The Scarecrow of Sex

I mentioned yesterday about the cover story in Al-Akhbar by Pierre Abi Sa`b, on the Scarecrow of Sex. Marwan kindly translated the article:
"Scarecrow of Sex, or When the Nation Is Terrorized
Pierre Abi Saab
Do not believe that Israel is a threat to the nation! Do not believe that the Arab peoples suffer from oppression, tyranny, underdevelopment, hunger, illiteracy, corruption, misery, loss, intolerance, alienation, fear, isolation, dependence and tribal -sectarian- civil wars. Do not let anyone tamper with your minds or convince you that our societies suffer from a cultural gap that stands in the way between us and the times. The enemies of the nation are, in fact, Maria, Haifa, Ruby, the «Four Cats», Elissa and Nancy.... And last, Beyonce Knowles.
The real danger is obscenity, immorality and debauchery. Fortunately, there are wary guards everywhere, who stay up day and night to protect us. And the latest clashes took place in the Egyptian parliament on Wednesday (see article below).
The problem is that we should be very cautious. We have to close the windows and bring down the blinds. We have to refrain from opening our doors, roaming the streets, breathing, sending our children to school, riding a car, going to work or the market, traveling, reading newspapers, magazines and books, listening to songs, or watching shows, films and television. Everybody knows what became of the television in the satellite age. What can we say about the cellular phone, the hotbed of mobile vices? And the computer that is wide open onto the electronic cliff, which is nothing but a manifestation of the post modern hell: we mean the Internet may God curse it!
O people, the enemy is everywhere, so be as vigilant as you can. The enemy gets to us through the atoms of the air, diffuses through the atmosphere, and lands on us from the virtual world. It surrounds us from every direction: from «Rotana» to «Melody» and «Nagham», from the clips of «MTV» (global) to the shows of «Fashion TV», to hundreds of stations which would cause cheeks to blush even before their names are uttered. The enemy is in everything we see and touch and buy and wear and say, hear and see and eat and drink. Too bad for us; how can we continue to live in the midst of a huge jungle of perfumes, groans,caprices, gasps and bodies?
Yes, sex is everywhere! God help us. It is capable of demolishing formidable walls, controlling minds and gaining the trust of millions. Otherwise, how would satellite TV channels survive? How would the art market flourish? How would the marketplace stay dynamic? How would we sell our goods: from razor blades to nuclear warheads?
We doubt that the masses are not aware of the dangers that beset them. Or is every Arab citizen a double agent: he colludes with the enemy at night, and then comes to fight that enemy when the daylight breaks? A famous scene from a Youssef Chahine movie comes to mind; it depicts an officer in the Egyptian army who surrenders to his sexual fantasies while at a front-line position against the Israeli army. And we remember the words of the philosopher Regis Debray: «Tell me what you escape from, I tell you who you are »."