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Trains and libraries
According to a recent poll
conducted by Ii, the Lebanese do not read. “Why are you surprised?” asked a
colleague. “The president of the most powerful nation in the world doesn’t read
either.” Suspecting that the poll results might be too gloomy, I polled a dozen
other people. The outcome confirmed the poll.
Some claim that television and the Internet have taken over, but another poll,
also conducted by Ii, shows that only 33.6% of those using the Internet do so
for research purposes. The rest are more interested in chat rooms or
pornography. People in Lebanon only read if they have to. At Ii, it is part of
their job; in schools and universities, it is a requirement; and in society, it
is to see their photos and read their news, including those of people they
despise.
A Lebanese writer from the 1940s once remarked: “In Lebanon, we have a gun in
every house instead of a library.” Yes, we go to churches, mosques, and clubs
and watch talk and entertainment shows in increasing numbers, as demonstrated by
another poll, but we do not read. The fact is that 40% of the population does
not read– neither newspapers, magazines, nor books. We must commend them for
their honesty. It is the contradictory response of the remaining 60% that raises
questions and eyebrows.
The so-called ‘readers’ are divided into three main categories: newspaper,
magazine and book readers, with each category representing roughly one third.
The loyal daily readers represent a small percentage, since the majority read a
paper or more ‘from time to time’. There are, however, very small percentages of
people who read one or more papers daily. Those must be a dying breed. The
majority of those who claimed they read books could not remember the title or
author of the last book they read. In addition, the average budget spent by
those who claimed that they read is LL 18,000 per month, bearing in mind that
almost half of them borrow their reading material. Some may argue that this
figure is not bad for a country that has a minimum wage of LL 300,000 while
others contend that it is too little for a population that has almost one
million cellular lines. Religious books are read more than others, which must
please the advocates of the clash of civilizations theory.
There are people in the world who have decided to simply quit reading. They have
their philosophical and emotional reasons. But the Lebanese, it seems, have not
yet even started reading. Something the poll did not have an answer for: Who is
happier? The readers or the non-readers? When my colleague threw that question
at me, I said: “It doesn’t matter, though I do miss seeing people reading in
trains and public libraries.” “But we have neither in Lebanon,” my colleague
replied.
Jawad Adra
Managing Partner
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Current Statistics
Electricité du Liban (EDL)
• LL3,500 billion ($2.3 billion) is the debt accumulated by EDL, out of
which LL 156 billion ($104 million) is in loans taken by the company for
rehabilitation and setting up new power stations. LL 1,157 billion ($771
million) was taken in treasury bills for fuel purchase.
Real estate fees
• LL 26 billion ($17.3 million) in real estate fees was collected by the
government treasury in the months of January and February 2003, compared to LL
24.7 billion ($16.5 million) for the same period last year, or a decrease of 5%.
NSSF Financial Committee
• LL 200,000 ($133) is the amount of compensation provided to each board member
for attendance at meetings of the National Social Security Fund’s Financial
Committee, provided that a maximum of four meetings are held per month.
Lebanese medals of honor
• 303 Lebanese citizens will be entitled to receive medals of various ranks in
the year 2003 and 134 will be entitled to an upgrade of their medals.
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