Foi revelado que o blog The Gay Girl in Damascus [en] é na verdade escrito por um americano heterossexual e casado que aparenta não ver nenhum problema em enganar o mundo inteiro afirmando que Amina Arraf foi sequestrada pelas autoridades sírias em Damasco na semana passada.
Thomas MacMaster escolheu ficar em silêncio por sete dias inteiros enquanto ativistas, blogueiros e até autoridades continuavam procurando Amina, receando o pior. Perguntas começaram a ser levantadas quando uma mulher alegou que ‘Amina’ personificou sua aparência, roubando fotos de uma conta privada no Facebook, enquanto investigações questionaram se a garota lésbica de Damasco poderia vir a não ser a pessoa que se dizia.
No blog Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah e Benjamin Doherty juntaram as peças do quebra-cabeças, apontando para MacMaster como o possível autor do blog:
While we believe that the information gathered here is compelling in its own right, we have managed to corroborate additional information from several independent sources that we are not publishing and that significantly increases our confidence in the information we have. We do not know the motives of the person or persons behind this hoax.
The information presented below connects the “Amina” blogger to two people in real life: Thomas (Tom) J MacMaster and Britta Froelicher who are married to each other.
The Electronic Intifada wrote to MacMaster requesting to speak to him about “Amina,” to which he responded, “Thanks, but as I have stated before, it is neither my wife nor me.”
As informações apresentadas a seguir conectam a blogueira “Amina” blogger a duas pessoas na vida real: Thomas (Tom) J MacMaster e Britta Froelicher, que formam um casal.
A Electronic Intifada escreveu a MacMaster pedindo para falar com ele sobre “Amina”, ao que ele respondeu: “Obrigado, mas como já disse antes, não sou eu nem minha esposa”.
Em um post rápido chamado Pedido de desculpas aos Leitores, MacMaster, identificando-se como o único autor de todos os posts no blog, finalmente desculpou-se, dizendo:
I do not believe that I have harmed anyone — I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about.
Outros acreditam que a fraude de MacMaster atravacou o trabalho em campo de ativistas, da mídia social e prejudicou o papel que estão desempenhando neste ano de revoluções árabes e a credibilidade da blogosfera árabe. Alguns também notaram que o trote desviou a atenção de campanhas coordenadas por ativistas e blogueiros realmente presos e sofrendo ameaça, além de também colocar em risco a comunidade gay da Síria.
No blog comunitário American-Arab Kabobfest, Ali Abbas e Assia Bounaoui publicam esse post, onde dizem:
MacMaster, in all of his privileged splendor as a straight American white man, appropriated and “outed” his avatar Amina as a lesbian activist, and in doing so put numerous queer Syrians at risk. Writing from a cozy home in Georgia/Edinburgh/Turkey bares no risk, allowing for plenty of slack when it comes to accuracy and accountability. Yet the victims will ultimately not be the MacMasters of the world, the phony bleeding heart liberals, but the people on the ground that Amina fails to represent.
Os blogueiros continuam:
Regardless of whatever lazy apology MacMaster nervously reaches for, Amina was never intended to be a fictional character for the betterment of women or LGBT people in the Middle East. She is a western fantasy intended to arouse and titillate the western sensibilities to feel, not act. This is the ultimate neo-orientalism as it not only re-imagines an existing geographic location, but invents an entire human landscape.
MacMaster escreve um pedido de desculpas mais longo aqui, que foi criticado por muitos dos que ficaram confusos com o trote, dentre os quais Ruwayda Mustafa, cidadão britânico-curdo que diz no Twitter:
Tom McMasters extended apology about #Amina Hoax: http://t.co/McfWpPj Not a shred of sympathy here. Pathetic man.
Abunimah escreve:
My hunch is that the person behind #Amina hoax has a long history of, and need for deception that won't stop just because he was caught.
Antoun Issa escreve:
Tom MacMaster exploited the weakness of the blogosphere, a simple fundamental that anyone can produce content and claim authenticity #Amina
E Ahmed Shihab-Eldin reforça:
Sure, #Amina is a hoax, but we still must RELY on voices of bloggers since Media is not allowed in Syria.
Andy Carvin agradece aos leitores que fazem perguntas. Ele escreve:
Just wanted to publicly thank @DannySeesIt for contacting me one week ago to express his skepticism re: #Amina. His note got me asking Q's.
E por fim, eu fiz o comentário a seguir no Twitter:
Questions I have been fielding all day from the international media: Now that #Amina is not Amina, how does that impact the credibility of bloggers? How does that reflect on the LGTB community in Syria and across the Arab world? And what sort of weakness in the Arab blogging movement does it point out? Seriously? … So some prankster somewhere in the world decided to fool the world, and now it is an issue for Syrian activists and their credibility; Arab gays and lesbians and their reality; and the Arab blogging community at large? Am I missing something or is my brain just playing games on me, refusing to stoop to that level, as I see no relation on how giving so much airtime, energy and thought to a prank could get the real people tortured, imprisoned and in real danger now under the spotlight they deserve. This prankster's ill-deed is unforgivable. And giving so much weight to this story and creating such a distraction and detour at this juncture of our history is even more unforgiving than all that MacMaster has done.
Leia ainda:
Understanding #Amina [en] por Ethan Zuckerman
Timeline da saga de Amina [en] por Andy Carvin no Storify .