The Saga of a Straight Man in Scotland

Yesterday, it came out that Gay Girl in Damascus, a blog supposedly written by Syrian-American, Lesbian activist Amina Arraf was, actually, entirely a work of fiction. The author of the blog is 40 year old Tom MacMaster, an  American studying at Edinburgh University.

Some people don’t think he’s done anything wrong. Some people don’t understand what all the fuss is about. He said himself he “didn’t expect this level of attention”.

His apology is not really an apology – instead, he tries to come up with excuses, if you’re offended by the fact he fabricated the entire thing, if you’re angry, its your fault, not his.

At one point in his apology, he claims that ever since he was young, he had ”  felt very connected to the cultures and peoples of the Middle East”. Ironically, instead of helping those he claims to feel connected to, its highly likely he has put others at risk. He’s drawn attention to the LGBT community within Syria, a community that didn’t want publicity (for articles on this, click the following link) (straightguyinedinburgh.tumblr.com). He may also have put those advocating for democracy at risk

He may have been pretending to be an Arab-American, openly lesbian woman from Damascus, but at the end of the day, he’s a middle class white man, blogging with no risk to himself or his family.

How will this hoax, impact how we look at other blogs/un-official news sources (such as twitter, blogs, or facebook posts) from individuals claiming to be in the middle east?  Unfortunately, I think this will impact how we view news sources like this in the future, which is unfortunate, because for many people who are legitimately living in fear for their safety, blogs, and social networking sites are one of the few ways they can get their stories out?