Forced into extinction
被迫消失在历史长河中

Jan 21st 2013, 18:25 by M.R. | CAIRO

LIKE much that moves in Twitter-mad Saudi Arabia these days, it started with a single message. A lady in Dammam, the hub of the oil industry on the kingdom’s Gulf coast, tweeted a complaint from a local shopping mall. Agents of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), she said, were causing an unpleasant scene. The government-salaried vigilantes, a bearded auxiliary police force familiarly known to Saudis as the Hayaa, had marched officiously into an educational exhibit featuring plaster models of dinosaurs, turned off the lights and ordered everyone out, frightening children and alarming their parents.

就如最近发生在沙特阿拉伯的诸多事件，“推特”（音译）的流行，导火线源于一条的简单短信，这一事件也不例外。沙特阿拉伯波斯湾海岸石油港口达曼一位女士在“推特”发微博抱怨当地一家购物商场。她称“扬善惩恶委员会”工作人员是造成这一不愉快场面的罪魁祸首。政府自卫队即沙特人们熟识的满面胡须的“哈亚”辅助警察队强行进入以一家恐龙石膏模型的教育展览馆，切断电源并命令所有人离开，使孩子们及其父母受到惊吓。

It was unclear precisely why the religious police objected to the exhibit, which apparently had been innocently featured at shopping centres across the Gulf for decades. Malls are one of the few public spaces where Saudis mix socially, and so often draw the Hayaa’s attentions. Gone, however, are the days when its agents can go about their business unchallenged.

该展览馆数年来一直是海湾购物中心的特色,宗教警察为何反对这一展览的目的尚不明确。购物中心是沙特人社交的少数公共场所之一，因此常常引起哈亚的注意。然而，委员会工作人员不能像以前那样为所欲为的处理问题了。

Within minutes of the incident, a freshly minted Arabic Twitter hashtag, #Dammam-Hayaa-Closes-Dinosaur-Show, was generating scores of theories about their motives. Perhaps, suggested one, there was a danger that citizens might start worshipping dinosaur statues instead of God. Maybe it was just a temporary measure, said another, until the Hayaa can separate male and female dinosaurs and put them in separate rooms. Surely, declared a third, one of the lady dinosaurs had been caught in public without a male guardian. A fourth announced an all-points police alert for Barney the Dinosaur, while another suggested it was too early to judge until it was clear what the dinosaurs were wearing.

在该事件发生后的几分钟之内，一个刚形成的阿拉伯“推特”主题标签（达曼-哈亚关闭恐龙展览）引起了关于宗教警察动机的诸多推测。有人认为，人们可能会信仰恐龙而不是上帝，这也许是一种危险；有人则觉得这也许只是哈亚区分雌雄恐龙且将其放置在单独房间之前的一个临时措施；当然，还有人则宣称一只雌性恐龙在没有雄性恐龙的“保护下”，当众被人”猥亵“；另外还有人称所有现场警察提高对巴尼恐龙标本警惕，而其他人认为，除非先了解恐龙身上穿的什么，现在评价还为时过早。

Several contributors injected bawdy innuendo into their comments. Noting that one of the displays showed a dinosaur riding on the back of another, one message declared that this was obviously sexually suggestive and possibly could be categorised as a Westernising influence. “I confess,” declared one penitent, “I saw a naked dinosaur thigh and felt aroused.” Another tweet provided this helpful tip to the suspicious CPVPV: “No, no, that long thing is a tail!”

一些撰稿人在其评论中进行了含沙射影的讽刺，指出有一展览展出一只恐龙骑在另外一只恐龙的背上，有人称这明显暗含“性”内容且可能将其视为是西化影响的产物。一位忏悔者称，”我承认，赤裸的恐龙大腿刺激了我的性欲望。“另外一位”推特“用户向多疑的扬善惩恶委员会提供了一条有益的建议：”不，不，这长长的东西是一条尾巴！“

But most of the messages singled out the religious police for ridicule. “They worried that people would find the dinosaurs more highly evolved than themselves,” explained one. “It’s the Hayaa that should be stuffed and mounted so future generations can learn about extinct animals,” quipped another. This message adopted a more pedantic tone: “Dinosaurs are a paleontological life form from an ancient geological era, and our clerics are a paleontological life form from an ancient social era.” “Hello? Stone Age? We have some of your people; can you please come and collect them?” pleaded one tweep. Another wrote: “If the dinosaurs were still alive they’d be saying, thank God for extinction.”

但是大多数评论针对宗教警察进行讥讽。有人解释，”他们担心人们会发现恐龙的进化比他们更加高级“。有人嘲弄，”哈亚应该有标本让后代了解灭绝了的动物。“ 这条评论采用了一种更为迂腐的语气：”恐龙是古老地质时期的一种古生物学生命形式，牧师是古老社会时期的一种古生物学生命形式。一位“推特”用户“ 用恳求的语气讽刺 ，”拜托？石器时代？我们有你们的一些同类，麻烦来“收了”他们？“另一位用户写道：“如果恐龙现在还没有灭绝，它们可能会为自己的灭绝而感谢上帝。”