The blind blog on Iraq’s ‘low content’

A strange joke has been circulating in Iraq under the official label of ‘fighting low content’. It is presented as if it were a serious state policy and a pillar of democracy. Yet, while the rest of the world is debating toxic digital content, the phrase has become little more than a hollow slogan in Iraq.
Consider this example, not because it is the most significant, but because it best exemplifies the fragility of the so-called ‘low content’ debate in Iraq’s current political discourse.
A presenter on Iraq’s state television once bet his colleagues that he could use a vulgar word live on air. He succeeded, revealing not only his own lack of dignity, but also the collapse of political and media values in what is still referred to as ‘democratic Iraq’. He won the bet, but lost his integrity.
What happened next? Nothing at all. The scandal passed without consequence. The same presenter later rose to greater prominence by joining a militia-affiliated channel, where he used even more obscene language and openly incited sectarian hatred. This notoriety eventually helped him win a seat in parliament.
The video of this ‘bet’ is still available on YouTube, serving as a reminder that vulgarity can lead to political office.
This is not an isolated case. Iraq’s political and religious discourse is saturated with similar examples. Many MPs use social media to hurl insults and display linguistic poverty. Sectarian preachers and party spokesmen do the same. The result is a public sphere that has been degraded to one of the lowest points in Iraq’s modern history.
So, what does the government mean when it announces a ‘draft law to regulate digital content’? In practice, it seeks to define ‘low content’ according to its own political agenda. Yet is there anything more degrading than the sectarian rhetoric of politicians such as Hanan al-Fatlawi,´-or-the inflammatory speeches of former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who invokes “the army of Hussein versus the army of Yazid”? Can the authorities promise to save Iraqis from the endless sectarian lament broadcast daily on television?
Yes, Iraq’s social media is full of amateurs and provocateurs. But the real danger does not lie in their crude posts. It lies with the sectarian broadcasters and politicians whose rhetoric entrenches division and erodes any sense of national identity. Since 2003, Iraq’s media and political system have cultivated this decay while claiming to combat ‘low content’.
As Peter Lunt, Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Leicester, has observed, online debates often escalate into louder and harsher expressions of political opinion. However, in Iraq’s case, the most destructive discourse does not come from ordinary citizens, but from the ruling class itself.
The true ‘low content’ in Iraq is the sectarian, tribal and militia-driven rhetoric that dominates television screens and political platforms. This discourse sidelines Iraqi nationalism in favour of narrow loyalties and has become the most damaging force to Iraq’s social fabric and intellectual life.
Public frustration is growing. Iraqis are weary of government and party media that recycle clichés, fail to generate ideas and show no concern for the nausea they cause their audiences.
Alan Sponol, author of ‘Televising the Revolution,’ was fortunate never to witness Iraq’s sectarian channels. Had he done so, he might have reconsidered his optimism about television’s revolutionary potential.

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