Kuwaiti Information Minister Out — Didn’t Do Enough to Suppress Information

The BBC reported last week that Kuwait’s information minister, Mohammed Abul-Hassan, resigned last week in order to avoid being fired. It seems the Kuwaiti parliament was very unhappy with Abul-Hassan’s performance in office. Their main complaint? Abul-Hassan hasn’t done enough to censor information and media coming from the West, specifically Western-style concerts.

According to the BBC,

Three fundamentalist Sunni lawmakers were scheduled to question the mr Abul-Hassan in parliament on Monday, over failing to protect “values and morals” by allowing pop music concerts.

They have also accused his ministry of failing to do enough to censor books, magazines, and videos.

This is a good time to re-read Charles Paul Freund’s excellent essay, In Praise of Vulgarity which does an excellent job of connecting how pop culture, even in its most vulgar forms, has played a liberating role in the West and is having the same effect in Muslim-dominated societies as well (which is why its been opposed so vigorously in both cultures).

Source:

Minister quits ahead of grilling. The BBC, January 2, 2005.

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