Negative Thoughts
Even with all my probably-unnecessary attempts at trying to find the brightest side in everything, two issues that are visually constantly springing up have been bothering me.
(photo from The Jordan Times by Hani Hazimeh)
All the closed chicken shawerma stands around town, for one; in the peak of the summer season, with all the tourists in town, with schools and universities off, when the whole country is summery and is in the “going out mood”. I do not eat chicken, and so my thoughts do not arise because I miss it. I just wonder how many thousands of JDs that made up the direct and indirect incomes of how many thousands of Jordanians have been lost in the past several weeks. How fair is it to collectively punish so many people because of one person’s mistake? I understand that health is an extremely important issue, but I do not think that the issue was handled correctly or justly.
Today, while discussing this topic with a friend, he mentions that he thinks that the main problem was actually the hospital that dealt with the salmonella outbreak than the shawerma vendors themselves. I also agree very much with Khalaf, maybe they should prevent people from drinking water. And maybe they should not allow people to sell liquorice juice on the streets downtown. And maybe they should ban corn on the cob in the little carriages.
The other issue upsetting me is that of ATV. Their ads anticipating their launch on August 1st still cover many billboards around town. They are still in the August issues of most local magazines. It is almost September, and the channel is still not on air. I guess the audio-visual commission keeps asking for more paperwork. Or something.
David H.
August 28, 2007 @ 12:53 am
Lady..
what r u talking about i totally disagree with what u have said..the health issue is not discussable cuz u are 110% right about :)
but come to some logical sense…how many guys as like me wouldn’t have a perfect closure for his evening by SA7EN 3ARABE super or double then a double dozed cigarettes..and it has been this way since long time and many guys have enjoyed it and gathered around discussing silly things while waiting in queue to have their orders..the taste of shawerma i believe has been in the meetings and the big circles of smoke puffed out :) the sensation it self was in the SHAWERMA RITUALS if i may say..and now that one place or more had been bad we say oohh shawerma is a curse to our society.. :S i dont think soo..cuz from the first beginning it was a wrongful idea but we loved it..how many of u skipped a healthy cooked meal from a loving mother and skipped being a participant of a dinner rounded table among his brotheres and sisters to get the precious shawerma hehehehehe….strictness should be applied in more rapid events performed on these places and for me i would vote for a couple shawerma places or snack bars in every neighbourhood or place which follows a REAL rules…we all know the market’s fast food is not healthy at all and we know it is bad..so either we stick to home-made food or we take the risk and venture health..but to curse whom fed us a million significant moments of FAT GREASE and NICOTINE is bad :P
i think these things are all artificial things with no meaning but a satisfaction to primitive needs…Like the B12 trend…since when there is sth like that ?!?! my grandmother and grandfather lived longly and they never forgot where did they put their kids hehehehehehe
Onzlo
August 28, 2007 @ 2:59 am
The other theory behind the Al Ghad no-show is that it is actually due to an internal issue i.e. breakdown/corruption/mismanagement and that audio visual commission’s objection is merely an excuse being used.
Adnan
August 28, 2007 @ 6:10 pm
I am a big big fan of shawirma, and I totally believe that this issue has not been handled by the government especially after the first and the second times .. but to tell you the truth: better safe than sorry, the life of one innocent man is much more worth than the “thousands of JDs” that are lost everyday.. especially after that we got THREE exact incidents in less than a year! so, unless we are able to apply concious and health measures correctly and effectively, lets not have shawirma! even if it did not come from the government, I believe that we should’ve banned shawirma after the first problem, especially the one from very low quality shops..
public health measures are generally very neglected in Jordan! every year we have a different outbreak! once with the water, then with the Margerine (samneh), then with the ice cream, shawirma, hommos, bla bla.. o ba3dain? where does it end??? I swear it can be so much easier than this!
Again, I emphasize that if the government was not THAT Bureaucratic and ineffective then would’ve never reached to supporting such despirate measures
Hareega
August 28, 2007 @ 11:42 pm
this is a very sad picture, and the government’s handling of this issue is so so so stupid.
It’s just a reflection that public health is very primitive in Jordan, despite the few public health experts we have