@Musa: I disagree with regards to your take on the repetitive voicing of concerns. I think we (as Jordanians) have an obligation to do that in a collective and sustained effort towards solving those problems, one at a time.

The alternative is for us to all sit back and say “what’s the use?” and acquiesce.

I don’t think that’s how problems get solved.

The formula of leaping over mountains instead of climbing one steep at a time is neither rationale nor attainable. And neither is giving up on the climb itself.

Without going around in circles, and judging by your “as long as people are not allowed to truly elect who governs them” statement from the preceding “greater issues” post, it seems that we have reached a point where many change-seekers realise that the “circus-act” parliaments and the temporary corruption-laden governments are nothing more than accessories for the single decision maker, who is undoubtedly above the law.

While dedicating the battles to the petty outcomes of this abnormal situation (the palace’s clear infringement on every aspect of life without any sort of responsibility) may be regarded as a noble act (especially among half-assed reformist), the sheer volume and range of these annoyances will automatically deem voicing them repeatedly – absurd (as in unreasonable and useless, for the lack of a better word for the Arabic term A’bathi). Just look at the number of (whining, moaning, and complaining…) columns in daily newspapers analysing the symptoms in between articles that praises the disease – usually by the same authors.

i totally agree with you Sir!
but those people do not abide by a conscious nor by a request
the abide by a policy or by the law!!!

you need law makers on ur side buddy!!!

see, the thing is, I’ve complained about, ranted or discussed a lot worse things on this blog, so you taking this (or that watwet post) as a sample of my underlying “perspective” and then cementing it in stone is as silly as it is absurd. this rant is simply a sample from the everyday annoyances we face as citizens rather than an addressing of the “greater” problems, something I’ve done quite a lot of, and the post that precedes this one is an example of that.

the truth is, we can’t bash everything in hopes that it will one day simply all disappear. those of us who are interested in real change need to pick our battles one at a time until real change comes about.

and if you are in to discussing the larger problems then i support you, and I really, really encourage you to start a blog.

again.

in the meantime, this blog is my dose of free speech and i think i, and every other blogger, should be free to use it to talk about any issue we want, even if those issues are beneath musa.

This is just as absurd as claiming that one of the biggest issues that bothers anyone is the fact that the self-centered fame-starved brand-obsessed WEF lecturer is using twitter instead of wat-wet to promote her pretentiousness.

Something as trivial as the fact that the “royal palaces’ cars” in these motorcades are exempt from the 12JDs they have to pay for new license plates (by law), or that the minister of interior can issue a regular license plate to these cars without paying the custom fees is a much bigger violation of the constitution than an obscure prince or some parasitic sharif stopping traffic on a major street to arrive in time for the opening of a major industrial facility or a private school’s graduation ceremony.

But hey, at the end of the day it is all relative and can be viewed from different perspectives; while some people find rape absolutely reprehensible, some others may take offence to the lack of a contraceptive or the insufficient foreplay during the crime.

‫٤. عدم اعطاء اولوية المرور للمواكب الرسمية ومركبات الطوارىء اثناء قيامها بمهامها .‬

The law can be found at http://www.jti.psd.gov.jo

And if you search AmmanCity.gov.jo for tickets value you will get this
وصف المخالفة ترتيب تصاعدي ترتيب تنازلي قيمة المخالفة الدنيا * قيمة المخالفة العليا **
عدم اعطاء اولوية المرور للمواكب الرسمية و مركبات الطوارئ اثناء الواجب 50 100

and of course, we do not have any definition of motorcades so anyone with fake honk can be a royal! even Iraqies, I swear once an Iraqi GMC honked with the same panicing motorcades.

The tactics they use to intimidate and instill fear in the population are preposterous! Enough already!!!!

Next time, I plan to stay in my lane, put on my 4-way flashers, slow down, pull up my windows, and blast up my music. You think they’ll intentionally hit me? I wouldn’t be surprised… bring it on!

Always talking bout issue that concern us the normal citizens.

I sometimes stay in my lane just to annoy the motorcade behind me, unless it was the King or queen “special case :)”

I was once walking in Turkey and i crossed a street light which was red, and it was the president of Turkey in a motorcade stopping at the red sign. He also waved and smiled.

I suspect some of you younger guys have not been told how scary Amman was in the bad old days of the1960s and 1970s when the King was under constant threat of assassination and his safety and that of senior officials and especially Western ambassadors had to be taken very seriously indeed. Even as late as 1993 I had armed police in my car and we tended to drive fast especially at obvious ambush points: traffic circles and intersections. Sorry for any inconvenience caused etc but I did value my life!

I suspect that it is not quite so dangerous nowadays, Frankly, even 15 years ago, I was more worried about regular Amman drivers (some of the worst in the world in my extensive experience) than the hovering terrorist. And I fear that half the problem now is that VIPs expect motorcades as a mark of respect if nothing else and old habits of over protection die hard

TJoLadies, I’ve heard so many stories like yours where people would find royalty park beside them in traffice only to be greeted with a smile and a wave. It’s nice to feel a sense of pride and joy at such civil and kind act as opposed to panic and fear.

@sami: lol, well, ambulances and police are one thing…black suburbans are another. but that being said, i’ve noticed that a lot of the times, police seem to turn on their sirens just so they can get ahead for no particular reason. At other times, they drive at 40 km/h and back up an entire lane of cars behind them who are now forced to drive at a snail’s pace!

I remember years ago I stopped at some traffic lights when they turned red and a car just came up quietly beside me and stopped. I looked over and it was King Hussein, we waved and smiled and when the traffic lights turned green he slowly moved off with his guard cars slowly with him.