Michelle Tueini, Your Father Would Be Ashamed

The sad circle of life dictates that we are all going to end up inheriting something one day. Most of us inherit a piece of land, or a house, and maybe just a business.

Others, like Michelle Tueni and her sister, inherit a newspaper, and a political career in the making on the strength of their name alone. The sister is already a member in parliament, and an utter and irrevocable disappointment at that; Michelle seems to be well on that track as well, as exemplified by her latest op-Ed in her family’s newspaper Annahar, in a continuous quality decline that’s making Lebanon’s once most prestigious newspaper borderline tabloid trash.

Titled “كتير طلعت ريحتكم” which roughly translates to “You Stink Too Much” in reference to the #YouStink protesters, Tueini is upset. Check it out.

Why?

Because according to her, those useless protests are doing the following:

1. Blocking roads,
2. Paralyzing Downtown Beirut,
3. Hijacking the country,
4. Preventing those who work in Downtown Beirut to go to work easily,
5. Affecting the stability and prosperity of the country.

She also wants security forces to crack down on protestors to prevent the above 5 points from happening.

People, I did not know we were living in a shining beacon of prosperity. Ivory towers have a nicer view of Lebanon it seems; isn’t Michelle Tueini just lucky?

When barraged on Twitter about her article, Michelle Tueini replied in ways that are not remotely reflective of the last name she holds. It was her “point of view.” She was expressing her “freedom of speech,” also known as the most useless arguments known to man to defend a point of view that just doesn’t fly.

Today, Gebran Tueini is probably rolling in his grave as he sees how his daughters are using his name and how his newspaper is publishing articles like the one his daughter wrote, an article bashing a movement he would have been the FIRST to support. Wasn’t he the man who thought the country could only work with youth taking power?

I’m terribly sorry Michelle Tueini has problems getting to work. That must be so hard and distressing for her I’m sure. I mean, can you imagine how horrible it must be to have trouble getting to work every morning? After all, that is such an anomaly in Lebanon because who EVER has trouble getting to work in this country?

I’m also terribly sorry she’s so upset Downtown Beirut is so paralyzed. Yes, this is affecting the economy tremendously because as we all know, a couple of weeks ago Downtown Beirut was Mahnattan of the Middle East, visited by millions daily with businesses turning away customers due to overload. I guess this is why the Washington Post wrote an article only a few months ago about how FULL Downtown Beirut was, and this is why all Lebanese feel right at home when they visit the Downtown Area, right next to the Chanel and Hermes shops and the very Lebanese-oriented organization of the area, and the very welcoming army-less, barb-wire-less streets.

With her article, Michelle Tueini has shown how disassociated she is from the country she lives in, how she is nothing more than another manifestation of this system we are trying to change, of people and entities who live in their own version of lala land and who think this country is absolutely peachy with minor hiccups along the way. Isn’t that just sad?

She thinks the #YouStink movement is paralyzing the country. Yes because the country was a full blown force of nature a few months ago, with no president, total economic standstill and no democratic cycle taking place. What a lovely place.

She thinks the #YouStink movement is blocking roads, except the only roads that have been blocked were when protests were taking place by the security forces that I’m sure Michelle Tueini would be more than glad to see beat up peaceful protesters, fire bullets at them, tear-gas them, and do as she requested and “crack down” so the nuisance the protests are posing on her daily life can be prevented.

Michelle Tueini probably loved seeing this yesterday.

She thinks the #YouStink movement is tarnishing the image of Downtown Beirut, the area that was built on top of the properties of average Lebanese who were forcibly evicted to make way for Solidere, the area that was built to Saudis but not to Beirutis, the area of security zone within a security zone within a security zone, the area that feels the most disassociated in the country, the area that is the least visited “touristic” area in Beirut, the area where ancient ruins are pillaged to build hotels, the area that is a symbol of rape of Lebanese society whole. But that doesn’t apply to Tueini of course.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are people in the country whose garbage is classier. They are to whom the current garbage crisis is a foreign existence with a “c’est quoi ca?” attitude as they look at the barbarics trying to rectify a cause they are just not affected by.

I do not support everything the #YouStink movement does, especially lately. I think they’re losing ground as they lose focus. But, even with their shortcomings, they are the only entity in the country today trying to change things, trying to make this uninhabitable land we live at least human enough for us to call home. Criticizing them is allowed. But the least I can do is not paint them as pseudo-terrorists like Annahar would more than gladly paint any of its political adversaries.

It’s a new era for the Tueinis, a new age for Annahar. If only Gebran Tueini were here to see this.