Pop Quiz

Here is today's daily reader poll as prominently displayed in one of Dubai's local newspapers, "Gulf News":

"What is your favourite George Bush moment?

(a) choking on a pretzel

(b) falling off a mountain bike

(c) ducking from a shoe

(d) winking at the Queen

(e) massaging Angela Merkel

(f) reading a book upside-down

(g) the moment when Obama was elected president

[Go online and] VOTE NOW!"

When I came across this, I experienced a simultaneous wave of amusement and chagrin. Funny as this list may be (and certainly accurate in terms of assessing the legacy that I think Bush is leaving behind), it validated this vague sense of embarrassment that I feel whenever first telling people here in Dubai that we are American.  At our clubhouse playground the other day, Sushi and Screamer were playing with a group of small children, all hailing from different parts of the world-- Denmark, Germany, England, Honduras, and Italy-- and I was very conscious of the fact that in this part of the world, it is hardly a foregone conclusion that America is the greatest country on the planet.  Rather, I sense from the conversations I overhear, and definitely from the Op-Ed pieces I read, a general sentiment that the USA has an awful lot of explaining to do right now, both for the war and for the economy.  I didn't expect it would be so uncomfortable introducing myself as a representative of the guy who messed everything up for everyone else. 

I am also surprised by how few Americans we have met thus far.  When the children's school put out its November newsletter, it included something to this effect: "We're getting ready to welcome two new students who are coming all the way from America!"  Having heard countless times the statistic that over 80% of Dubai's population is expatriate, I (arrogantly, American-ly) assumed that U.S. citizens would make up a large part of this thriving metropolis.  But so far, I haven't found that to be the case.  We're more a rarity, and I have heard this a lot: "You're from America?  Oh, you should meet X's neighbor, Y, who has a friend Z who is also American..."  Which only makes me all the more sensitive when I read stuff like the above in the newspaper.  Am I supposed to be defending this indefensible clown?  'Cuz if I don't do it, who around here will?  Am I committing an unpatriotic act by laughing at Bush along with all the other non-Americans here?  

That said, amidst all of the Bush bashing in the opinion sections of the Dubai press, there is also a tremendous amount of newsprint devoted to U.S. affairs in general.  I am astonished to see how often American news stories also make the top headlines here, from the Clinton appointment to the auto bailout.  And I am always skimming the content to gauge any bias, either pro- or anti- American.  Thus far, I feel that the coverage is largely sympathetic to and supportive of the U.S., with one unsurprising exception: its pro-Israel policies.

I have seen many an opinion piece in the paper here urging Obama to promptly and summarily abandon the current U.S. approach to the Middle East conflict, warning him that peace will never be attainable unless the U.S. gets over its long-lasting love affair with Israel.  And nearly every day, there is a huge-fonted headline about the crimes against humanity that Israel is supposedly committing against millions of people in Gaza, and I honestly can't help but read the correlating articles with a skeptical eye.  There's no *way* Israel would actually do the things of which it is being accused-- denying basic humanitarian aid to thousands of families, withholding electricity, freezing the banks... would it?

This reminds me of something told to me in advance of our arrival by a Jewish friend who had already lived here a year: she said that living in Dubai has "complicated" her views on the Middle East situation.  And of course I see how quickly that can happen when there is no way of knowing whose media outlets are telling the truth to their readers.  It seems to me that the U.S. media, especially since 9/11, has sponsored a widespread American consensus that Israelis are staunchly and rightly defending themselves against insatiable aggressors, and Arabs-- all Arabs!-- are potentially dangerous extremists who simply cannot be reasoned with.  Surely this can't be accurate-- and yet the enduring stereotype is some of what motivated my great reluctance to move here.  

So what will happen to my political ideologies while we are living in Dubai?  Will I read but then discount all Israel-centric news stories as presumptively untrue?  Will I put all of my thoughts about Israel on hold entirely, as if there is no news available on the subject at all, so as not to risk any clouding of my previously clear vision of Middle East right and wrong?  Or will I-- uh oh-- come to suspect that maybe Israel *isn't* always the good guy in this fight, but instead, is sometimes the bully?  May I just say: Oy.

At the end of the day, I guess all I can do is open up my mind, and try not to feel like a traitor if I make an earnest effort to understand in more than just a superficial way the Arab point of view on this age-old conflict.  Because it certainly wouldn't be the worst thing if I came back to the States a little less programmed and a little more wise.

And oh, for the record, my answer would have been a tie between (c) and (e).  For no other reason than that he made me laugh, I'm kinda gonna miss ol' W, that hillbilly spazz.