‘You’re a prostitute, so ner’

‘You’re a prostitute, so ner’

Name calling, whining kids, cruel comments… just another day in the childish playground that is so often the Middle East.

August 30, 2010 2:10 by shafeer

Kipp despairs sometimes, we really do. In just one 24-hour period in the crazy melting pot of the Middle East that we call home we have seen:

1 ) An Iranian newspaper call France’s first lady Carla Bruni a prostitute.

2) An Israeli rabbi say the Palestinians and their leader should be struck down with a plague.

3 ) Some young people in Saudi Arabia protesting that they don’t want to take low paid jobs and the state should give them something better.

Are we living in some sort of giant playground where some kids feel the need to stamp their feet and get some attention? Iran is upset because Carla Bruni said they weren’t playing nicely, and maybe they shouldn’t throw stones at people, so an editorial called her a bad name. The Israelis and their Palestinian neighbors don’t get along, so this particular rabbi has suggested that the Palestinians go away and die. And finally a few young people in Saudi have decided that driving taxis and being security guards is below them, so they want their parents to give them something better. The best way to do that, apparently, is to fold their arms, stamp their feet and say, “But it’s not FAIR! I don’t WANNA go in the taxi!”

When you think about it, what this all amounts to is name-calling, making hurtful comments, and whining. Seriously, you can hardly describe the people involved as acting in a mature fashion. What’s next? Perhaps the Iranian media will tell Israel, “My dad’s stronger than your dad, and his car goes faster.” Or maybe the Gulf countries will all hold their breaths until the UAE and Oman agree to rejoin the single currency project.

We guess we can put it down to the heat for now; after all, summer in this part of the world can make you a little ill-tempered. But seriously, if people keep on this way, someone’s going on a time out. Either that or the naughty step.