Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Wow. It's a little strange to be back. But seeing Oman back in the international news over the 'The Outsiders' homosexuality cover story in The Week, and the not surprising news that the Government shut them down and are prosecuting the editor and journalist under Omans draconian press laws, prompted me to reactivate Muscat Confidential.

My old post from 2010, where I published an interview with a gay expat living in Oman - here's the link exclusive interview being gay in Oman - has being getting a lot of traffic lately, as searches prompted by the article find it. Looking back at that post now I'm still proud of it. It holds true today.

I was frankly amazed when I read about The Week publishing something on being gay. OK, not what I would call a very good story, starting out by essentially inferring the gentleman was somehow made gay by being molested as an 8 year old. But I quibble. It was a very brave thing to put on the cover. Given the tremendous homophobic feelings in public Oman society, the editor must have know what a shit-storm it would generate. I hope it was deliberate.

Oman is far from alone in having anti-homosexual laws, let's face it. (Russia anyone?) But I do wish people would look at the science, which clearly shows that being sexually attracted to the same gender is fixed at birth. Which makes sense, because in this world who would choose to be gay? But as with all bigotry, be it a hatred of skin colour, or gender, or race, or even being say, a Muslim in the West, this too is rooted in fear of the unknown and ignorance. Try being gay in most places in this world, and you're in for a bad time in the public sphere.

So while I think criminalisation of what 2 consenting adults do with each other in private is always a dumb idea in my opinion, this is about reporting, not where someone sticks their dick. If the Sultan of Oman wants to make such sexual acts criminal, i guess His Majesty is entitled to do so, with laws being inhumane and unenforceable not being a problem with Oman's laws in other areas either. But to criminalise a news report on what is actually real, something that is true, well, that's really stupid. I didn't realise pandering to the ignorant and the bigoted was the 'for public consumption' official Ministry of information policy.
Blindfolds all round when it comes to homosexuality in The Sultanate I guess. No change there.
For goodness sake, let's not allow reality to impinge on our newspapers. We might have to face reality. And talk about it rationally. Never really a strong suit of Oman society.

Enforcement of our strong cultural traditions of intellectual denial and the defence of ignorance continue unabated. Business as usual.

So that's alright then.

13 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Why the censorship?

      Delete
    2. Oh, never mind. You work for the government. Can't bite the hand that feeds you, now can we? ;)

      Delete
  2. Dragon.....

    The place is still the same. Just a few more hotels. And no blogs of worth left.
    I got fed up with ticket draws and car reviews, arguments with no teeth and photos of the latest blinds from Sedar, I so I closed my blog down.

    Leave them to it. It's fucked anyway.

    Jet Driver

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are back.

    I don’t know what to make of it.

    Mti

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How's things at the ministry, Mti? I''ve been away.

      Delete
  4. Of course, the real reason for all the overly sensitive reactions is the big fat elephant that is sat in the corner of the room that nobody wants to talk about. Check the article on Uncylopedia on Oman for details. Specifically the section on "baking" :-D

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  5. They finally let you out of prison???
    Welcome back.

    Al

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But not in prison, Al. You should know me by now, I'm in a very nice place.

      Delete
  6. "Enforcement of our strong cultural traditions of intellectual denial and the defence of ignorance continue unabated. Business as usual."

    I thought this was about reporting ?

    Knob.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "They finally let you out of prison???
    Welcome back.
    Al"

    Al,

    Smart people with UD’s caliber don’t end up in prison. Only dumbs do.

    Mti

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  8. I left Oman some time ago but lived there for 5 years with my male partner - I'm a male myself and we are from Europe. We had a quite allright life in Oman and lived the true expat life despite being gays and we actually never experienced any serious problems. We had our villa in The Wave, went to parties and most people in the construction site where I worked knew that I was gay. However, I am now becomming nerveous for all the gay people living in Oman and I actually found the article quite stupid myself. If it had been a stylish article about gaylife in Oman like UD's old post I think The Week would have succeed but the sexual content and sexual undertone was so stupid.

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If you wish to post anonymously, please pick a nickname by selecting the Name/URL option, or at least sign off your comment with one! I will delete comments I find objectionable or needlessly inflammatory. Sorry for the word verification.... OMG the spam has gotten BAD these past 12 months... trying to avoid making one log in...