Apart from the almost "usual" killings by school children in the United States, there were no eye-catching events or items that could prolong our after dinner conversations past midnight.

The World Cup's approach did add a new dimension to small talk but soccer does not interest everyone.

The introduction of the new drug Viagra was, however, the beginning of a giant global debate. Like all "leaks" in the United States it was touched by few areas in the media. However, after national television in the United States began focusing on the "pill", attention began to widen. Then like Rock 'n' Roll fever or Beatlemania, it was Viagra the world over, everywhere.

From the United States and across the Atlantic Viagra fever spread. The word "Viagra" was on everybody's lips. Talk shows built around it appeared on television, radio interviews with well-known personalities and their opinions were aired and countless columns were written about it.

There are many jokes about Viagra on the Internet. Time and space prevent me from repeating them!!

In the Arab world, connected to Europe and the United States by channels pouring out unfiltered information, views and news, interest began to grow. As did the importing of fake pills.

The false assumption that Viagra could turn you into a Valentino or modern day Tarzan caused aberration in the behavior of otherwise perfectly normal people.

In one Arab country a woman made a frantic call to the police claiming that not only had her husband taken four of the pills but he had also forced her to swallow two. Ministers of health discussed whether to let the pills in or not. It seemed that tests had to be conducted in local labs.

However, as Abdullah Bajubair, the noted columnist, wrote in his column "With the Morning Coffee" it was as if a Ph.D. thesis approved by Harvard had to be reviewed by a local school principal. 

Anyway, Bob Dole, the former Republican presidential candidate endorsed Viagra. So did many others. Viagra also began to take its toll!! A 70-year-old man "dumped" his wife and took on a 30-year-old woman.

Viagra began to cause uneasiness among women. A woman going away on an educational trip abroad made her husband promise he would not take Viagra. She was afraid he would get involved with other women.

As matters stand, let me assure you that this article is not about Viagra. Rather, it is about how the media has hyped the whole thing up and made us forget ourselves, the events around us and the stories we ought to pay attention to.

India exploded its bombs, causing alarm and consternation in the region and the world. Pakistan responded in a similar manner. The bombs thus became topics for discussion but inadvertently conversation strayed on to the other "bomb", Viagra.

The 50th anniversary of the "Nakba", or the catastrophe, the occupation of Palestine by the Zionists, and the repression and human rights abuses aided and abetted willingly or unknowingly by the Newt Gingrichs of America was taking place. 

Some of these topics were put on the back burner. It was because of a battle for first position between Viagra and the bomb. And sadly, to say, Viagra won. Sensation over all. Entertainment forever.

This does not augur well for us or our world.