YouTube is proving to be a popular medium of expression for young men in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Alongside videos of drunken women doing the unmentionable are now posted clips of Saudi youths behaving like, well ”¦ brats. Racing on the streets of Riyadh in Porsches and BMWs which happens to be the “in” thing to do right now in Riyadh, is the main theme of many of these videos.
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In Riyadh, where petrol is dirt cheap and it’s normal for a male child to receive a brand new Porsche for his 16th birthday, racing along the wide avenues sometimes with friends hanging over the open doors seems to be the only way a guy can let his head scarf down.
Saudi Arabia strictly prohibits intermingling between the sexes, and the ensuing utter boredom of male youths is clear in these clips. Another pastime is throwing eggs at girls who ignore them, which in Saudi Arabia where a girl was recently sentenced a hundred lashes for being in the same car as an unrelated male, is just about every girl on the street.
Not all videos are of Saudis behaving like American frat boys. Many are also revealing a rarely seen side of the mysterious country — footage of a rat gnawing at a sandwich provoked outrage from local viewers while harassment at schools has also made its way to YouTube in the form of a mobile phone clip.
In a promising turn of events, political dissidence is also slowly raising its head. One clip of a prison officer beating up prisoners sparked condemnation from Human Rights Watch. Yeah. That’ll show the Saudis.