She's got Bette Davis cigarette: What to do about the past?

In case you have not heard, the company responsible for Dr. Seuss books, decided to discontinue publishing six of his due to racial stereotypes. Aunt Jemima is now rebranded as Pearl Milling Company. Pepe le Pew has been scratched from the new Space Jam movie due to his insensitivity towards the female gender (Penelope Pussycat). And the Muppets (yes, those Muppets!) are now accompanied by warnings of racial portrayals. And these are merely examples dating barely back to the beginning of the year.

I am not defending cigarettes, but the idea of Betty Davis without one seems - not just odd - inauthentic. Yet, when her stamp was issued in the US, guess what was missing between her fingers? Of course, anyone from Ronald Reagan to Bing Crosby did cigarette ads. "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarettes" - this alone is an ad that sends you chills. "Before you scold me, ma maybe you better light up a Marlboro". Look, Tom and Jerry had a lot of racial undertones and overtones (anything from full racial stereotypes to blackface). Breakfast at Tiffany's - let us to be honest remembered mostly for Audrey Hebpurn - had the otherwise lovely Mickey Rooney portraying I.Y. Yunioshi - an Asian character.

In the Casterman published "Martine", the little girl had a "doll" called Cacao. The doll was black-skinned. That Cacao ended up carrying Martine's bag is of little surprise. That she also cannot remember her name "though it is not difficult to remember" only highlights her stupidity. Do I go on?

Lebanon tends to specialize in this racism. Long ago, there was an ad which, to highlight how good a detergent was at whitening, saw the Sri Lankan maid put in the washer. We still have "sif el abed" (sif - or steel wool and abed - slave) with the appropriate imagery to match. Up until 2010, Gandour had an immensely popular product called "ras el abed" (head of a slave). A competition was launched to rename it and we ended up with "Tarboosh". But the original name still stands.

When Star Academy was immensely popular in Lebanon, there was a nightly program about what these youngsters did. All the Arab youth wanted to emulate them for sure. Still, in one of these nightly episodes, there was a cut of all the young men agglomerated and sharing cigarettes. When my brother called the person responsible for the program and complained, she answered: "Chou 3alei, ma ana bdakhen?" (What does it matter, I smoke too!).

Of course, the point I am trying to make is: How far back do we go? How do we "rectify" the past (because, at this stage, we are assuming the past needs rectification). Am I of the generation that saw Pepe le Pew and saw their mother use "Sif el Abed"? I am. Am I racist or do I harass women? I do not. Did I see my parents smoke like a chimney growing up? I did. Do I smoke? Again, I do not (but let this not be a "rule" like the woman responsible for Star Academy made it -  if it applies to her it applies to everyone else). 

Social norms changed, case in point? In 1989, my cousins were lighting up a hubbly bubbly, when my (male) cousin offered it to her sister she said: "Ana bint bte7terem 7ala!" (I am a girl who respects herself). Lately, with hubbly bubbly became a vogue item (which are much more harmful than cigarettes) I saw the said cousin preparing her own "narguile" (or hubbly bubbly). It ceased to become a stigma to smoke it.

And before we part. Here's a last anecdote. A student of mine was preparing her thesis about "metrosexual men". Then she told me that she had dinner with her boyfriend and told him about her thesis. Metrosexual men are men who, despite not being homosexual, care a lot about their appearance (clothing, manicures, etc...). She told me, in the beginning he laughed it off. Then at the end of the dinner he asked her: "Do you think my nails need a manicure?" Suddenly, realizing there was no shame in it, it became also socially acceptable to do it.

As morals change, how much should we go back? L.P. Hartley said: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”

Kaslik, now a shadow of its former self.

Zara, Bershka, and Buffalo Wings and Rings are the three latest casualties to close shop on Kaslik street (Patchi, Zmilelee, Petit Cafe, Lord of the Wings and Massimo Dutti had started the macabre series earlier). Brands For Less is operating with minimal stock, while Glowbal - also an outlet store but more upscale - was one of the first stores to close early 2019. Legend, Straight, Viril/Virale, Stile, Studio X, and Masculin are still operating though all of them only have the Kaslik branch. H&M, Springfield and Sport Loisirs are also there, but till when is a different question.

Many will treat this with a casual what-else-is-new shrug. But Kaslik was at one point the most exuberant and priciest shopping streets in Lebanon. Sometime in the mid-90s celebrated Egyptian actress Sherihan dropped around 300,000 Dollars on one shopping spree there. But even as far back as the early aughts, there was a whiff of dwindling sales as Beirut, especially downtown Beirut, was gaining momentum.

Remember Via Spiga? Then Lebanon's most upscale store? Even in 2003, their sales manager said: “We used to sell products while they were still in the boxes, but now we have excess stock.” When discount store Akil Bros opened a store in Kaslik again in the mid-90s (akin to Tati opening in Place Vendome - Paris), the joke was that people would park their cars in front of upscale stores but shop at Akil instead. No wonder Akil is thriving today still, as the other stores close done by one.

However, it is fair to say that by now, Kaslik had lost its raison d'etre due to different geographical, political and socio-economic reasons. When Beirut got torn in half during the war and the souks obliterated due to shelling; the Eastern regions needed their own upscale area to compensate for Souk el Tawile which used to harbor: Al Ahram, Dix Mille Articles, Chaussures Elie and Venise Verte all selling shoes and bags for women, Hashem Shoes for men, Zahar and Semrani for children's clothing in addition to Alpha and Vita, respectively clothing for Men and women - all upscale and pricey stores of which some brands survive till today in various degrees of health and prosperity. 

Note that Kaslik is also often compared to Hamra which is only partially correct. Whereas Hamra housed Camomille, Red Shoe, Charles Jacob and Mylady; it also had a street Bazar as well. I was also told that Kaslik was playground for people with means from Tripoli. Back when Byblos and Batroun were still lackluster, and Beirut still half an hour of driving further, and still destroyed by the war.

With its proximity to the luxurious ATCL, to very high-end new buildings, to beach resorts (Portemilio, Samaya, and Solemar come to mind) where people loaded with money would stay or live, Kaslik was a perfect sample of where moneyed people would hang, shop and spend money. With Espace 2000 center  only a stone throw away with its famed night club, while the center was replete with a branch of The Chase restaurant, and Juicy Burger right opposite of it, just as Papagayo, Downtown, and La Creperie restaurants close by (bordering the street at both ends), and Options night club reigned Supreme on night life, Kaslik was the perfect microcosm of money-spending while enjoying the usual Lebanese exhibitionism for everyone to see where you shopped, ate or dropped your money.

The caricature of such people would end up at S.L.Chi the classic early 90s satire program on MTV (the local Murr TV) under the "Kas" people saying they bought their wares at "Francisco Puta" (ahem) as they smoked long cigars. I personally overheard a conversation long ago (in the late 80s) between two teenage girls, one describing a new swimsuit she acquired, only for the other to say "wait, I got the same one! I bought it for a beach party at our compound in Kaslik. But I managed to get it before the sales" (linguistic emphasis not mine).

But as L.P. Hartley said: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” And indeed, the past of Kaslik matters little to its present, its closed shops, or the dwindling footfall on those that remain open. The days of Via Spiga with Sherihan shopping with an open wallet are now gone. And for good.

A mood of Sunset Boulevard covers the street. A has been who still thinks it can pass off as star. To quote Ernest Heminway:

"How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly."

Same applies to Kaslik and Lebanon as a whole.