fight corruption. Needless to say, the ruling group, having benefitted so much from corruption in the past (and present), wanted no-one investigating corruption in the country. Hence they decided not to give Aoun his ministers, despite being happy to give Hezbollah the ones they chose, and being similarly happy to give the pro-Syrian President Lahoud his share of ministers as well.

Note that the current crisis in Lebanon is a constitutional crisis. Unfortunately, there is no constitutional court to even attempt to resolve this crisis? Why? The government dismantled it when it took office, as they did not want allegations of electoral fraud to be investigated.

--

Sorry, I guess I should comment on the pictures above. Certainly, the even ones are far preferable to the chaotic ones. And certainly the opposition should not have resorted to burning tyres and vehicles to block the roads. Actually, they should not have blocked roads in that manner, period.

But much of the clashes that occurred were due to government supporters being sent out to cause trouble. Hence the killing of a number of opposition supporters. As far as Christian areas go, the army did step in to protect people against thugs from the LF, resulting in casualties among LF supporters.

The imagery of young men leaping out of black smoke and hurdling burning piles of tires is seductive. These photos elicit the same feelings of testosterone fueled bravado I felt as a kid growing up in California, the only difference was, we were riding dirt dikes and surfing to get that rush, not dodging bullets, rocks and police batons.

For young men this is just like the winter national arena cross showing up in town, the smell of burning nitro-methane, exhaust, loud noise and chicks. Young men look forward to this sort of adrenaline rush and when the day is over, they go home with a bunch of cool stories to tell.. and the next day wake up with a burnt tire hangover (can you imagine breathing that toxic crap all day and night?).

Peace has no chance of winning when lighting shit on fire looks like so much fun.

1,3,5 etc... I believe what you have written about Lebanon (it's modern and full of decent people), but the odd photo's are what I think the M.E. actually is. The March 14 branding and a few stickers can't cover up the constant failure in the region. Which country is going to be like Gaza next? My money is on Egypt.

The M.E. is the worlds a$$hole, imho.

Cal, since I grew up with some awareness of how badly things went wrong to make WWII and WWI, not to mention China's cultural revolution and other total societal atrocities, I look at those young men and I don't see fun, I see tools and fools destroying society, bringing suffering and oppression. I find the spectacle no less disturbing than watching someone eat the brains out of living monkey (there's a movie out there I'm sure), no less disturbing than watching a beheading.

Anyone who thinks that being a brownshirt looks like fun is someone who has been brought up too ignorant, too innocent to know what society could be, and to seen the contrast between that and silent suffering and extreme horrors unbridled power will unleash.

And of course that's the point. Those kids know nothing. Nothing true or relevent, anyway. They have no idea what they're destroying and have only contempt for everyone and everything else in the world.

Michael, I really hope I will see another post by you on this topic. Reading the topic and the comments I notice its all quite shallow. I think it's cute that a lot of what seem to be American commenters on this post talk like they know what they are talking about but it's quite obvious they don't know half the story.

Unfortunately, one cannot understand the Middle East, until they visit it.

A lot of us bloggers have worked had for years to reach out and allow everyone understand who were are, what we do, and that we are not so different but it seems like we haven't done a good job at it yet.

*excuse the lack of punctuation in the first paragraph.

** Last paragraph, 1st line, I meant "worked hard" and not "worked had"

...that we are not so different but it seems like we haven't done a good job at it yet.

It doesn't matter what you're saying because we can just look over your head at what's actually happening and notice that you don't have the basics of civil society down at all. I'll admit we are the same the next time we have political parties guilty of treasonous activities like taking money and arms from the same foriegn country that's assasinating our politicians, and our own citizens are so disloyal that they're rioting for said traightors.

Not so different, yeah right.

You can't hide the fact that you're people don't have the first clue about how or why a modern society/country/government works. Not even the first clue. You're not doing it right.

And I appologize for my many spelling errors.

In that way we're not so different.

RamPurple, hope you did not hurt your arm while patting yourself on your back.

I think it is cute that those from the Middle East think I (speaking as an American) care what they think, or why they think the way they do, more than I care what they DO.

Do you think with your wisdom that you can understand Africa, or Asia, Micronesia or America without visiting the country for some period of time?

Josh, and I suppose you think the so-called democracy the US has which "dictacted" by a religous paranoid fanatic is any better?
Sort of strange when you look at it all: BUSH has caused a BIG divide amoung the American people. Just as Hezbollah / Nasrallah has done to the Lebanese people.

Different countries, same BS.. all about money, power, greed and control.

What, CindyPDX, Bush is not Hitler but now he's Nasrallah?

Wow. I'm gonna look out for all those heavily armed Republicans burning tires, blockading airports, and hiding rockets down their pants in their attempt to regain control of Congress.

As for the pics, the last one.. the burning one of Bashar Al-Assad. It took many years and the deaths of many good Lebanese people for Lebanon to stand up and demand SYRIA to get the hell out. But sadly it seems Syria is still in there along with Iran messing things up for Lebanon.

Mertel NOT all Replicans are bad. You sound like Cheney yesterday when he told Wolf Blizter why he did not think Clinton would be a good president. He answered "Because she's Democrat." WTH? Idiot!
This is so stupid.. not all dems are bad or good, not all Republicans are bad or good. What the hell is wrong with people's thinking in the US?

Anwyay, I found it funny after Bush said is SOTU, Rosie was calling for Bush to be impeached: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp9YK1jvTNc

I don't care for Rosie, but the woman was right on target with this one! LOL

And it looks like Rosie is NOT the only one that wants impeachment --
Although Nancy Pelosi has said "Impeachment is off the table" not everybody is so sure about that....
Two New Mexico State Senators have entered a resolution calling on Congress to impeach Pres Bush and VP Cheney showing the following..
(check out this image from Cafferty on TV last night):
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/5712/impeach18sv.jpg

Maybe if you follow the CIA Leak Case trial, you just might find our MORE LIES that went on just to get the US into IRAQ.

The Lebanese are messing up Lebanon, with ample assistance from an assortment of other countries in the ME and West.

Mertel and Josh are right -- some of us may feel our government has been hijacked, and yes, there is corruption, but to compare the US to any ME nation is pretty silly. (It's that naivete thing again.) 'You' as a culture, maybe not as individuals, lack many of the concepts and the value placed on process that are essential to a functioning democratic system. Saying 'we'll do democracy right when we violently get it to where we want it' is the proof.

Too many people in the West DO think 'you' in the ME are no different than we are -- in the way you think, in your values, education, loyalties -- and that has proven to be the basis for a disastrous foreign policy, to loosely paraphrase Michael Oren.

Now as to the ignorance or shallowness of our comments -- maybe true, although there've been some ME commenters here who've done shallowness proud.

:D Cute... real cute!

I never claimed I knew about countries in Africa or anywhere else around the world.. I most probably know the tip of the iceberg. There's nothing wrong with that.

For your information, I was taught in American schools, by American teachers, from American books... especially in regards to U.S. History and Politics. I used to go to the U.S. (to California to be more precise) every summer for 3 months. I still am aware that I don't know much about it. Why? Because I know the U.S. is not all made up of Disneyland, Universal Studios, and not all of you stay in mansions like I used to. Yet, I maybe know your history, geography, and constitution more than the a lot of Americans who reside in the U.S. ... oh and that Mississipi is not one of the countries on the Axis of Evil (please refer to Chasers lol)

I am not going to get into a battle with you guys about who knows more, but I can tell you the following... some of you claim that we don't know what a modern government is and that we don't know what civil society is and that the pictures of Lebanon you see now is what you truly believe Lebanon is. So to you people I will just state some facts for:

1. Lebanon was a democratic country since 1942.

2. Yes, a civil war did erupt in 1975, does that make us uncivil? You can't say that, Americans had a civil war too, and so did a whole list of countries.

3. The civil war did last for 16 years and a lot of foreign powers intervened, most of the time to make it worse, instead of better.

4. The U.S. and the "brotherly" Arab countries are those who requested Syria to enter Lebanon and remain in Lebanon to police us (1989) and it took us 16 years to get them out of there ... ironicially enough by support of the Americans and the same Arab countries. I remember a speech by Bush about how Syria is evil for occupying Lebanon and terrorizing the region. I think it's cute when he acts all tough. I do... I really do.

"The Lebanese are messing up Lebanon, with ample assistance from an assortment of other countries in the ME and West."

Pam that is right... I just posted something in regards to what's going on in Lebanon right now, while I am posting this, where I place the blame on ourselves.

Also, yes I am sure this blog and others (including my own) has gotten their share of comments from around the world, including from Lebanon, which were shallow. I never said all of you are alike, and I never claimed all of us are alike either. I have visted this blog a lot, as well to know that comments are not always as shallow as this.

Sorry Michael for flooding your blog with a long comment

"Life is like a sewer, ..."

Forest Dump?

Really, Josh, sometimes you say the damndest things.

Good grief!!

I see it all.... one side just wants war and death and misery for no reason at all ~(I'll call them the forces of darkness), while the "forces of light" want happiness and peace and the sound of children's laughter. It's all SO OBVIOUS now that you've made this handy photo montage.

And there was me thinking that Lebanon was a complex, multi-layered place riven by competing an doverlapping secrtarian tensions, history and aspirations.

But it is, apparently, a straightforward 2 sided affair.

Michael, you surely know Lebanon too well to reduce it to something George W Bush could understand whilst chewing breakfast...

Yes, Microraptor, it's more complicated than these mere pictures. This isn't my only word on the subject.

But let's be honest here. The March 14 side is totally uninterested in more war, where Hezbollah wants jihad and "resistance" to continue indefinately with the Israelis. You must know this is true. They don't deny it, so why should you?

Josh Scholar to Rampurple: It doesn't matter what you're saying because we can just look over your head at what's actually happening and notice that you don't have the basics of civil society down at all

It depends on which part of Lebanon you're talking about if this is true or not.

Rampurple's part of Lebanon does have the basics down just fine, Josh. I know. I lived there.

If you ever visit Beirut during a normal time you will be amazed at what it's like, at how civil and liberal and cosmopolitan it is. That's why this Hezbollah crap is so goddamned infuriating to me.

In order to have peace you have to defeat the enemy. Personally I've never seen a sign, sticker or billboard take down the bad guys.

Lebanon my have fought a civil war for 16 years, but the bad guys were never defeated, the country just got tired of fighting. Hence Lebanon did not end their civil war, they just had a temporary cessation of hostilities.

If open fighting erupts once again, it will not be a brand new civil war but chapter two of the old one. Let's hope that this time the good guys have the courage and the will to win. Then peace will come to Lebanon.

And one other thing, happily ever after doesn't exist in the real world. Once Lebanon rids itself of the enemies within, it will have to go up against Syria and Iran for true autonomy. Unless of course the US, Isreal and friends don't do it first.

AC

I'm with wi, the first commenter. It's much cooler and really irritates the parents to get your picture taken jumping over blazing tires. The chicks dig it!

So then one of the elements added to the mix is hormonal teenage boys. Lovely!

I have watched some of the coverage of it. In the Sky News shows there seems to be some bloke on a sodding great Harley ridding around in the middle of all the chaos. I was wondering if it was you Michael.

It is sad to see Hizbollah trying to drag the country back into civil war.