Middle East Focus: Tale of Humor in Police States: Assad’s Password, Jordan’s Secret, Egyptian Exceptionalism………

Arabia Deserta

Tale of Humor in Police States: Assad’s Password, Jordan’s Secret, Egyptian Exceptionalism………

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF


      So, WTF is humor in 2012?

“Unknown members of the hacker collective “Anonymous” reportedly broke into the private email account of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad this week and learned that the embattled dictator is not one much for electronic security. That’s because he picked the second-weakest password around: “12345,” according to documents published by Israeli news magazine Haaretz. Security researchers say the only password that’s weaker is “password.” The “12345″ password was not just on al-Assad’s computer: documents show it was also used by several others in the Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs………….”

Password: 12345.
Now WTF kind of police state is that (if that is true)? Syria is a police state, but that is a mark of a stupid police state (come to think of it, police states are always stupid in the long run). Speaking of Arab police states (almost ALL Arab states are police states, with perhaps two ‘possible’ exceptions): I used to opine that Syria is a police state that feels and looks like one and that Jordan is a police state that doesn’t look like one (until you hit some red line).
Which reminds me: maybe it is related to humor. Both countries are extremely short of, nay almost devoid of, any sense of humor. Other Arab (and Middle East nations including Iran and Turkey and Israel) are also short on humor but not as bad as those two. Palestinians are as humorless as Jordanians. As for some others like Libyans or Algerians, the usual answer is "wtf is humor?"

Somehow Egypt has managed to get away with some sense of humor in the middle of a grim region. Now that is exceptionalism.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com