If Naguib Mahfouz Had Read… Hamid Al-Mahdaoui Wouldn’t Have Become a “Media Pimp”!
It is no wonder that Hamid Al-Mahdaoui resorts to distortion and misrepresentation, as he has never been a man of principles or ideas, but merely a media hustler seeking cheap thrills to polish his image amid the chaos of populist discourse. His latest “creativity” involved cutting a segment from my episode, where I addressed a serious case involving a Moroccan woman entangled in luring young girls to Cyprus under the pretext of studying, only for these young women to find themselves victims of exploitation and human trafficking.
This woman has an arrest warrant issued against her in Morocco and is facing legal action in Cyprus due to her criminal practices. In my coverage of the case, I described her actions using precise terms that accurately reflect the horror of her crimes, employing the word “pimp,” which is a classic Arabic term that leaves no room for vulgar interpretation, but rather expresses a degrading reality for the victims at the hands of this woman.
However, Hamid Al-Mahdaoui, in a childish move that reveals his shallow upbringing and ignorance, edited part of my speech, promoting the idea that I was using “foul” language, and even went so far as to comment on the “absence of my femininity” due to my use of this term!
If Naguib Mahfouz Had Read… He Would Understand the True Meaning of Pimping!
What Al-Mahdaoui did proves that he does not read; and if he does, he does not understand. The word “pimp” is neither foreign nor vulgar; it is a term deeply rooted in the Arabic language. Had he understood anything about Arabic literature, he would know that Naguib Mahfouz himself used this term in most of his novels to describe characters involved in human trafficking, whether in sex, politics, or media.
Naguib Mahfouz revealed in his works that pimping is not confined to the nighttime world but extends to politics and media, where some practice “intellectual pimping” by distorting facts, polishing tyrants, or inciting crowds against manufactured illusions. Ironically, this is exactly what Hamid Al-Mahdaoui does; he is a model of what could be called a “media pimp,” feeding off slander, living on deception, and profiting from the ignorance of his followers.
How Can a Man Who Doesn’t Know Naguib Mahfouz Claim to Be a Journalist?
Journalism is a responsibility before being a profession; it requires knowledge and research before making random judgments. But how can we expect someone like Al-Mahdaoui to be qualified for this profession when he built his fame on shouting and incitement? How can someone who has not read Naguib Mahfouz claim to understand? How can someone who cannot distinguish between terms claim to be a critic?
Hamid Al-Mahdaoui is nothing but an auditory phenomenon; his media space is based on distortion and deception, and when he finds himself cornered, he resorts to personal attacks. However, no matter how hard he tries to manipulate the truth, the difference remains clear between respected journalism and those who have adopted populism as a means of subsistence.
Here is the original video segment that Hamid Al-Mahdaoui cut to engage in media pimping against me.
