Funky Arab… Are we indeed?!

I have watched lately Jad Choueiri’s video Funky Arab, I read the comments on Youtube, face book and listen to people at the office arguing about it. To be honest when I first saw the video I was totally shocked. One of my colleagues said "I understand your shock but at least he is out there trying to do something to change how people, especially in the west, perceive Arab."

As an Arab, I for once am totally against labeling Arab as angry bearded men or women covered in black, but the question here is do I want to be labeled in the way Jad reflected in his video?!

I honestly don’t think that what Jad reflected has anything to do with how the Arab or funky Arab looks. I didn’t know that being funky meant wearing bikini, botox injecting my face, smoking and dancing around like a B***h, or wearing sunglasses at night and chains all around my neck. Is this really the kind of image I want people to perceive Arab as!

Some of the comments on Youtube accused those against the video of being uptight, shallow and illiterate. Well, like it or not people as Arab we have our traditions, heritage and customs, and it makes me sad to be accused of these things just for being proud of my traditions. I am sure by now you can guess that I am against this video.

To be fair there are some people who live and act the same way Jad reflects in his video and there are some Arab who fits the angry bearded man profile. However, between those few "somes", there is the majority; millions of Arab who are moderate, simple, smart and educated, Arab who are reasonable and not extremists. From this majority comes; my family, my friends, my colleagues, my neighbors and the people who live in my street and those I met in college. Why there is no one trying to reflect those Arab.

I don’t want to be labeled terrorist and I don’t want to be labeled B***h. I want to be labeled the way I am … a normal moderate human being like the millions who live on the rest of the planet.