{"id":100,"date":"2004-01-21T02:34:00","date_gmt":"2004-01-21T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=100"},"modified":"2012-01-07T14:08:23","modified_gmt":"2012-01-07T21:08:23","slug":"haifa-wehbe-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=100","title":{"rendered":"Haifa Wehbe Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since my original post<\/a> about Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe<\/a>
\n(or Wahbi), this blog has been receiving sporadic hits from the Middle East: Israel, Syria, Egypt, Dubai . . .<\/p>\n

Apparently she and some of her peers have really undermined traditional Arab ideas of beauty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But I say this to her fans:<\/p>\n

“Some would say an army of cavalry, others of infantry, others of ships, is the fairest thing on the dark earth, but I say it’s whatever you’re in love with.”<\/p>\n

Those lines are from the ancient Greek poet Sappho.<\/a> Read Sappho, and understand.<\/p>\n

Where the weekend went<\/strong><\/p>\n

To the detriment of my students, I spent most of the past weekend editing the first issue of the “new” Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies<\/em><\/a>. To help the process go faster, I asked the aid of my old friend Michael McNierney, who not only teaches but has written for The Pom<\/em> in the past, as well as possessing strong editorial skills. Peer-reviewers of academic journals are normally paid in the coin of glory, but I was happy to share food, drink, and some of the old .45 ACP ammunition that I inherited from my late father.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since my original post about Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe (or Wahbi), this blog has been receiving sporadic hits from the Middle East: Israel, Syria, Egypt, Dubai . . . Apparently she and some of her peers have really undermined traditional Arab ideas of beauty. But I say this to her fans: “Some would say […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[27,7],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aphrodite","tag-publishing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1C","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5225,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5225","url_meta":{"origin":100,"position":0},"title":"“Sheikhs against shakes”","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Nine years ago I wrote a post about Islamist reaction against popular Middle Eastern singers such as Haifa Wehbe. For some reason, I kept working in references to Sappho. The process continues. Now a court in the new, improved Islamist Egypt has ordered al-Tet, a television channel devoted to belly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Egypt\"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=egypt"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1520,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1520","url_meta":{"origin":100,"position":1},"title":"Did the Earth Move for You?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi of Iran explains that women cause Middle Eastern earthquakes. \"Many women who dress inappropriately ... cause youths to go astray, taint their chastity and incite extramarital sex in society, which increases earthquakes,\" Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi told worshippers at overnight prayers in Tehran. It's the way that they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":623,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=623","url_meta":{"origin":100,"position":2},"title":"Aphrodite Will Not Be Denied (2)","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"On the heels of the \"cartoon jihad,\" singer Deeyah's new video may be the next excuse for rioting. Muslim pop singer Deeyah has irked the Muslim world with her provocative new music video that shows her stripping off a burka to reveal her bikini-clad body. In the clash of civilizations,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2521,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2521","url_meta":{"origin":100,"position":3},"title":"Aphrodite Smiles","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Back when this blog was young, I wrote a post called \"Aphrodite will not be Denied\"\u00a0 about the botheration caused to some Muslim clerics by the sultry Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe. If there is anything that drives the mullahs and imams mad, it is female sexuality. The bloom is off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.hotair.com\/greenroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Veena_Malik_300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":113,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=113","url_meta":{"origin":100,"position":4},"title":"Weapons of Singing Destruction","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 12, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Since Google sends some readers seeking news and photos about such new Arab singing stars as Haifa Wehbe and Nancy Ajram to this blog, here are two articles by Charles Paul Freund that might interest you. \"Look Who's Rocking the Casbah: The Revolutionary Implications of Arab Music Videos,\" Reason magazine,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8982,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8982","url_meta":{"origin":100,"position":5},"title":"Aphrodite Will Not Be Denied (3) \u2014\u00a0and also Hestia.","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In a 2003 post titled \"Aphrodite Will Not Be Denied,\" I linked to Muslim clerics' criticism of Lebanese pop star Haifa Wehbe. Another Muslim singer with more complicated ancestry, Deeyah, \"irked the Muslim world\" with her music videos, and I said, \"As I once wrote, 'Aphrodite will not be denied.'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3697,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions\/3697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}