READER COMMENTS

We all realize the importance of Egyptian drama and its impact on the viewer because of the large audience that watches it throughout the Arab world, and not only Egypt. I noticed that these series handle the issue of extremism that result from our traditions and ideologies which make us blind. We cannot see the truth because of the exaggeration or the lack of religion. We could not find the moderation that was recommended by our honorable Prophet, peace and blessings are upon him. The Ramadan series for this year are too many, but they went far from the January 25th Revolution. However, they discussed many cases of corruption and the control of the President's family that was practiced over the State's public properties which led the people to feel oppressed, and at last the Revolution was raised! They also discussed the Palestinian case, the Israeli situation in Palestine, and the Israeli dominance over Palestine. They also handled the problem of extremism from which we all suffer as this is the introduction to many criminal operations in our safe countries. Thus, the Arab governments have to contribute and support such series because they urge us to keep our countries safe and secure. The Arab peoples have to watch these series, rationalize and comprehend them, help themselves because they are responsible for their attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, culture must spread in order not to become victims of extremism which is the key of the terrorism issue.

If we were to link the growth in the film industry with the Egyptian revolution, we would notice the close link between what happened in the glorious Jan 25th revolution, the revolution of rectification that the great and heroic Egyptian people have carried out, and the impact that this has had on all the areas of life in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and how this has impacted Egyptian drama, which is very obvious in the Egyptian TV series that have addressed very important issues this year, including the issue of extremism. This will most certainly bolster Egypt’s strength and revitalize its national income, as it is considered the leading Arab country in the field of cinema and TV production. As such, we stress the fact that there has been a remarkable development in Egyptian drama and series this year in the post-Jan 25th revolution era and following the election of the President, Dr. Mohammed Morsi as the President of Egypt. All of this is the accomplishment of the great people of Egypt, and these TV series are enlightening the minds rather than smothering them, and the Egyptian government has to support the series, especially those that provide solutions to issues such as extremism, because this has to do with the security of the country.

It would be safe to say that the phenomenon of extremism has started to disappear progressively. Such decline is attributable to many reasons, including the media, the public awareness and the role of the security bodies. It is strange that the TV serials started to address extremism while the phenomenon is shrinking. Anyway, they could be useful. We might ignore the real reasons for the emergence of this type of serials, which portray such influential personalities as Hassan Banna. Being mere dramatic works, they present some facts but they also include some fiction in order to make the biography fit into an artistic performance. Nevertheless, the TV serials managed to show the evolution of the Islamic trend from pacifist demands to some kind of extremism. The irony is that the real relationship between extremism and terrorism is still vague because of the persistent taboos. We are still far from the real revelation of facts. The serials could be plagued by fabrications. The real facts are still unknown. The popular Egyptian serials highlighted the dark side of extremism, raised the awareness of the ordinary people and most importantly, eased the public anger with the people of religion who had suffered from imputed accusations. In fact, many people still ignore the fact that the moral, political and intellectual extremism has nothing to do with religion. Thus, we need an intellectual change which disseminates fairness. The intellectuals should be more impartial. The TV serials could play an important role in this respect. They should show real facts and avoid bias to any intellectual or political trend. The serials influence the grownups as well as the children and the intellectuals as well as the ignorant.

There are many things that work on treating the extremism correctly and easily to help the others to accept it easily, for example, the series. The series work on treating many problems and they also solve the problems in easy ways by persuading the audiences to get away from extremism. They also show the bad things of extremism and what it produces as well as what it causes such as losses and harmful things that affect the individual and the community. In this way, they show to the audiences the reasons of extremism. They take the problem and show its reasons and dangers, and how to deal with it in an easy way in order for the audiences to accept it and to get away from it, so that the individual and all the audiences will become aware of the problems that took place. They will be able to face any problem because if one understands the problem and its reasons, he will be able to overcome it, if he feels that it is near him, by any means.

The Egyptian TV series that focus on the terrorist issues are a good step to engage the society in such cases and to know…

This type of series should receive special attention because they deal with the most important controversial issues ever. The production of such works must increase. We should take advantage of the popularity of the Egyptian series which exceed Egypt to include the entire Arab world. Indeed, those successful series should deal with the phenomenon of extremism. They should clarify the true nature of extremist thought to the ordinary people and stress on the importance of centrism and moderation.

There are many dramatic works in Egypt that deal with the problem of terrorism, but it is considered a double edged weapon. The negative aspects of this matter are more than the positives as these TV shows dealing with terrorism may be misunderstood by the viewer which will lead to the deviation of the youth who do not understand these series about terrorists’ schemes, and this increases the number of those who sympathize with al-Qaeda and the terrorists as the artistic milieu in Egypt needs to be guided by media in order to be more accurate so as to define terrorism practiced by al-Qaeda and to shed light on the extent of criminality of this terrorist organization to have a strong base for launching such serials, which will not be strange to the Arabic reality accustomed to drama, which deals with romantic stories or series, and with general problems in the Arabic communities such as housing, employment and other ideas. The authors and the actors must take up their roles to fight terrorism and this is through works criticizing terrorists and the disbelieving ideology of the al-Qaeda organization, which allows killing, displacement of the families, and using religion as a way to implement their terrorist acts. Therefore, everybody should imitate the director, Necdet Anzrua, and do these works in order to get rid of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and to reveal their crimes against the citizens and humanity all over the world. Thus, these TV shows which fight the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and its ideas must be shown, so that the audience will know the reality about everything and condemn the sectarian thinking of the al-Qaeda organization. Egyptians must focus on this type of series so as to increase the awareness of the simple citizens.

Arab drama and especially Egyptian one have started to deal with issues which were not tackled before due to the lack of information and the lack of scriptwriters in such issues especially the issue of terrorism which is a thorny issue. The Egyptian drama will focus much on this issue given the atmosphere of the Arab revolutions witnessed by the Arab world and especially Egypt. The freedom atmosphere has become available to deal with issues that were not permitted to be tackled. This is shown through some dramatic works on the Egyptian TV in the month of Ramadan and the depiction of the terrorist character, how he lives and his motives which pushed him to follow this path. Therefore, the Egyptian drama plays a great role in addressing these acts and presenting them to the audience in a dramatic manner through which the viewer can see what he used to hear about and to know who is right, and if this terrorist believes in principles in line with society or not. Drama plays an important role in educating people about the importance of religious tolerance and moderation in thought and thinking. Besides, TV programs have a significant impact on the viewers. They organize talk shows between those who believe in this ideology and those who endorse moderate ideology to solve problems.

The TV serials in Egypt are very popular among the Egyptian people. Thus, they play a major role in spreading awareness, openness among the viewers. They give precious morals. In fact, most countries use the media as a way to introduce positive ideas among the citizens. The authorities depend on the most popular media which influence the greatest number of viewers in the local communality. In this respect, the concerned authorities are trying to keep people's minds away from the ideas and convictions of terrorists and extremists. Those despicable people believe that they are keeping religion. In fact, they are seeking their own interests. They deny the right of the people to enjoy their lives. They also endanger the country's security and stability. They do not care about the impact of their operations on the State and its international position. In fact, they affect everything, including the individuals in society, the economy, the security and the domestic politics. As for the foreign affairs and the international relations, the threat of terrorism affects the relations between countries and even leads to their complete suspension. The competent authorities must take decisive and effective measures in order to address the crimes of terrorism and their consequences, which are reflected negatively and seriously on the State. The impact of terrorism also includes all citizens, soldiers, government officials and adult as well as children. The terrorists do not distinguish between the high officials and those who have nothing to do with power. Thus, the Government must take all the possible measures to prevent the dissemination of the terrorists’ ideas among the people and raise their awareness through soft ideas. We should not alienate the citizens. The latter should feel that the Government is guiding them to the right path.

The entire world praises the role played by the Egyptian media in serving Egypt in particular and all the Arab countries in general. In fact, Egypt has become the citadel of media in the Arab world. There are no competing countries in this field in the Middle East. Indeed, the role of the media has appeared and has been closely noticed in the Egyptian community in particular because this country deals with most of the problems witnessed by the Egyptian community and the crises faced by the majority of citizens in this country. Thus, in order to give a closer image, we can examine one segment of the Egyptian media and show its impacts such as serials. In fact, the vast majority of Egyptian serials is based on discussing an issue or one of the problems of the community and performs it in the form of a detailed life story of a person or a group. They should also provide a solution for this problem. The solution should fit the law, the conditions of the Egyptian community, customs and traditions of all the Egyptian people in order to offer support, a solution, raise awareness or give an idea to any person who may face such problems.