Dispatch From Bedouin Country

The elements of western pop culture are ubiquitous in open air markets throughout the Middle East, but they exist in a strangely decontextualized universe. 

In Erbil, Kurdistan, A young girl floats by in an abaya covered with mini mouses. She holds her wandering gaze for an extra second upon a Hannah Montana shirt hanging in the window of a nearby shop. 

Giant blue and white neon signs promote Samsung on either side of an intricately blue and white tiled mosaic mosque entrance inside of the Qayseri bazaar near the old Citadel of Erbil. In front of the mosque, street vendors sell t-shirts emblazoned with the logos of global DJ’s like Marshmello and Tiesto. 

Squid Games pillows hang next to Mario Brothers blankets, and a teenage Hillary Duff even makes a surprise appearance on a t-shirt hanging beneath rows of Muslim prayer beads. Plumes of frankincense float by as the evening call to prayer issues forth from speakers positioned throughout the city.

A few stops down the arcade, an Islamic themed Monopoly knock off board game with mosques and minarets adorning the box is for sale at the stall of a street vendor wearing an Armani shirt and smoking the thin cigarettes so popular across Iraq.

On every street corner, at every bazaar and in every restaurant and hotel lobby, the paragons of pop culture lead a boldly open and baffling public existence alongside conservative islamic values that traditionally prohibit women from doing the same. 

While the legacy and teachings of Prophet Mohammed are the driving force behind Islamic society, it is expressly forbidden for the prophet himself to be artistically rendered anywhere.

But there is no such law prohibiting the depiction of Michael Jackson or Paris Hilton, and shopkeepers and consumers alike take full advantage of their opportunity to participate in the customs of the outside world. 

Perhaps the strangest thing of all concerning this humorous and ironic collision of worlds is the fact that the arbiter between western pop culture and conservative Islamic society is a party entirely removed from both camps.

China makes all of the shit. 

In the event that a peaceful and prosperous unified global society never comes to fruition, at least we’ll have mass produced Minnie Mouse abayas made by Uighurs in Chinese re-education camps to absorb our collective tears.

Hello from Petra, Jordan, one of the 7 new wonders of the world. We are headed to Wadi Rum tomorrow for a multi-night camping experience in the heart of bedouin country. Thanks for subscribing to the Post-Truth Post - It’ll be interesting to see what this turns into as it extends it’s life cycle ( :

New Mycopreneur Podcast is out today with Chris & Joe Claussen, Co-Founders of the mushroom supplement company First Person. I really liked these guys and they have a very interesting backstory as well as major league experience in the start up world. Definitely peep the podcast if you’re interested in that kind of stuff.

Time to eat a kebab and watch Indiana Jones (the one where he goes to Petra) -

DW