Clooney's Public Diplomacy

George Clooney on al-Arabiya. 

I've just finished watching a program on al-Arabiya featuring George Clooney (along with Don Cheadle and a couple of others) talking about Darfur.  I have nothing much to say about it, other than to once again point out that in spite of the common complaint that the Arab media ignores Darfur, both al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera in fact cover Darfur rather more heavily than do any American media outlets.  (Al-Jazeera, for its part, is currently running a program on the global AIDS crisis, which is worthy enough, albeit rather glaringly lacking George Clooney.)  Also, George Clooney's charisma really does cross cultures... when he grinned and said "Shukran" to the host, you could practically feel the knees buckling all over the studio.   Gotta be some lessons for public diplomacy there somewhere.  (... though not, perhaps, lessons that can be taught at State Department PD training school, alas... )

Comments

[Leila]

George Clooney is Black Irish, it appears to me, and my father always swore that the Black Irish are descended from Arabs who got shipwrecked on the coast of Ireland.

I had to edit some overly effusive chatter just now - let's say that your usual Hollywood heartthrobs leave me totally cold, but Clooney... well, he resembles my husband so it's all right that he causes the flutters. If I heard GC speaking Arabic and being charming I'm sure my knees would go weak, too.

I mean, the combination of Black Irish, actorly charisma, and morally motivated intelligence is killer. Dumb-bells just don't interest me, no matter how good they look. Clooney has it all. (but no woman with sense would want to be married to him)

Oh yes, and thank you for posting a pic of handsome male celebrity. Shows you are an equal opportunity admirer. (I mean, you're giving the hetero women in your audience an equal opportunity to admire)

[Peter]

This was all at the American University in Cairo, I think. Rumor was that they shut down main campus because Clooney and Cheadle were there speaking on Darfur, so it makes sense. All I know is that I couldn't get into the building for my Arabic class, security was so tight. I didn't actually see either of them though.

[Gary]

Who is George Clooney? Am I supposed to know him?

[aardvark]

Gary ... that's a joke, right?

[Leila]

AUC gets all the cool celebrities. The Police played there in the very early 80s, because the Copeland brothers grew up in Beirut and were associated with AUB and wanted to play a sister college; BEirut was too dangerous at the time. I arrived at AUC not long after this happened and people were still buzzing about it.

[SP]

All of female Cairo was abuzz about this, let me tell you. I don't know if it raised awareness about Darfur so much as everyone's detective and networking skills, as every red-blooded woman tried to figure out where he was staying and so forth.

[Hakim]

"Also, George Clooney's charisma really does cross cultures..."

Indeed, but given his history, admittedly, there is no chance for him in public office... unfortunately.

[The Lounsbury]

?
George Clooney is Black Irish, it appears to me, and my father always swore that the Black Irish are descended from Arabs who got shipwrecked on the coast of Ireland.

You do realise this is utter bollocks, of course, whether it is Spanish or Arab or whatever.

[Leila]

Lounsbury, I do realize it, but wouldya humor a girl with her hand-me-down stories?

When my husband went with me to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding and the Greek father in it started explaining how Shakespeare was really Greek, hubbie and I looked at each other and laughed. My own dad used to tell us that the guy's name was really Sheikh Espear. Etc.

[Wassim]

I understood from you article that Clooney criticised Arab media for not covering enough on the Darfur crisis. Couple of questions, what channels was he watching? When did he learn Arabic, and is al Arabiya so desperate to get expert opinion on the Darfur crisis that we need actors from America to come and give us their views? No offence to Mr Clooney, it's just the situation we face. Also I don't give much credence that any publicity is good publicity, an indifferent public that needs to be entertained and cajoled to care about something frankly isn't worth the effort. That be my 2 pence worth.