I don’t know about you all, but I was mesmerized by the interviews of both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report last night. Jon Stewart played host to Jehan Sadat, the widow of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and our very own Stephen Colbert interviewed (and was “knighted” by) Jordan’s Queen Noor, who was married to the late King Hussein of Jordan.
As was pointed out in another thread, it’s not often that you get to hear about people from the Middle East — either on the streets or connected to government — sitting down and really talking about peaceful initiatives. In fact, it’s disgraceful how infrequently our media highlights this angle of Middle East sentiment.
I don’t know much about Jehan Sadat, but I am definitely interested in finding out more as soon as I can. I echo Jon’s sentiments: for her to still believe in and be so committed to a lasting peace, even after her husband was assassinated, is truly remarkable. Her comments on the 1967 War and Jerusalem were also fascinating.
Queen Noor is simply glorious. What I know about her comes almost entirely from reading her memoirs, Leap of Faith, which recounts her upbringing and years of marriage to King Hussein. It was King Hussein who gave her the name Noor (Arabic for “light”), and I think she has personified her name time and again since her marriage. Her perspective on the Middle East — especially coming from a woman born and raised as an American — is particularly compelling, in my opinion. I really hope that her latest cause (Global Zero) gets a well deserved Colbert Bump.
Here’s to two remarkable ladies.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| H.M. Queen Noor | ||||
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i have some family ties to Jordan, and i can say that the monarchy in jordan is not really as popular in the country as they are to the outside world (similar in that fashion to the u.k.) however, i really like queen noor because she is so intelligent and frames middle east issues so beautifully in her book. she has also interacted with many world leaders, like the late shah of iran, and has an interesting persective on the region.
and she seems to be an it-getter. go figure.
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Thanks for filling in some context, wildlymissingthemark. I’m not surprised, actually, that the royal family should be more popular outside Jordan’s borders than inside (if indeed that’s the case), and I do actually find the idea of monarchy to be problematic at best.
Nonetheless, my admiration for Queen Noor is quite genuine; she really does seem to be the sort of intelligent, compassionate and committed person that one dreams global figures could/should be. And while I said that most of my knowledge of her life comes from reading her memoirs (true), I have read enough about her in other, objective sources that I feel that conclusion is justified.
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I completely agree with your assessment of Queen Noor, but, let me take “it-getter” on step further: She’s a fangirl
Privy station
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I doubt she’d appreciated being referred to as a fangirl.
I missed most of the interview with Jehan Sadat so I’m glad you posted it here. What I did see of it, she seemed like a wonderful lady. I enjoyed the interview with Queen Noor as well.
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Oh, I don’t know. We in America, I am working under the premise you’re an American as I am, have a very wrong perception of Royals. More to the point, there is a wide variations of fangirlism, from those who admire the man to those who are, unfortunately, really, truly cracked and need some form of supervision.
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It has nothing to do with her being a royal. It has to do with the fact that we view the term differently. I’ve never been able to embrace it and the assumption that any female who appears on the show and seems to have fun is a fangirl bothers me. It’s my own issue and my intent is not to offend anyone here. Yes, there are certainly variations of fangirlism but female + fan =/= fangirl.
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Hey, there. I want to thank you both for keeping this civil (can you just imagine the flame war that could have broken out over comments like this on other sites?), but I’d like to ask that this topic be set aside now. You’ve both very courteously explained where you’re coming from and, since we don’t know how the Queen feels, there isn’t a lot more to add.
Thanks again to both of you for being so polite and non-confrontational in your disagreement.
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I’m sorry. I really need to learn to just keep my mouth shut. And one of the many, many things I love about this site is the ability for members to disagree without it getting ugly. :-)
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I went to the TDS taping last night, and I must say that during the entire interview with Sadat the audience seemed just mesmerized. You could tell Jon wasn’t looking for the joke, and he just let her talk. It was really nice. To be so hopeful is something really special after everything that she has seen.
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that’s awesome, that the audience appreciate her.
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That was a fantastic interview. Jon really has a great sense for his guests when he’s doing interviews and is probably be the best late-night interviewer on TV.
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I signed the Global Zero thing and put “The Colbert Nation” as my postal code.
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During the election last fall, my wonderfully peacenik mom was fond of saying that she didn’t find people using Obama’s full name (B. HUSSEIN Obama) offensive …
because for her it had a POSITIVE connection — to King Hussein of Jordan and the good he did for the region.
She is also quite a fan of Queen Noor, and maybe I can get her to watch this interview (though she is not quite an it-getter when it comes to Stephen; it-getter in many other ways though).
I too found both these interviews impressive, and am grateful to have been shown another side of the Middle East psyche. At first my cynical reactionary thought was “huh, interesting that it’s the WOMEN who want peace and the male heads of state are out forging war” — but of course it is two women who are working hard to carry out and extend their husbands’ legacies as peacemakers as heads of state. Examples we should look to but seem to forget too easily.
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@Holly,
You know, I didn’t think about this until you said it, but these interviews really make the stereotypical idea that women have no public role and no say in Muslim society seem out of date, don’t they?
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Jordan is notorious for its honor killings – brothers killing sisters, fathers killing daughters for brining “dishonor” to their families. A young wife was recently killed by her family for leaving Islam to become a Christian.
Queen Noor could use her position and her influence to fight this. That would make much more sense to me than trying to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Colbert is usually razor sharp – I wish he would have brought this up.
I’m sorry – but I think Jehan Sadat dragged Jon Steward around by the balls. When listening to her and Wafa Sultan talk about Islam, it is hard to believe they are both talking about the same religion. I think Wafa Sultan is brutally honest, whereas Ms. Sadat is talking about things she desperately wants to be true and imagines they are (the honor Muhammad accorded to women, etc).
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