A great fuss was made in Lebanon when a nurse interning as a midwife at Hotel Dieu was expelled from her university due to an inadequate and offensive Instagram post that was supposed to be a simple joke. The question is, does she really deserve this rather severe repercussion?
The problem first stemmed from a joke posted on Instagram where the student wrote “Be careful [b*tches] cuz [W]e can kill your babies”, hash tagging the university but also geotagging the hospital itself, highly drawing attention to herself.
Now “Article 13 of the Lebanese Constitution states that “freedom of expression, oral or written, and publishing…are protected within the limits fixed by law”” (Dabbous, 2007). That is, people are free to express themselves, within limits. Now in Lebanon, there is no law that is specific to social media (in this particular case Instagram), however, people are often prosecuted for what they post on social media. Those cases, though, are more related to slander and defamation of specifics than a general affirmation or joke. Rarely do we see a non-political case, a more humanitarian one in Lebanon.
Previous cases, such as those of the bloggers Jean Assy or Gino Raidy, the bloggers had to face serious repercussions that involved big financial fines. In this case, it was not the law which intervened but the university itself. Now, one must say that the nurse’s post is very clearly a joke, supposed to be humorous, although violent, if taken bluntly. But it is important to note that this ignorant joke is greatly offensive and harmful. The nurse did not simply affect her, since she showed very poor judgement. It also affected the image of both the university and the hospital and their judgement in choosing interns or employees. The post is also quite puzzling to the mothers who the nurse dealt with, inciting a sense of doubt and distrust in the relationship between patient and hospital staff. A hospital is supposed to be a safe place, entrusted in not only the medical problems of people, but also, in some cases, their lives.
However, the punishment imposed by the university seems to be quite harsh. It is enough that the student was publically shamed and, in turn, assaulted. She became the topic in each angry Lebanese’s conversation. Media outlets such as MTV also took advantage of the opportunity to over dramatize the situation to make huge headlines stating she is a “child killer in a Lebanese hospital” (Lemon, 2016). That, really is the lowest form of framing that could have been done. On top of that, she was expelled. It seems like the more appropriate sanction would have been suspension or a warning accompanied by a public apology from her part. The post obviously made proof of very poor taste, however, one must not forget that it is a joke. This joke was not thought of, and most likely had no real intention whatsoever.
Bibliography
Dabbous, D. (2007). ACRLI 2007 Country Report: Media in Lebanon. Arab Center for the Development of the Rule of Law and Integrity.
Lemon, J. (2016). Step Feed. Retrieved from http://stepfeed.com/more-categories/big-news/lebanese-interns-instagram-post-steals-national-spotlight/#.Vvgadvl95Pb
