Toxic Comments – Obelisk

January 11, 2023

Baghdad/Obelisk:

Shaima Aqil

There has been much talk regarding sites with trivial contents that carry great harm to society and to young people in particular, and many researchers and analysts wrote in this regard and summarized the reasons for the increase in such contents, the most important of which is begging for views and obtaining money by promoting goods, products and brands that use them to increase sales.

And it became clear to the public that the owners of these contents do not hesitate to do anything in order to obtain followers, and some may reach foolish behavior that destroys their prestige and dignity, and others may utter inappropriate words, as the end for them justifies the means.

I am not here to deal with those shortcomings that social media is full of, but rather I will talk regarding a related topic and a great connection to social media. Despite the existence of poor contents, there are, on the other hand, sites with high-end educational content aimed at spreading awareness and guiding towards the best and optimal choices.

Some of them have a scientific, literary, artistic and cultural orientation, and their makers seek to show the information in the best and most complete way.

Although these sites do not attract large numbers compared to trivial sites, their owners continue to provide the maximum they can so that the largest possible number of people can benefit from their experiences.

The story of Ahmed Al-Ghandour in his program (Al-Dahih) may be a vivid example of the success of the purposeful content with an educational orientation.

He started with simple capabilities, but with his ingenuity and sarcastic style that is able to communicate science in a light and fun way, Al-Duhaih was able to be one of the most influential people in the Arab world. The episodes of the program, which he launched in 2014 on the YouTube platform, have recorded more than a billion views worldwide.

In a few years, he became one of the most followed Arab content creators. He was selected among the “Arab Youth Pioneers” list, which celebrates the achievements of Arab youth who have achieved positive and influential achievements in their societies. He was included in the list of the most influential people in the Arab world for the year 2018, and was selected in the short list of the IBC International Award in 2019 for the most influential young people in the media.

A young man in his twenties decided to open a window on the world from inside his small room, to transform, within 7 years, from a program on YouTube, into one of the most important content makers. Worth studying and researching the reasons for its success.

Al-Ghandour has achieved the success that every meaningful content maker deserves, who carries a goal and a message, and achieves a breakthrough in the field of communicating information in a humorous, smooth and enjoyable style.

In Iraq, there are many sites that provide high-end content in different fields, for example Chef Shaheen, and despite being outside Iraq, his style and the way he presents the content is purely Iraqi, and he is an Iraqi chef and content creator.

He participated in the “Master Chef Competition” in the United Kingdom and reached advanced stages.

He holds a Bachelor of Architecture in 2018 from Northumbria University in the United Kingdom.

Works as a food developer with many restaurants in the Arab world.

His passion for preparing food made him strive to prepare elaborate content in a smart, updated style. He was able to achieve millions of views and deliver Iraqi dishes to compete with international dishes. With his love for food, he was able to achieve his dream of opening his first restaurant in Dubai, which he called Yaba, and it is a restaurant that serves Iraqi food, but in a modern style.

Chef Shaheen was surprised one day by a message from a person on his website, in which he said (I hope that you and your family will get sick and die, and that your restaurant will burn down). Shaheen said that he does not know this person and has no enmity with him and does not understand the reason for this hate-filled talk.

Content creator Nada Ahmed from Babylon presents videos of a social awareness nature in a smooth and gentle manner and discusses important issues such as domestic violence, women’s rights, bullying and many topics that reflect the concerns of society.

Nada revealed that she was subjected more than once to threatening messages, intimidation, insults, and insults in the most heinous terms and without the slightest justification. She does not provide any offensive or indecent content. On the contrary, her content is completely devoid of any abuse or obscene words, and some of them justify this method of attacking Nada. (with a religious framework) and that it presents content that incites the liberation of women, that it does not wear the hijab, that its voice is awrah, etc. are among the flimsy arguments that some hardliners take to obscure any voice calling for raising awareness.

Hussein Saadoun speaks on his page on the social networking site with his beautiful style of presentation, far from vulgarity, and a wonderful choice of vocabulary to reach in a short and elegant way to the recipient to benefit from the information and open the doors for him to research and further reading.

He talks regarding valuable books in an elaborate manner and stresses the importance of continuous reading and its role in making a better person and thus a better family and then a better society.

He usually presents ideas and links them to books such as love, beauty, eternity and passion.
Hussein Saadoun, who is distinguished by enlightening thought and culture, opens minds to cultures and civilizations, and renounces adherence to opinion, intolerance, and intellectual closure.

He usually cites the sayings of the great thinker and sociologist Ali Al-Wardi, who, although several years have passed since his death, still poses a great threat to all reactionary fanatics with limited thinking.

Perhaps this was a reason for harboring hostility, and even to the point of threatening Hussein Saadoun, because he is considered a threat to them and their backward ideology from which they live and deceive their followers to achieve their interests and cover their corruption. The methods and pretexts are unfounded.

They are just insects trying to undermine everything beautiful that has a lofty goal, violating the freedom and right of everyone to express their ideas and beliefs.

There must be a strong and effective law that has a role in deterring these insects from achieving their goals in obstructing the path of creators, intellectuals and conscious people.

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