Mental Mayhem poll on the Hamas debacle

Purported Hamas attack leader Ayman Naji DaraghmehAfter nearly six months absence, Mental Mayhem’s opinion poll is back. The topic this week is the ongoing Hamas debacle. So far the poll’s results are in favor of the Jordanian government version of the story. Part of me wants to believe yesterday’s airing of the confessions of Hamas members on Jordan’s national TV would alter the opinions of skeptics out there. But I think I might be mistaken. A quick sift through the comments posted on different Jordanian blogs here and here and on my own blog seems to prove otherwise. Sadly enough, and for reasons I won’t get into now, it seems that there is a segment of society that insists upon doubting anything coming from the Jordanian government — no matter what; even if it involves their own security.

I wonder if those that continue to deny Jordan was eyed by some Hamas members as a possible military target have forgotten that Jordan was recently attacked. Jordan has been — and still is — a target. That’s the sad reality we have to grasp. Whether the perpetrators were Alqaeda or Hamas, I believe Jordanians should stand up and condemn these attempts instead of resorting to the old Middle Eastern option: embracing conspiracy theories.

Anyway, arguments about this are endless, so I will leave you with a quote from one of my favorite Jordanian bloggers, Khalaf:

Any self-respecting Jordanian who cared about the welfare of the country should stand up and tell Hamas to keep their hands off of Jordan. Smuggling weapons into the country, monitoring the movements of members of security forces and tourists and planning to commit terror is not a game, and this should not be a subject for political football.

Jordanians’ source of news

The results of the latest poll on Jordan Planet reveal that the majority of Jordanians (assuming the respondents are mostly Jordanians) heard about the Aqaba terrorist attack through "Foreign TV and radio stations."

Those that heard the news via "State-run Jordanian TV and radio" constituted only 9% of those polled. Now, isn’t this sad? Isn’t national TV supposed to be the first source for major local events? I personally heard about the attack through Jordan Planet after reading Isam’s blog early in the morning. Maybe Ibrahim is right and the reason that people are so tuned off by Jordan TV is the bad graphics.

Still on the issue of online polls, I finally updated the poll on Mental Mayhem. The question is as follows:

  • Is Jordan doing enough to protect citizens from terrorism?

So if you care, cast your vote in the upper left corner of this page!

New poll

Inspired by Isam’s post about corruption in Jordan, I have finally updated this blog’s poll, which can be seen in the upper left corner of the sidebar. So make yourself heard. Vote away!

On a totally different subject, after months of silence the husband has updated his blog. He has a new post about movies. A very well-written one, if I may say so.

Union activities poll results

Union vote results

These are the final results from the last Mental Mayhem vote on union political activities

It was a hot topic and so it follows that there was more or less a tie between those for and those against limiting the unions’ actions, with some 46% secured by each.

Poll results

Iraqi Elections Poll

Well it seems that the majority of Mental Mayhem readers support the Iraqi polls. This is a good sign and a great way to start the day!

Site Vote results

Results of the Gulf vote

Ok time to change the opinion poll. Here are the results of the previous vote.

And the new vote is: "Do you think the upcoming Iraqi elections should be held as planned?"