National Geographic compiled a list of the top 10 new year’s eve celebrations around the world and Beirut was fortunately mentioned in the article. Next thing we know, local media picked up the article to brag about how the party in Nejmeh square was the 7th best in the world, and people of course were euphoric about it on social networks. Even our prime minister spoke about it on TV!
I hate to spoil things. The national geographic article is nice, and having Beirut mentioned is absolutely cool, but can we stop blowing things out of proportions when it comes to such news?
First of all, the article was published a while ago and last updated on December 31st, so contrary to what people think, the editors didn’t watch every celebration out there in the world and in the end decided to include Beirut for its epic party. The article was simply prepared ahead of time with appealing cities from around the world.
Moreover, whether you like it or not, there were definitely some cooler parties around the globe. Nejmeh square is basically small compared to other public spaces elsewhere in the world, and anyone in his proper mind would know there’s no way it can make it to the top 10 celebrations in the world. On the other hand, The UAE celebrations were massive this year and included attempts to break several world records, why weren’t they mentioned? And what about other major cities like Moscow, Berlin, Bangkok, Singapore, Cape Town and others?
It’s not like I love to hate on Beirut’s party, my problem is with people who love to lie to themselves like the websites who incorrectly reported the news and are now infesting the social platforms with their article. Hell even the company who was in charge of organizing the NYE event sponsored a post on Facebook to brag about it…
https://www.facebook.com/420271691486788/posts/1144775369036413/
But then again, in a country where we lie day in day out about an economy boost after the government formation, a super fast internet, and better wages, you find it logical to have NYE celebration ranked 7th in the world. So let’s wait to see what other good news does 2019 holds for us!