Two Extra Reasons to Buy Jordan Business This Month

Not only do you get a great mag, with an excellent round-up of the events of 2008 and forecasts for 2009, but:

ALL PROCEEDS OF THE JANUARY ISSUE WILL GO TOWARDS RELIEF EFFORTS IN GAZA!

Now THAT is putting your money where your corporate- responsibility mouth is. Bravo, Front Row.

Did I say two reasons? Yes. The other reason is that JB included two letters to the editor from bloggers you know. Nasim Tamimi added his expertise on public transportation issues in response to the October JB cover article Miles to Go. And some of us thought he was just a radio/broadcast aficionado!

The other was me. Coming back from the summer away, I was catching up on local reading and was quite surprised and disappointed with the article Born Again Problems from the April issue. We evangelical Christians in the Middle East have a similar ‘image problem’ as do Muslims in  the West, and this article underlined it. Our most extreme followers get the most press. As well as the extreme blabber-mouths. Some of them sin big-time and get caught and make us look bad. “Extreme”, “Sin” and “Hypocrisy” sell well indeed. As a result, we, like breast-feeding fatwa-spewing Imams, become star YouTube fodder and the butt of late-night comedy humor.

Sigh. I can own that and live with it when there is due cause, in fact, it is one of the best things about media: holding people accountable for matching up their words with their actions. BUT,  this particular article was just a bit over the top. I asked around the evangelical Christian church community and every pastor and  church leader I know was upset by it, but no one had written a response. Just like when all the ‘troubles’ of the beginning of the year were going on. The consensus seemed to be: “If we just ignore the problem, maybe it will go away by itself” and “let’s not make anybody mad, our parishioners could lose jobs with these people, you know”. Those who keep their heads low keep their heads.

I wanted to write something back then, in fact several church leaders who know I free-lance asked me to; but no editor I pitched the topic to was very excited about printing anything positive about evangelical Christians. It seems an unwritten rule in Jordanian journalism.  To be fair, it’s not like I am the greatest writer, either, but the same response has come up often enough I know the ‘rule’ is in effect. I also didn’t think it was right for a foreigner to have that place of defining the issues, as Arabs can defend themselves quite well by themselves, thank you.

I emailed blogger Nas, since he is the Deputy Manager in Charge for Jordan Business,  and asked if he would let me write a rebuttal piece. Of course, five months after the fact, it was a little late in the game as far as ‘news’. I asked about writing a letter to the editor, but then cancer got the best of me and I forgot all about it.

In December, Nas emailed asking if I still wanted to write that letter. I was surprised and pleased. I sent my first draft to a couple of pastors and several church leaders for their advice and correction, two said: “Go for it” and two said: “Um, you DO want to get an iqaama next year, don’t you? Better calm down and rewrite”. I love and respect those men,  so I had some hot chocolate and rewrote. I’ll make sure to put the first draft in my book.

Another person I sent it to was my former editor at VIVA, Laura Haddad. Even though neither of us work/write for VIVA now, we have a special friendship. She hadn’t seen the article, so I sent her the link.  To my surprise, she asked if she could write her own letter, and did it while on Christmas vacation in Europe! She provided a completely different perspective, in her usual articulate Laura way, and her letter is next to mine in the January JB issue.

Thanks to JB and Nas, who showed me that unwritten rules can be broken, and minorities have a voice in Jordanian media, too.

P.S. I didn’t include our letters, because, of course, I want you to buy the magazine and benefit Gaza!!!!!!!!!!!!