The EMMYs are not worthy of BISAN OWDA
Bisan is not vying for a stupid prize: she is putting her life on the line to document truth for the rest of time
My father is a giant among men. He is generous, loyal, kind, wise and intelligent beyond imagination. If you saw him you would underestimate him. He underestimates himself. I have spent my lifetime with him and he is of a generation that is a dying breed and one that we took for granted.
My mild-mannered father always disliked award shows, especially things like the Oscars or their poor cousin, the Emmys. He said these were simply mutual ‘pat yourself’ on the back awards. Just self-congratulating drivel.
I have a similar dislike of the Olympics. I genuinely find it insane that people in the prime of their lives spend entire years ‘training’ to be a fraction of a second faster than someone else in a highly managed arena so they can win a medal. Talk about taking the fun out of sports; it’s laborious and painful to watch. The cries of failure instead of the joy of participating. If they win, they go around with the title, ‘fastest person in the world’ or ‘Olympic gold medalist’ etc etc - when it’s all bull. I guarantee that there is probably someone in the masses of the untouched world far faster, who can jump far higher and throw a javelin far further than anyone running around that track in their knickers.
This Olympics was particularly pathetic as white countries cried ‘cheat!’ and ‘man!’ at anyone from the global majority who beat them in their chosen sport. The US loser (lol) Emma Navarro told the Gold medal winner from China, Qinwen Zheng that she didn’t respect her as a competitor. Of course, she doesn’t. She’s a sore loser. The US are such bad sports that, as indi.ca writes:
The US Congress has threatened to defund the anti-doping agency unless they find something on China and there's a coordinated media campaign to smear and tarnish their victories. Athletes like Adam Peaty (from the poor American province of Britain) have said “there's no point winning if you're not winning fair” despite China being the most tested nation and repeatedly backed by the authorities. As WADA, the anti-doping agency, said,
“The politicization of anti-doping continues with this latest attempt by the media in the United States to imply wrongdoing on the part of WADA and the broader anti-doping community. As we have seen over recent months, WADA has been unfairly caught in the middle of geopolitical tensions between superpowers but has no mandate to participate in that.”
Neoliberalism means all hobbies must be commoditised and you cannot enjoy them unless you are good at them and if you’re good at them you must profit from them. Hell to neoliberal bullsh*t. I love drawing and have never - NEVER - progressed beyond stick figures. I cannot draw but I will dammit!!
It is because of its self-congratulatory drivel nature that these Hollywood propagandists got very annoyed when Bisan Owda was nominated earlier this month for an Emmy award. So 150 of them wrote a letter attempting to smear her as some sort of terrorist all the while supporting the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. But it’s not 2001 no more, that sh*t don’t work and all it did was show how petty these individuals are: how worthless they have become in the eyes of the world and how utterly insignificant they always were. They are the only ones buying their self-brewed Kool-Aid these days. Bisan is still nominated, and the deplorable campaign against her only made her nomination stronger as the world fought back against the bullsh*t.
Despite the hateful, baseless rhetoric, however, I actually agree with these pitiful people - Bisan should not be nominated for an Emmy.
The Emmys - the pathetic theatrics of mutual back-patting - are not worthy of Bisan Owda.
Bisan is not reporting on the reality of the hell she lives through for a pat on the back.
She is doing it to bring truth to the world: she is working against the huge propaganda machine that is the entirety of the Western media - that weaves its lies against Palestinians and has done for decades - and documents real-time the genocide that is happening. She does this knowing that Israel targets and murders journalists. She does this knowing she has a target on her back. Despite this, she posts prolifically, putting her life on the line to make sure that we are told the truth; that we see the genocide; to ensure that generations and generations after us bear witness to what occurred in our lifetimes and in front of our eyes.
Bissan has cowered on live stream in hospitals when they are being shot at, has been to schools being bombed, has reported on massacres, has documented the brutal torture and murder of doctors. She has lived through starvation and grief, displacement and disease, thirst, hunger, fear, GENOCIDE, and filmed it for us. In the Islamic religion, she is a shaheed, a witness, but not just of herself: her resilience and courage make us shuhuda - plural of shaheed - too.
“And those who have believed in Allah and His messengers - those are the supporters of truth and the shuhada, with their Lord. For them is their reward and their light.”
(Quran 57:19)
Bisan is a titan amongst us. She is articulate and truthful. She is forbearing as the world fails her people, and rather than turn her back on us or berate us, she turns to us with patient understanding as she tells us about what is going on around her: the massacres and the fliers from the sky, lying again and again to the Gazans, forcing them to flee to the places of their deaths just as the Nazis pretended the trains weren’t going to the gas chambers. She is so gracious, she encourages us in our efforts to help: our boycotts and our protests. No one has saved the Palestinians: no one has scaled the walls or stormed the borders, but still, she appreciates us, still, she cares to give us hope in a faraway victory, still, she lights up our endeavours.
Bisan is nothing like those others nominated for Emmy awards; those playing fictional characters and writing make-believe; sleeping soundly in their beds; unconcerned by anything but their own self-importance. They do not put their lives on the line for truth. Instead, they vie with one another in a competition of who can be the most convincing fraud - who can ‘act’ the best as someone else. These people want pats on their backs like a dog wants a tummy rub. The apex of their achievements is a crappy trophy.
The way these 150 wretched souls cried out about Bisan’s nomination was like a group of 6-year-olds complaining that Christiano Ronaldo was taking part in their 5-a-side tournament and that that isn’t fair.
And you know what, they have a f*cking good point.
Bisan is far better than them in every way. They cannot compete next to her. They are not deserving even to have their name next to hers on the nomination form.
The Emmys are a pathetic display of Western bullsh*t: Hollywood propaganda regurgitating the same old crap year after year, all while indulging in self-congratulation, patting themselves on the back with a tummy rub to boot.
And they are right. Bisan should never have been nominated for an Emmy.
Because the Emmys are not worthy of Bisan Owda.
And they never will be.
Every time I watch her during LIVE programming I felt myself holding my breath for her. She is truly the most courageous and loving woman on the planet. We are in the presence of a saint, bodhisattva, higher order being… Angel. she says, “I’m still alive.” The day she isn’t will be one of the darkest days on this planet. ( but I do appreciate great athletes) Thank you for writing this piece.
This article is fire! 🔥