Anti-Lebanese?

Yesterday M said to me, “I read your latest blog today.”

“Oh yeah?” I said.  He had a look on his face that wasn’t quite right.

“It was good, don’t get me wrong, it was just a little…”

“Yes?”

“Well, I think some people might feel that it’s a bit anti-Lebanese.”

Huh? Anti-Lebanese?

But M wouldn’t elaborate. See, this is what he does.  He gives me the honest feedback that I badly need and then leaves me to figure out the rest.

Nobody who knows me could harbour any illusions as to my fondness for Lebanon but in my defence I’ve always tried to be honest and fair about it. The things that I dislike here have nothing to do with the essence of Lebanese people or culture. The things that I dislike here are the same things the Lebanese people themselves dislike.

But maybe it’s about making fun of your own stuff versus making fun of someone else’s.  You know, like a Chinese-Canadian comedian could poke fun at Chinese-Canadians.  Would he be anti-Chinese for doing so?  Of course not. But if he was Ukrainian-Canadian and making those same jokes he’d be in trouble.  

But now where does that leave me?  Can I only make fun of Canadian-Lebanese people, which is what I suppose I am when I live in Lebanon?  But I only know about two other Canadian-Lebanese people. Surely I can’t be expected to harvest enough material for a blog from the three of us.

 I guess I could try to talk more about the good things in Lebanon but I can’t see that it will make for amusing reading.  I’ll give it a shot, that’s the most I can promise.