The Arab Observer have made it to be in the list of Qwaider for voting for your favourite male Jordanian blogger, but unfortunatly, it didn’t really compete well with only few votes for the Arab Observer (around 8) compared to Bakhouz who dominated the competition with nearly 80 votes so far. Does that upset me? Not really! Maybe a bit 😛 (damn you Bakhouz!)
Two days ago, Nas talked about bloggers identity. He advised bloggers to create a unique identity consistent that seperate them from each other. He claims that being real is what would keep your readers interested in your blog. He ended his post with a question “Isn’t being yourself what blogging is all about? “
While I don’t agree with all Nas’s claims where I don’t think that a blogger has to be himself , I find that a blogger identity comes by default. It is a matter of a good identity that appeals to the masses versus a bad one that does only appeal of few people. If a blogger can’t manage to build a fan base, then maybe he sould look into ways to make changes to his identity (unless he doesn’t want a fanbase in the first place)
People have categorized the contenders of the favourite male blogger competition based on their percieved identities. Batir for instance are percieved to be a progressive political writier, while Ahmed Humed is an advertisement/media/marketing expert, Nas is identified with his professional journalism way of writing and the others have their own identification criteria.
The Arab Observer seems to be identified by being a Controvesial blog! Secretea said “The Arab Observer always has an interesting take on issues that we, the Jordanian population (from my perspective), rarely think about, like homosexuality, satanists, …etc. very interesting ;)”, while Who-Sane linked to me with a link that have a caption “Controversial Topics”! RedRose recommended me to Radio Monte Carlo to be a young talented writer under Controversial category!
The question is do I really love talking about Controversial issues?
Some people have accused me before of talking about controversial issues to gain more hits to my blog. While I agree that Controversial issues do gain more people attention, and yes I admit of loving having more readers for what I write, I don’t really write about a topic just to gain more hits.
What I am after in blogging is a real connection and sharing of ideas between me and other people. I love more when someone disagrees with me than when he agrees. It is always a pleasure to discover a new line of thought or gain a small information that you haven’t heard before. I find communicating with people to be the most effective way to learn and grow.
I guess that what really identifies my writings is not controversy. If you are a dedicated reader of this blog, you would know that TOLERANCE is what highlights most of my posts. What really drives me to write is an inner need of making other people feel better.
Our life is not an easy run. We, human beings, give each other even more hardship than what life gives us because of our fear. We build a wall of rigid rules and ideas refusing to look closer at each individual case and treat the other as much as we hope he treats us.
Whether it is women, jews, blacks, homosexuals, satanists, prostitutes and evil holy religious men, we are all human beings. We act according to our circumstances. No one is better than the other (even in his religious believes).
I write to draw a smile. To touch your heart. And to open your mind. To feel your humanity and share it with others.
No it is controversy I am looking after. It is a call for more compassion and a better life for all of us.
Fadi Zaghmout فادي زغموت 
You do have a point here. I kind of jump to your blog, or to disagree with you, only when it’s a controversial topic you’re talking about … and have formed a vista on someone simply by reading a couple of controversial posts he/she wrote, which is, I admit, something wrong to do.الاختلاف في الرأي لا يُفسد في للود قضية … that’s something I strongly believe in but, sadly, do not follow religiously … so do excuse me for labeling you as being controversial, I’ll go and change it now …
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Who’s sane, no need to change that! It doesn’t really matter, I was just trying explain where I come from. If some calling of mine for more tolerance to a certain group of people where others find it conteroversial, then it is controversial. It isn’t a big deal. It is just not controversy is what I aim of achieving by writing.
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Never mind what any poll says, I can honestly say that your blog is one of the best out there, based on overall content, and even though i do not comment alot (only cause i’m just lazy like that) i am an avid reader and a big fan of yours. 🙂
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Isn’t it amusing that you are telling us to perceive God as a female.. then you address your bloggers in the “he” term. LooooL.Now imagine if all your readers were females 😉
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Bakkouz, thank you man! It really feels good to hear you saying this 🙂KJ, lol! Good point :P! Actually I am just using the language people understand! 🙂
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finally. this is the topic I’ve been waiting for. I wanted to hear your opinion. I am glad that you admit that you are “somehow” taking advantage of the frequent controversial topics you’ve been raising. Sometimes it gets too much but at least you tackle some issue in a very logical & scientific approach when possible. I hope to see more variety in your topics to to lessen the intensity of some of your controversial posts.
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I see a blogger more interested in ‘connecting’ than ‘controversy’. 🙂(I had to skip the God/Female one)
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There are numerous factors that influence a blogger’s choice for which topics to choose. Yes, your blog does target “controversial” issues, but thats a positive from where I stand!!If all people would puss out from discussing touchy subjects, things would go rotten. Whether it was masturbation, homosexuality, politics, or religion, if no one talks about them people would never challenge their own perceptions, and everything rotten that we have would stay rotten forever.On the other hand, I personally, all these topics are pretty much natural to me… I watch many cartoons that address such topics, I always have similar discussions with close friends. But I still know that as much as those things are “uncontroversial” for me, they are controversial for most Jordanians… And lets just say, I like to mess a little bit with other people’s minds.I feel that -but I don’t know that- to a certain degree, you too don’t find such topics too controversial in your own environment, thats why you innocently push some touchy buttons.
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hamza, I do have some variety, dont I? :P. Actually I post about subjects that I find interesting. I try to introduce new ideas and reflect my own experience in life. It is just that our society has been closed for too long, any unfamiliar idea/behaviour would generate much contraversy.Kinzi, you understand me the most :). Actually I would love to hear your opinion about the feminine face of God. DM, yes, I don’t think being accused of talking about controversial issues a bad thing. I just wanted to clarify where I stand. I find a clearer message of tolerance and compassion in my writings that highlight most of the topics I talk about than choosing a controversial issue. as you say, even contraversy is relative 🙂
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Connecting is good… I’ve just come across your blog – you have interesting ideas! Keep up the good work…
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thank you bint battuta 🙂
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