Rock the Cliche

I do enjoy the occasional puff piece human interest story about the Middle East, but it is all the more aggravating when they a done so terribly. In an incredibly cliche article the Times Online profiles the rock obsessed son of the King of Bahrain, Abdullah bin Hamad al Khalifa. He seems like an interesting enough guy who is really trying to do something he cares about in his country. I have my problems with the government there (see: treatment of the shia, migrant workers, lack of democracy), but compared to the rest of the region they are making strides. Back to Abdullah... I think it is commendable that he is trying to add some culture to the country and diversity to the economy, but despite his protests, this seems like just another royal pet project. I could only imagine if the rich traditional arts in Bahrain (including a few amazing radio stations) received a 1/10th of the funding it took to house MJ for a year or start 2 Seas Records. Plus, how sustainable is it to pay a bunch of brits to run everything? I seriously doubt there is a training component to help some youth from the shia villages learn new tech skills.

Lastly, this reporter is an idiot. He raises the possibility that he felt he was being lured to Bahrain so he could be killed. I exaggerate, but only slightly. I guess it would have been silly to do a bare modicum of research on the country before going, huh? The article has more cliches than you can shake a stick at. The broader story about cultural-economic projects in the Gulf is an interesting and important one, but this article adds little to several others that have been written over the past year. Plus the story quickly degenerates to a "dish on MJ in Bahrain" piece. Better luck next time!

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