The Liberating Effect of Arab Pop Culture: Let's Go to the Videotape!

This past Monday, Reason Senior Editor Charles Paul Freund gave a great lecture at the American Enterprise Institute titled "Popular Culture in the Middle East: A Conduit for Liberal Values?" (The short answer is yes, hopefully.)

The text and a video of the talk--which features fascinating excerpts from Middle Eastern pop videos and Chuck's great running commentary--is now online here.

For more on the topic, check out Chuck's feature-length writings on the topic here and here.

Comments

[Warren]

The FCC becomes more irrelevant every day. Here's hoping it withers and dies.

[Warren]

oops, posted on the wrong thread.

Watched Charles, interesting but I'm not convinced. 6k years of continual hate mongering will out live a few midriffs.

[matthew hogan]

It was a good presentation, comparing the happy and hopeful to the dark forces of nationalism. One caveat that Charles freund did not emphasize though does not eschew I think: even with the arrival of a more liberal society (a generation or so?) -- it does not mean they will stop worrying and learn to love the USA or Israel. The grievances may become responsibly expressed (and more effectively) but they arise from real experience and not the stereotyped fantasy of 6k of hate mongering nor are primarily the result of the 6 decades of actual hatemongering from secular and religious nationalists in the region.