Influence of the West on Lebanon

Purpose
At the end of my speech, the audience will be able to describe the influence of the west on Lebanon concerning the Lebanese culture, social life in addition to values and attitudes.

Introduction
Let us suppose we were all born in the United States. We were raised and schooled as a typical American citizen. What would then be different from our life today? Indeed, we would be eating the same food, wearing the same clothes as we do now. We would hear the exact music, party the same and approximately live in a similar manner. So how close is today’s Lebanese culture from the American or western culture? In fact, our traditions and cultures are completely different. However, the influence of the west on us as Lebanese is enormous and out of anyone’s control to the extent that our culture had become so similar to that of western countries especially the American. I’m a Lebanese like you guys, and I’ve been indulged in this culture for 20 years. Like most of you here, I am part of this Lebanese culture and also contributing in the process of the westernization of our rich culture that is leading us to detach from our old traditions and values. Preserving our heritage and traditions is very important to me so I did extensive researches, examined experts’ surveys and observed credible statistics so I would share with you this important topic that we should care about since we are departing from our heritage and traditions by westernizing it and we should know what are the western influences on us as Lebanese so we can act accordingly. At the end of my speech, the audience will be able to describe the influence of the west on Lebanon concerning the Lebanese culture, social life in addition to values and attitudes.

Central Idea
The western world has influenced us as Lebanese significantly by disturbing our culture and heritage in addition to altering our way of life and modifying our mentality and values.
Preview
We must understand the means of western influences on our people and country to be able to limit the adverse effects and benefit from good prosperities.
Body Outline I. The most compelling influence of the west on Lebanon is the influence on the Lebanese culture in terms of architecture, food and clothes. A. Urbanism and Architecture have been renovated by western influences.

1. Due to the World Wars and the dominance of superior countries on smaller ones and due to the French mandate in 1926, the Lebanese architecture and urbanism depended on what the foreign and specially the French invaders constructed and built. 2. After the independence, Lebanese immigrants started coming back from the foreign countries, carrying with them some aspects of the foreign world like construction and western architecture. The Lebanese government declared the usage of either the American code or European code only in construction. 3. As a result, the traditional Lebanese houses that were constructed from high walls sometimes hollowed with bended arcs bellow ceilings covered with rectangular orange bricks or even domes for larger structures in particular, were replaced with huge buildings with several stories that were influenced by western architecture and design like those we see now in the cities but rare in the Lebanese villages. B. From Breakfast to dinner, the food and the Lebanese cuisine that our ancestors daily consumed have changed with time into a more western menu. 1. The typical Lebanese started his day with a healthy breakfast of labneh or mankouche. Even if this is still practiced today, however; most of the people now start with a western influenced breakfast of a donut and coffee or a French croissant. 2. The lunch or dinner for a traditional Lebanese consists of the rich and healthy Lebanese mezza. But the invasion of western fast food and their relatively low cost and easy preparation made fast food the main meal for many of us Lebanese. 3. The number of Fast food restaurants today exceeds the number of Lebanese restaurants. The total number of MacDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Dominos Pizza, Dunkin Donuts branches in Lebanon is 176. If we add to it the number of all other fast food restaurants that are not mentioned above, there would be enough restaurants to fill out 20 km2 equivalent to occupying the entire area of Beirut city.

C. Influenced by the western fashion and designers, the Lebanese daily outfits today consists of the typical western jeans or trousers along with a shirt or polo for both men and women. While the almost extinct traditional Lebanese outfit consisted of the “sherwal” or baggy shorts and “tarbouch” for men while the women’s traditional costume consisted of the “abbaya” or the long dress with the “tantour” which is a coned shape hairdresser. These traditional costumes which were once our ancestors’ daily outfit became so rare to the extent that we can only find it in very specific and limited places in our country.
Signpost: In addition to the cultural influences described a while ago, the western society altered the Lebanese social life in various means. II. The Lebanese social life is highly influenced by what we see and observe in the media to the point that we tend to copy what the west do, how they live and what they listen to and watch. A. The Lebanese media have become a replication of what the west produces.

1. Mansour El Rehbani who is one of the great producers, composers and prestigious figures once said before he died in 2009 that a time will come when everything the Lebanese media presents is a copy or a replica of the west. His vision was fulfilled. Today, the media’s largest investments are Arabic versions of western based TV programs. The following TV shows: X-Factor, Arab Idol, The Voice, Star Academy, Arabs got talent and many more are just exact copies of western production translated to Arabic. 2. A Survey made by “France Press” in 2011 on 1,000 randomly picked Lebanese citizens regarding his or her best movie or series showed that 94% answered with a name of a foreign movie or series while only 6% said that a certain Lebanese movie is their favorite. 3. The tendency of the Lebanese towards watching western programs is influenced by the fact that our media is indirectly encouraging those western productions. Typically, out of 20 movies presented in the Lebanese cinemas, only 1 locally produced movie is presented in our cinemas. In fact, Cinema in Lebanon has been in existence since the early1920s, and our country has produced over 500 films. Yet we tend to favor foreign movies today especially American productions.

B. Presently, for the Lebanese and especially for the younger generation, the favorite music gender and music pioneers have nothing to do with the Arabic music or any Lebanese artist. Many of us Lebanese have shifted our musical interests towards the western world. 1. Whether listening to the radio, or shuffling on the ipod, the majority of the Lebanese tune into western music especially pop or rock music. Another survey on what Lebanese listen to showed that 75% of the young generation between the age of 15 and 30 are much more into western music than Arabic music while only 30% of the older generation prefers the western music. This shows the effect of the western media and internet that promotes this western music, on the young generation in particular. 2. Who are the musical pioneers for us Lebanese? If this question was asked 10 – 15 years, the answer would be: Ragheb alameh, najwa karam, fayrouz, etc… Today, when this question is asked, some answers would most probably be: Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Pitbull, Coldplay… The media and Internet’s constant promotion of these artists and their productions made the Lebanese captives of that music industry which is imposed on us in nightclubs, on the radio and almost wherever we go. 3. Mix Fm, one of the major radio stations in Lebanon has organized the largest concerts in the Middle East by featuring leading icons such as Shakira in 2011, 50 cent in 2010, Pitbull, The pussycat dolls, David Guetta and many more. On average, each of these concerts witnessed record breaking attendees in Lebanon which range around 50,000 individual exceeding by much the number of attendees any Lebanese artist had ever manage to assemble.
Signpost: Talking about music and nightclubs, how did the traditional Lebanese spend his nightlife and how did this social activity changed today due to the west’s influences? C. Traditionally, the Lebanese enjoyed partying in the customary way of forming groups of zajjal where poets challenge each others on the best free verse; In addition to dancing the traditional dabke that goes along with the popular Lebanese music as the dal3oona or mijana. Nowadays the Lebanese party in nightclubs or pubs often jammed with people dancing on universally known pop, rnb or trance music influenced by the west.
Signpost: Now that we have discussed two means of influence of the west on Lebanon concerning culture and social life, let us now examine the influence on the Lebanese values and attitudes.

III. Influenced by the internet, the media and technology, the Lebanese mentality and attitude had been modulated and went through innovation. Even the manner of how we as Lebanese communicate with each other has changed subsequently.

A. Moral Values and principles like civil marriage, homosexuality, abortion, and sex before marriage, regardless of whether they are right or wrong were never an acceptable or even a discussable matter in our society and religion. However, the western moral values which generally oppose our moral principles have been able to change our perception towards these controversial subjects through the effect of the media in particular. People in our nation are starting to accept these ideas which were prohibited and considered as taboos not a long time ago. B. The Lebanese are further detaching from their traditions also by departing from naming their kids with Arabic names and using instead western-based names such as: Johnny, Michael, Andew, james and my name for example; Marven as names for boys, while: Jennifer, Stephanie, Ashley,etc.. for girls.

C. The Lebanese is known by his tolerance to new technology and his various utility of the internet. However, this is affecting us in different manners. 1. We all use the internet, and probably every one of us has a facebook account and twitter. We spend hours on it and observe the western conception and assessments on anything that happens. The internet that is mostly based on the west influence our language, our mentality, the way we think, and the way we talk and express ourselves. There is no escaping it. Over 60% of today’s population uses the internet frequently. We are bound to use the internet and what it offers. 2. English is the dominant language on the Internet. Some 3.5 billion individual have some acquaintance of this language. The available keyboards that we use have affected our language and how we type and communicate in writing. We, especially the young generation today type in Arabic language using English letters and numbers. Lets take a certain sentence in arabic; “Tale3 3al jem3a 2edros 3ande fa7es” Which means I’m going to the university to study I have an exam. Have you thought of why are we typing like that?! Definitely, this is due to the internet and the existence of English keyboards on our computers and cell phones. What’s funnier is how the Lebanese welcome each other; we use 3 languages in 1 short sentence such as:”Hellow Kifak cava?” An English word, with an Arabic word accompanied with a french Moreover, when someone greets us with the French word; “Bonjour”. We Reply by what? You guessed it; “Bonjouren”. It’s rarely to identify anyone who communicates in that manner other than the Lebanese.

Conclusion

Today, we were able to describe the influence of the west on Lebanon concerning the Lebanese culture, social life in addition to our values and attitudes. We realized how we are departing from our own culture and heritage. We as the young generation should do something to preserve our inheritance because we are the ones that are causing this detachment. For my last point, I suggest we truly think about what had been discussed today and motivate ourselves to stick to our culture and heritage and to be able to limit the west’s adverse effects and benefit from the good prosperities. I would like to finish this speech with a quote for Nizar Qabani who acknowledged the value and importance of our country;
“Lebanon is an important Beauty Culture Heritage for this region and the World, and if Lebanon didn’t exist, then it is our duty to create it.”