Hello,
I am King Abdullah’s Book “Our last best chance”. I am barely 1/5 of it at the moment, but as most people, when reading a book, i keep thinking of weak and strong points the book try to make. I thought about writing a review about these points here, but then I started to think, AM I ALLOWED to critique the king’s writing? would that blacklist me? Would i go to jail for that? is critiquing the king’s writing considered an insult to the ruling family which i think is a felony?
Anyway, i ended up deciding not to write the critique because i don’t want to find out the answers to these question the hard way.
But that by itself is very sad. We live in such a fear that we can’t speak our mind, even though we are not trying to oppose or insult anyone. I usually consider myself as someone who pushes such limits and yet for this limit i felt it is too dangerous to cross.
Am I wrong to be afraid to write a book critique in a public place? or our country would actually prosecute someone who does that? If it does, should it change? would it change?
I finished it a month ago, I read it after i read Randa Habib’s book “Hussein and Abdullah: Inside the Jordanian Royal Family” which tell the same story as the kings book, but from a complete different point of view.
One of the things I hated about the Kings book, the way he was talking about How spending some years in the British Army service gave him the knowledge to understand the NATO movement when attacking Iraq, and a better understanding for the Jordanian army!!
You can criticize it. I did it 4 months ago and I have not been prosecuted yet.
I also noticed that many criticized it on twitter.
However, as a general rule in Jordan, I reckon that English language critiques directed toward the state or even the monarchy are more tolerated than the ones written in Arabic.
Hey, can you send me a link to ur critique, i am curious about it
Here is the link:
http://haithamsaerie.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-last-best-chance-book-review.html
I would would be waiting for yours.