'The Revolution Will Be Televised'

If satellite TV were really satellite TV, I'd sign up for it. For example, the November issue of Marie Claire magazine has a fascinating piece on Arab women called "The Revolution Will Be Televised" by Carla Power. In it, she says Arab chat shows, the "fluffy precinct of girl talk and pop stars" are changing the way women think in the Middle East. There is an Arab version, for example, of "The View," called Kalam Nawaem, which has four hosts, including a Palestinian actress, a Lebanese TV veteran, an Egyptian self-help columnist like a Muslim Dear Abby, and a Saudi Arabian working on a Ph.D. in American literature. Only one wears a veil, the Saudi.

Power says these shows are reaching women trapped at home, taking the message of personal freedom to places it would ordinarily never reach. There's another program, "Starting Over," based on the American version, where six young women live in a luxury flat outside Beirut. They work with a team of psychologists, career counselors and personal stylists to help reshape their lives. "The Arab woman is thankful to find a voice," says Kalam Nawaem's Rania Bargout. "She's sick and tired of being told what to do. Now she's seeking answers to enable her to move forward."

Not surprisingly, the highest ratings for these TV shows and all-women's channels showing hit American imports like "Oprah" and "Dr. Phil" come from wealthy, conservative Gulf states, where women are more frequently veiled and housebound.

The most distressing sentence in the entire piece is that more than 50% of Arab women are illiterate. That's heartbreaking.

I'd really like to see the satellites beaming both ways, with their talk shows coming to us. Perhaps then we could see that we are much more alike than different. We have much to teach each other and perhaps this common TV format could help us all toward a greater understanding.