Diam’s Conversion to Islam Annoys French Media
By Adnane Bennis
Morocco World News
New York, October 2, 2012
Twenty-four hours after the television interview where Diam’s talks about her conversion to Islam, French media seems not to be able to digest this pill. Many journalists have stated to be “annoyed and shocked” by her appearance with the veil and her “militant attitude for Islam.” One journalist went as far as saying that her appearance with the veil was “violent”. While Diam’s stated that Islam gave meaning to her life and made her happy, a number of journalists of a TV
show on French channel LCI, suggested that she conveyed a message of a submissive woman, and that her decision to wear the veil might not have been hers. “I found Diam’s appearance, veiled from head to toe, annoying. The image of Diam in this way raises many questions about the personal experience of this young lady who went from wearing jogging pants to wearing the veil”, said one of the journalists present on the TV show. Another journalist said that he was annoyed and shocked when he saw the interview on TF1, adding that her appearance with the veil suggested that she” was doing some sort of promotion” of the headscarf. He went on to add that Diam’s became a “fervent propagator” of Islam in France. He raised questions about the way Diam’s was dressed, adding that hear attire was a sort of staging her appearance “I wonder if there were no constraints during the interview. I wonder if her appearance was not a sort of campaign to promote adherence to the veil, and the veiled women, etc,” the same journalist said, suggesting that “was she forced to dress how she did and speak the way she spoke” about her conversion to Islam. “Diam’s is a girl who has had problems. She was disoriented, which caused her to make this choice. This lead us to talk about these boys who are disoriented, end up in prison, and convert to Islam while incarcerated. There are people who exploit this distress, and while listening to Diam’s I got the sense that some people got the upper hand over her and turned her into an ardent propagator of militant Islam in France,” he continued. The message conveyed by these ardent “advocates” of freedom of religion and human rights, is that only someone who is having problems in his life can convert to Islam, rather than a person who is fit and is in a good state of mind. The perspective from which these journalists have analyzed Diam’s appearance on TF1 fits perfectly the mainstream view of French towards Islam, the condition of women, the wearing of the veil and individual freedoms. The French are so imbued of the superiority of their culture and pretend to know so much about Islam that they can’t believe in someone saying that Islam is making them happy or giving meaning to their life. They can only see Islam from the prism of terrorism, oppression of women, extremism and of individual freedoms. When they see someone talking nicely about this religion, they can’t accept being given another perspective about Islam different from the one they already hold. That is why these journalists suggest that Diam’s did not convert because she was a fit person, but that she only converted because she was a “tumultuous and problematic” girl, who, according to their belief, was weak enough to be indoctrinated by the “propagators of militant Islam” in France. This is not the first time that Diam’s has come under attack because of her conversion to Islam. Back in 2008, a few months after she converted to Islam, she made an appearance on stage wearing a headband to hide her hair. The French media lashed out at her and accused her of becoming a bad role model, and even a danger for her young fans.
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