There is no precise or scientific description of the moral collapse Lebanon has been experiencing for years. Yet in recent weeks, this decline has taken on unprecedented forms, with public discourse sinking to new lows.
The Lebanese Shias are enduring hardships at every level. What is even more troubling is that some deliberately seek to aggravate this suffering by stirring public resentment against them and making them feel inferior. This very dynamic once drove them to hold firmly to their weapons, often declaring that others wanted them to remain nothing more than “dockside porters.”
In this context, and despite the rhetoric of openness from political opponents who speak of embracing Shias, affirming their worth beyond the present reality, and stressing that the state rather than weapons is the true guarantee for all, reckless voices have emerged. They have resorted to crude, vulgar and degrading language, such as the shameful claim that Shias wish to die “with their stench rising,” to quote directly.
Such language has no precedent in Lebanon’s political or social life. It is profoundly disheartening to see political discourse descend to such a level of moral and intellectual decay.
On the other hand, the situation has been far from smooth. For years we have grown accustomed to the vile mockery on social media targeting journalist and former minister May Chidiac over the injuries she sustained in the 2005 bombing of her vehicle. Yet when a reporter from al-Manar mocked her by calling her “plastic,” the matter crossed into a far more dangerous and grotesque realm of moral collapse. Calling her “plastic” is not merely an insult; it is a cruel attempt to demean a noble testimony – one that Chidiac embodied simply because she dared to speak her mind honestly.
In both cases, and beyond the words themselves, the issue points to a deeply troubling reality: the total and sweeping erosion of morality in Lebanese political life. Never before have we witnessed such degeneration. What is most alarming is that the mindset of intolerant minorities is now regrettably being amplified on television screens and social media platforms in a repulsive fashion, encouraging others to adopt this degrading language – a language that can only accelerate the decline of both political discourse and collective thought.
Confronting this collapse of ethics is as urgent as confronting the spread of lethal weapons in the streets. Lebanon is sliding toward the abyss without its people even realizing it, and this moral freefall is fast becoming a crisis of unprecedented proportions.
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