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Iraqis in Need of Remedial Driving Lessons?
Open any Iraqi (or pan-Arab, for that matter) newspaper these days and you are likely to be bombarded by newswire articles, editorials and reader comments addressing the upcoming March 7th national elections. Most of the content is quite serious in tone, as Iraq grapples with fraud, corruption, sectarian strife and terrorism, all of which have been placed under a magnifying glass of criticism and blame as political parties aggressively vie for votes.In such coverage, any mention of oil-rich Kirkuk is usually tied to ongoing Arab-Kurdish disputes over control of that region. In late February, however, Kirkuk came under the spotlight for a very different reason. The Kirkuk police department was forced to release a statement calling for orderly traffic in the city, following eyebrow-raising reports that posters hung at traffic intersections of a “beautiful” Iraqi election candidate were causing a significant increase in car accidents.
While major pan-Arab satellite channel Al Arabiya devoted a short segment (in Arabic) to the story, many local and regional newspapers remained focused on more serious developments and declined to publish it. Human interest stories such as these, however, often catch the attention of social media users on the look-out for eye-catching content. Indeed, the story was propagated across the social media sphere, on Twitter and discussion forums in particular.
Many readers found the report laughable. Some gently poked fun at Iraqi men for being so easily distracted by a pretty lady. A few users snidely questioned the candidate’s good looks, with one snarky comment reading, “By God, if beauty’s on the right, then she’s on the left.” Others, meanwhile, viewed the situation as a sober commentary on Iraq’s state of affairs, and seized the opportunity to criticize the political and security turmoil that continues to plague the country. As one user dryly noted, “Perhaps the picture is the prettiest thing present in a street where all that remains is devastation.”
Independent Iraqi newspaper Sot Al Iraq (link to original post in Arabic) was one of the few outlets to address the story head-on. An editorial in the paper asserted that, in addition to the rise in traffic accidents due to distracted drivers, many Iraqi wives are angry over the proliferation of this particular candidate’s posters and fear that they’ll “lose their husbands.” These wives’ sudden desire to “look like the candidate” has allegedly spurred increases in the price of makeup. The writer, interestingly, used these reports as a launch pad for criticism directed against female candidates who either veil themselves fully in black or have their husbands appear for them on their campaign ads. Such candidates are, in his opinion, exploiting symbols of religious piety in order to win votes and are doing a serious disservice to all Iraqi women. The article further voices support for the separation of church and state, and delivers a strong populist message… all of which shows us that in Iraq, as elsewhere, even the most frivolous of news stories can always be artfully transformed into statements on issues that really matter.
In closing, I would like to wish the best of luck to all of the Iraqi election candidates, regardless of gender, sect, ethnicity or religiosity. May the elections proceed peacefully and help to foster a brighter future for all Iraqis.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion or position of Concepts & Strategies, Inc.
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