No, Michel Aoun Falling Is Not Funny, Nor Is It Material To Humor Us


Michel Aoun tripped and fell. It’s the Arab League Summit – however useless that might be. Lebanon is participating with a president for the first time since 2013, and while walking to the podium, Lebanese president Michel Aoun sustains a fall. Bring out the guillotines.

It all takes 3 seconds. He’s pictured to be okay afterwards. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. In any decent country, and regardless where people fall on the political spectrum, their president falling like that would at least elicit some kind of empathy.

Not in Lebanon.

Michel Aoun falling is now an indication of his health status. I’m sad to inform you it’s not. Anyone can trip and fall. It’s now the go-to joke. I’m sad to inform you it’s not a joke. It is now the easiest video to send on WhatsApp groups with our lousy internet to get your friends replying with as much “HAHA” as you can get out of them. I’m sad to inform you it’s not funny.

There’s nothing cute about an elderly 80 year old man tripping and falling. It’s not for your enjoyment, and it sure as hell is not something to humor you. His political past has nothing to do with this. I do not agree with almost anything he says or does (or said or did), but he is still an old man who fell and that is not even acceptably funny.

In my first year of specialty in Internal Medicine last year, I dealt with countless elderly patients who went through falls such as this. The consequences could have been, and are usually, disastrous: from fractures to concussions to extended hospital stays. I’m glad that president Aoun is okay after this.

Medicine aside, imagine had this happened to any of you – regardless of your age. I’m sure your first reflex would be to care more about your phone, but such falls are painful and, when coupled with people around you laughing their asses off, humiliating.

Imagine this happening to your grandparents. Would you propagate their fall coupled with all the “LOLs” you can type out? I sure hope you don’t.

You can not agree with Michel Aoun politically. That’s what makes this country (seemingly) a democracy. You can bash the hell out of his stances about freedom of speech, electoral laws, anything you disagree with for that matter. But when it comes to ridiculing him as an old man who happened to sustain a fall, then I’m afraid to tell you that is never okay.

10 thoughts on “No, Michel Aoun Falling Is Not Funny, Nor Is It Material To Humor Us

  1. Right on, Elie. It is good to know there are still sober, sensitive
    people in the Arab World.
    I so enjoy your blog. It is usually the first thing I read when I open my email. Thank you


  2. its so clear that your emotional outcry is fuelled by your political views, people who follow this president cannot be impartial even when they try and you are no exception to the rule. Trying to hide behind the fact that he is old to defend him is kind of sad buddy.


  3. Thank God,President Aoun got up safe and stood for photograph ,then back to his seat.
    True ,it’s not a matter for fun or laugh.It could happen to anyone including younger people.
    Respect and manners must be observed towards our human weaknesses.


  4. Loooooooool… Yes it is actually funnier that we have more warlords running the show and acting as if they’re legitimate leaders.
    It is pathetic that you wasted your time and your readers on such an article. This guy and the rest of the gang shouldn’t even be living in Lebanon and should have all been in jail or exiled.

    “There’s nothing cute about an elderly 80 year old man tripping and falling. It’s not for your enjoyment, and it sure as hell is not something to humor you His political past has nothing to do with this.”

    We can choose to ridicule any leader young or old mafia-leader for any reason we choose to, I think you should concentrate on how Lebanon has turned into a pure jungle.
    Our country lacks basic needs/right such as a clean environment, 24/7 electricity, proper rules & roads regulations, parliamentary elections and human rights.

    Please excuse any deprived Lebanese citizen (that has been living in misery since 1975) that decided to laugh at a warlord that fell face first. HAHA HAHA HAHA


  5. Since you’re a doctor, you must be good at observation, but apparently, you’re not. If you look carefully, the President’s fall was not caused by his tripping over the step. You can see that he is disoriented before he falls. If you want to think logically, also, he was going to shake hands with the man in the brown gown, who was standing in front of the step, so why did the president surpass him, reach the step and fall down? The answer: because he was disoriented. Taking this into consideration, don’t you think, in your professional opinion that this fall does in fact reflect his health status?


  6. My heart pinched when I saw him fall for the reasons you mentionned, but then I quickly remembered his role in the decline of the country and the humiliation of the Lebanese people, and my empathy vanished. Plus, you’re wrong to say that we’d react differently in other countries. If you look closely, we in Europe don’t miss out on an occasion to make fun of our leaders, even based on such grounds.


  7. man who cares! this dude is a warlord whose armies have killed and raped and kidnapped. I would confidently laugh my ass off at any of his current misfortunes. Rotten old bag raising taxes to raise public income. what you talking about man i thought you had a better view and opinion about things, this post is one of ur biggest fails since iv started following your blog. Really dont cry about it brah.


  8. We have a political structure that oppresses and subjugates the people of this country and treats them like chattel and this guy’s asking people to have empathy.



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