http://www.arabnews.com/?page=13§ion=0&article=118138&d=15&m=1&y=2009
Wednesday 14 January 2009 (17 Muharram 1430) We live in Utopia Ali Al-Mosa | Al-Watan We are not a society of angels, but if you listen to our talk without seeing the reality you would think we live in Utopia. Only blind people can believe the existence of such a place. Whoever wants evidence that we are not living in Utopia should visit any of our police stations after midnight. You would see all kinds of people arrested for deviant behavior, including drug use, liquor consumption, fornication and other crimes. Of course this is not our reality, but it is, however, an indication of our present reality that we are trying to cover by what we call the "specialty of Saudi society." I would not be exaggerating if I said the production of liquor in our country surpasses the output of any regional liquor factory. Some of our overstaying brothers from Asia produce tons and tons of liquor for thousands of local consumers who buy the hooch by the liters. Imagine how much money the producers make. The best and purest heroin targets our local market because of the abundant liquidity. You may be surprised when you come to know that a single smuggler was trading in 70 kilograms of heroin that would mix with several tons of other substances and sell in grams to those who sniff. Selling this large quantity in grams may give you an idea about the number of drug addicts in our society. While all these crimes are eroding our integrity we have opened a war of retaliation against the Saudi film "Manahi" as if it was the sole power demolishing a building that has no walls! It is a fact that in our society there are those who fight the presence of movie theaters and those who call for these theaters at a time when we all have televisions in our homes. We watch movies and dubbed soap operas from all over the world through satellite broadcasts and cable subscriptions. The films and the TV serials we watch in our homes are more perilous than the Saudi film "Manahi." It is a paradox. Those who call for opening cinema houses in our country are in fact inviting us to sit collectively around a big screen to watch films together while those against such a step are inviting us to have own cinema houses inside our homes and bedrooms. This is exactly the story of the ostrich that buries its head in the sand.