 Have you ever heard anyone complaining about the anger expressed in the
lyrics of an arabesk song? Most of these complaints seem right to me. Any careful analysis
will show that the lyrics of such songs include lots of anger, an anger that is directed
toward the "beloved." This paradox may be the consequence of a very interesting
process. Let's start the story from the beginning.
If you could talk to a man from the 18th century and tell him that it’s very easy for us
to talk to someone overseas, he would be amazed at how lucky we are. (Don't worry, I'm not
going to get into that "we are so lucky to have advanced technology" thing.)
In principle, inventions aim to make our lives simpler. This simplification is
accomplished by replacing some part of our lives. I am not opposed to this, in fact I
think this is inevitable and necessary for progress. A case in point is the invention of
the telephone, which caused people to write fewer letters. Back when we were little kids,
people complained about this "loss." They thought that writing letters was an
important part of life that should continue to exist. Our primary school books included
sections telling us that a letter was much more special than a telephone call.
But as we can see, the telephone abolished that "holy" patience of waiting for
weeks for a reply. It became a matter of minutes for a person to be able to pick up the
phone and talk to a friend who lived miles away. Naturally, this new thing caused people
to be afraid, because being far away had lost its "mystery" and
"melancholy." It may seem ridiculous, but this melancholy was an important part
of people's lives before long-distance telephone calls became routine. Are you asking for
proof? Just read any novel written at least fifty years ago. You'll see it there, if you
look for it. People "loved" to miss others.
Let's be honest: we don't miss people anymore. We miss their faces. We miss going shopping
with them. But we don't miss a friend in the absolute sense. We can communicate with a
friend via telephone or internet no matter how far away he/she lives. It's not that tragic
to be far away from someone you love these days. What's tragic is that when a friendship
gets old, you can't blame the distance anymore. That's why we all tend to blame each
other. That's why friendship is liable to turn into anger so easily nowadays.
Ýsmail O. Postalcýoðlu (POLS/II)
orhan@ug.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr
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