The national campaign to make Petra one of the new seven “Wonders of the World” has reached my email inbox lately. As I am not in Jordan I was surprised to see that the cell phone service providers such as Fastlink, Mobilecom and Umniah are in on the campaign as well (although their respective websites don’t seem to reflect it). I don’t know if it’s the Ministry of Tourism seeking out the private sector to help mobilize the masses or simply the cell phone companies cashing in on nationalism.
The last time I saw something on a national level that involved voting (more than once) through SMS was during the first round of Superstar. So I can’t help but wonder who will get more votes: Diana Karazoun or Petra?
In other musings: I’ve noticed some Jordanian blogs have put up “Vote Petra” buttons to spread the word but I hope to see this increase. Perhaps Jordan Planet (or even Toot) can create their own online campaigns.
As for competition: The Eiffel Tower? The Statue of Liberty? Christ the Redeemer? Sydney Opera House? Really? An Opera House? I mean come on! We’re talking about a hidden city engraved in stone: the stuff dreams (and Indiana Jones movies) are made of! Stonehenge? I mean the Great Wall of China and the Colosseum are fine contenders but not an Opera House!
In any case: go vote!
Such ‘competitions’ have a lot of stupidity and unfairness. I’m not gonna vote for Petra just because it’s in my country, especially that I’ve never been there..and never been where the other possible ‘wonders’ are. I think we can’t make fair judgements unless we visit all the other places, huh?!
mm… i saw the ads in the paper… but u actually pay to vote… i think 20 piasters per sms… the voting should be free.. the cell phone companies should do more to this country than distributing school bags and i donno what!
i’ve been to four of the contenders, and petra isn’t one of them (i’d love to go to petra, i just haven’t gotten to it yet). of the one’s i’ve seen timbuktu was the coolest. but like adel najeh said above, it doesn’t seem fair to vote unless you’ve been to all the contenders.
actually, maybe i’ll keep the list of candidates and have visiting each be my life’s goal.
it is interesting how they seemed to consciously avoid listing sites with political or religious significance. there’s a bunch of sites in jerusalem that really should be contenders. and there’s mecca. there are probably some stunning tibetan monasteries too, but that might piss of the chinese.
i think the organizers tried to come up with a potential wonder on each continent. that’s my best explanation for the sydney opera house.
I have to disagree. I don’t think one has to visit every site in order to vote, it’s not really meant to be an objective competition. It’s meant to be purely subjective and that subjectivity can be manifested in national pride which I’m sure other countries hosting those sites will experience.
So I have no problem with it being framed in a nationalistic manner. It’s like cheering on a national football team.
rgetert
hi
Dear All,
I wonder actually how jordanians still have not visited Petra. may be the whole issue of voting was commercial but certainly Petra deserves being a world wonder. It is the right for every nation to be proud of its past, above all it is not a constructed one but inherited and embodies the roots of our ancestors.
We have so many sites throughtout Jordan and Bilad elsham where we can be proud of them.
What would you lose if you paid 20 cent for your identity!!