Lebanon's Mini Mafia: Shows showing kids navigating grown-up society always generate backlash

I barely saw the promo to the new show on Al Jadeed TV dubbed Mini Mafia and I knew this was too honest a show to survive not being axed or watered down to such a degree that it becomes no longer as good or as interesting. What struck me was how indoctrinated our children are from a very young age, as if their guardians, their families and tribe wish to place their stamp on them lest they be tempted to defect to another ideological camp.

Anything involving kids, even cartoons of kids acting and reacting in a grown up world mimicking adult behavior, adopting adult mannerisms, while still being just kids, will always court controversy. South Park, a favorite show of mine at one time, is a case in point. Children are in the end a product of their environment and the grown ups that shape their minds, whether parents or teachers or other role models on television or tik tok.

In the Al Jadeed show, one of the kids, obviously from the Shiite community, was dressed in all black and was vowing to destroy Israel and telling the interviewer that he wished to become shaheed for the cause, the closest word in English to shaheed is martyr, but that's grossly inaccurate. You can think of shaheed as anyone struggling, fighting for a righteous Godly cause and dying in that struggle. It was disturbing to watch. I am not naive, I know how holy ideologies in Lebanon work and that indoctrination starts young, but I had no clue such practice could completely take over a young mind.

Of course, the child in question was the son of a shaheed, his father was a fighter who died, I presume in the recent war, so its little wonder that he would willingly adopt such an ideology, perhaps hoping to be reunited with the father in death, that he must miss deeply. I know the loss of a father, I was in my 30s when I lost mine, and it still hurts and I still miss him to this day and especially at certain junctures in life when you need good advice before taking a fateful decision. I can't imagine what it must be like to lose a father at such a young age.

Of course, it didn't end there. The show brought on another child to debate grown up political issues. The other child was Lebanese Forces through and through. Both kids appear more certain, more dedicated and steadfast in their ideology than many grown ups dare to be at least outwardly. Of course, the other child, the full indoctrinated young Hezbollah fighter, was equally certain about his ideology. The interaction, however, was very child-like, playground boasts mostly, but the prejudiced and extremist views were very real if I suspect little understood by the kids taking these positions. Regardless, the show was shocking for many Lebanese to watch, as rarely does anyone put up a mirror before this boastful society and force them to take a long hard look at themselves.