WestMeetsEast

I always thought the Arabs who believe in so-called Jewish Conspiracy Theories were a little nuts, or to put it in a nicer way, gullible. And they are, by and large. But, I was genuinely surprised last month by some remarks made by a couple of Americans I interviewed during a local film festival. And it got me wondering about these theories.

Two very well-known, and dare I say powerful, Hollywood players were in town to promote their new film. Both Jewish, they were openly worried about their safety in Dubai. They only decided to come, one of them told me, after the production company paid for an entourage of US Secret Service Agents to accompany them. One of them told me: “You live in a very dangerous place. Any nutjob could come and blow himself up.” And he followed that up by this revelation: “Imagine, last night during the opening show, I was sitting next to one of these guys who was wearing that costume that was the whole reason I was afraid to come, and he’s laughing his ass off at the movie. That was great.” It took every bit of composure I had not to laugh or cry. (The best punchline to this particular anecdote, is that not only would no one know or care that these guys are Jewish, but as it turns out, no one outside the US has even heard of them or their films.)

I had earlier interviewed an LA-based PR exec who’s responsibility it was to convince Hollywood stars to fly first-class for free to Dubai, stay in one of the lushest resorts I’ve ever seen, for free, and, in some cases, even earn some cash, for doing nothing more than strutting around getting their asses licked. He confided to me that it was next to impossible. He said the women were either afraid they’d have to cover themselves or that they’d be somehow mistreated, and the men were scared of kidnappings or beheadings or whatever.

Here’s where the conspiracy theory comes in. Many people to whom I have relayed these stories believe that the safety issue is a red herring. They say perhaps it has more to do with simple economics. If you are an actor who still needs work, and the majority of people who do the hiring are Jewish, are you going to connect yourself to a Muslim country? Are you going to taint your name with The Enemy? Look at the backlash that people like The Dixie Chicks, Sheryl Crow and Johnny Depp received when they dared to speak their minds against the war in Iraq. It can happen.

I am choosing to believe this theory …because it is much easier to swallow than the utter ignorance of being afraid to visit a place like Dubai. Because everyone knows, after doing maybe 5 minutes of Googling, that not only has Dubai never been affected by a terrorist threat in any way, shape or form, but the violent crime rate is lower than any and every US city.

Or maybe it’s me who’s gullible.