Child Modeling: Exploitation for Marketing

Dear all,

I don't know about you, but this really depressed the hell out of me...

Lomar, the famous thobe brand, had a kids fashion show yesterday. If you think child modeling is wrong, then please speak up and express your opinion on the event wall. I don't know what's gotten into people... Money I guess... and stupidity... On the other hand, if you think I'm a crazy hippie, then just google "child modeling, exploitation for marketing."
A good example of child exploitation is guesskids.com.

When I wrote on the wall expressing how I feel about this, Anwar Idriss messaged me asking me to explain my theory. When I explained, he replied saying "No comment. I respect your opinion", which didn't surprise me at all.

The only way we can stop this from becoming a trend in Saudi Arabia is expressing how we really feel about it. If you think it's wrong, please write on the wall. Now's your chance to determine whether child modeling will become a common thing in Saudi advertising or not. It's up to you... The coming generations will blame us when their kids turn out messed up because they never had a real childhood. You might also want to research the pros and cons of child modeling to understand what I mean.
How would you have felt as a kid if someone told you that you couldn't play or nap whenever you felt like it? This kids fashion show is just the beginning.

"Atheism Cures Terrorism" ??

I have seen many things that were visually offensive, but this specific poster shocked me the most. I tried to be open minded, and focused on the artistic technique, and showed respect to the artist. However, he chose to take the road that leads to nothing but a dead end; no one gained anything. In fact, he insulted many people's beliefs, including mine, by calling God "a genocidal maniac."  http://comments.deviantart.com/1/54881668/971750155"On what basis??" you might ask. Based on the Bible, which anyone with a truly enlightened education knows is edited, and SOME verses of the Koran; verses that had the word "infidels." 

Is that how we summarize books these days?? Only people with the right educational background can interpret the Koran. Now this person comes out of nowhere and accuses the religion of promoting violence? And based on what? Based on assumptions and ideas formulated due to the media. Jihad for instance is now a "badder" word than the F word! Who are you people to tell others what Jihad is?? Who are those terrorists to kill innocent people in the name of religion?? It is those people exactly- including the artist- that exhibit backward thinking. How is getting rid of religion going to cure this problem? What exactly are you leaving believers with but MORE AND MORE anger??

What are you causing except MORE AND MORE conflicts??

What are you teaching children except that VIOLENCE IS THE KEY??

WHAT HAVE WE BECOME??

Why is it more important nowadays to insult and hurt each other, rather than embracing each other's differences? Whatever happened to respecting each other just because others are our fellow HUMAN BEINGS??

I have no problem with atheists whatsoever as long as they DO NOT insult people's beliefs. This is not just about me- this is about every single good hearted believer out there who has fallen a victim of verbal and visual abuse, just because some atheists misinterpret things.

This artist has insulted our beliefs. And God knows what the next generation of artists inspired by him are going to do. THAT IS THE POINT. THIS IS THE BIGGER PICTURE that he REFUSES to see or DID NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT.

The content of our art is a moral obligation! Any human being with a bit of decency should know that and APPLY IT!

There are some thoughts that should NEVER leave our minds. We are too selfish to think about how it affects other people apparently. "I'll express myself, and screw those children that are seeing/going to see my work and get influenced by it, only to end up in jail or even executed one day for bombing a church, mosque, or temple." Yes, that is what's going on in their minds- "just" expressing themselves... Except that, they don't see the harm that it will be doing. Again, they are too selfish to do that. 

Who am I to call you selfish? Well, you should read about the "selfish gene." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene

In conclusion, does atheism cure terrorism? Anyone with any common sense would say it does not. Why? Because, after "removing" religion from people, mankind will have bigger problems than just terrorism... 1)Terrorism is not only restricted to extremist Muslims killing non Muslims... 2) Imagine a world where everyone runs amok, doing whatever they want.

I have reported the artist and this specific work to the Deviant Art help desk. They saw that the artwork report was irrelevant, but they are yet to get back to me regarding the other complaint. Thankfully, I had the support of many other artists, who also reported him.

This is not because of the disrespect he showed, and CONTINUES to show to me on his journal. This is because this is the perfect example of mindsets that cause corruption in this world. Call him a modern day Hitler if you must- except that he wants to kill more than 50% of the Earth's population. At least my aggression is directed towards him, but his aggression is directed towards A LOT of people. That is why, if Deviant Art chooses to ignore my report, I will certainly not just sit there. I will make sure that the news spreads faster than bird flu.

Is Boycotting Right?

The first time I heard the word "boycott" was... I honestly can't remember... Maybe because I never cared enough to boycott anything. I started boycotting Starbucks for as long as I remember because of the very widespread "rumor" that the Chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, is an active Zionist. Now those of you who aren't Muslim will probably jump to the conclusion that I am racist and an anti-semitic. I have got nothing against Jewish people... However, I definitely have something against people who support the siege and war against Palestine. It just happens to be that the active participants in this war are mostly Jewish. 

Ever since the war on Gaza started, I began to think whether boycott was the right thing or not. I did a research for one of my courses and stumbled upon several websites that talk about boycott and companies that are contributing to Israeli economy. Most websites were created by Arabs/Muslims, and I jumped to the conclusion that it was all propaganda. Just when I was about to give up, I came across a Jewish website: schmoozenews.com. It had an article titled "Companies that Support Israel Desrverve our Patronage", which mentioned all the companies that everyone would agree should be boycotted http://schmoozenews.com/letters38.html . The list includes Starbucks, Nokia, 

Nestle', Sara Lee, IBM, Coca Cola, and other companies. The list of things to boycott only

got longer and longer... However I still couldn't find an answer to my question: 

Is boycotting right?

The research addict and curious person that I am, I did more research and came across different

websites that had interesting points. I shall mention one that discourages boycott, and another

that is for boycott.

- "The Placebo Effect of Economic Boycotts" http://www.chowk.com/articles/10515

The article states: "economic boycotts are very blunt weapons and are frankly useless in terms of satisfying the actual objectives, but as I said, they offer some palliative to the chattering classes. [...] So these boycotts are simply placebos and not medicine at all."

- "Boycotts of U.S. Brands Affecting Economy" 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_sherwood_080121_boycotts_of_u_s__bra.htm

The articles states: "By December, 2004, Jim Lobe could write on AntiWar.Com, a survey by Seattle-based Global Market Insite found “brands closely identified with the U.S., such as Marlboro cigarettes, American Online, McDonald’s, American Airlines, and Exxon-Mobil, are particularly at risk.” " 

I just had to check the credibility of the second article, and I searched for Jim Lobe's quote. I did find the article by Jim Lobe on Antiwar.com titled "War Bad for Business" 

http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=4235 and it does state what the article mentioned. However, who is Jim Lobe? How do we know he's not making this up?? No worries, I researched that too.  http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Lobe

After having read all these articles, do I have an answer to my question? Absolutely! As selfish as this may sound, I think by switching to local products, that would definitelyhelp our economy and will help these local companies grow. We always complain that local products are not good enough. Think about it: how can they improve without enoughfinancing? By switching to local products, you are making a difference because then these companies will have the money to do more research and improve their products. How do youthink all the American companies grew? Again, nothing personal, but it's about time we proved ourselves and stopped depending on the West to give good quality products. For God's sake, most of their companies depend on child labor and it only cost them pennies compared to what they make. Nike for instance has been accused of using child labor. Another reason we should boycott major corporations that care about nothing but money. These include Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Nike, and so on. Whatever "fundraisers" they pull outtheir sleeves, it is all part of giving themselves a positive humanitarian image.

The Situation

I can definitely bet all my money (which is not much) that most people are freaking out because of the economic crisis. Just a couple of days ago, I saw on the news that the state of California is facing bankruptcy.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1121062.stm

To be honest, I had no idea that was even possible. The UN's goal to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015 is obviously not coming true http://www.un.org/milleniumgoals/ 

I am not being pessimistic; I am being realistic. The truth hurts. 

Now going back to the article "California Declares Electricity Emergency", I find that politically unsettling. Why? The article states: "About a third of all California's power is produced at gas-fired plants, but these are being forced to switch to oil to run their generators,"

Now what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read this? Being the conspiracy theorist and paranoid person that I am, only one thing comes to my mind: All countries that have a surplus of oil are at risk of going through what Iraq has been through. The article titled "Iraq, the Current Oil Crisis and American Mismanagement"  http://news.boloji.com/2008/06/21719.htm quotes the author of 'The Ultimate Prize- Oil and Saddam's Iraq', Ranjit Singh Kalha: "control over Iraqi oil is an economic necessity, a strategic, a strategic requirement according to US National Security Directives."

What is even more disturbing is the fact that we will eventually run out of oil. Then what? I did think of several scenarios, but this written discussion between Jeremy Leggett (CEO of Solarcentury) and David Jenkins (former chief technology adviser to the BP group) is more interesting to read http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=7156

I think I caused enough concern and paranoia for today... Until next time.

Regards,

Me

The Master Plan

Told you I was an addict.. I couldn't stay away!
Anyways, I said I was straight forward, so might as well put all my cards on the table now.
I've researched bloggers in Saudi Arabia, and I stumbled upon an article on timesonline.co.uk about a saudi blogger named Hadeel Al Hodaif, who died unexpectedly after slipping into a coma 2 days after she turned 25. It is truly inspiring what this one young woman did in her short life. I am 20 already and I haven't achieved anything for the community that I live in.

I've also  stumbled upon Saudi Jeans. It used to be a humble blog, but now it's a website www.saudijeans.org

The topics are great, and all of us here in  Saudi Arabia can definitely relate to. I really encourage you to have a look and to participate in the discussions. 

I personally was not even aware of how advanced the Saudi blogger community was... Obviously I was not in the right circle of people back on Facebook- not that they weren't intellectual-  but most people just avoided getting into serious topics. 

I look forward to the rest of my journey in the "Blogosphere" (I love how blogging is a world on its own).

Regards,

Me

Confessions of a Newbie...

Hi, my name is Soraya, and I'm an addict. Back when I had a Facebook account, I posted at least one or two notes per week. Well, I temporarily deactivated my account, and here I am, getting my dose of "babbling."

I decided to finally give this place a chance. I'm not only here because of my addiction.. I'm here to get in touch with other circles of individuals beside from the usual artists, writers, business owners and actual friends that i have on facebook. If you know me, pretend that you don't. Just consider me an individual who is just expressing herself. Forget about where I come from, who my family is, and what college I go to. This is all part of my personal life, which I will not be talking about here, unless I see it necessary.

Finally, don't overthink things... I'm a very straight forward person, so there's no need to go looking for subliminal messges in my posts. I'm telling you this because I'd hate to see you waste your precious time.

That's pretty much it... Until next time...

Regards,
Me