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 
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