You'd think Egypt might be a little alarmed over a pending war between the United States and Iraq, but you'd be wrong. While enough around the world witness anti-war protests, Egypt witnesses a more heated matter - a digital CD-ROM recording of a "down and out" tycoon (Hossam Abul-Fotouh) with a sexy dancer (Dina), recordings coming to the public in the wake of a raid on the tycoon's Maadi home a few months back.
And the scandal is raising privacy concerns similar in Egypt that are similar to those which are raised often enough when, for example, in the far more open world of the United States, public officials or other highly-visible people become exposed over sexual behaviors enough people might consider scandalous.
Egypt Today
"[H]ow is it that people who are normally opposed to watching pornography justify viewing this type of thing? Does the fact that the film stars two public figures make it OK to observe their affair?" the magazine asked. "The issue was so widely debated that it became the subject of more than one satellite-channel talk show."
The dancer is said to be keeping a low profile since leaving the country after the scandal broke, the magazine continued, while Fotouh may be garnering as much sympathy as scorn over the affair. "The guy may be a rogue, but no one deserves this type of embarrassment,"
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Egypt Todaysaid. "No matter how decadent a lifestyle he led and no matter how unscrupulous his business practices were, what went on in the privacy of his bedroom, even though he did choose to record it, should remain private. How many of those who are now glorifying in his shame can claim to have clean track records?"
reports the public seems more anxious to see a potential followup to the CD-ROM, but at the same time as many assume a "holier than thou" posture toward the disc and the scandal that the magazine says it finds "puzzling."
