Okaz daily

A well-known Saudi singer has been traveling from one Arab city to another for fear that he will be apprehended by security officers after he performed an inappropriate dance move during one of his onstage performances. The singer is clearly not aware of the important role artists can play in promoting ethics and moral values.

I was happy when the concerned authorities recently detained another artist who performed the dab dance move on stage, just as the well-known singer had done earlier. For readers who do not know what dabbing is, let me explain it. The dab dance move can be performed by raising your both arms up so that they go straight out from your shoulders, then bend one arm toward your body while keeping the other straight, with your head ducked in toward the bent arm.

Abdul-Elah Al-Sharif Secretary-General of the National Committee for Drug Control said this dance move is quite popular among drug users and dealers, stressing that the committee has zero tolerance for any practices that are associated with drugs.

The artist should have been more aware of the negative effect of this dance move on children. There were children in the audience who attended the performance. The artist should have given them something positive to remember about his performance. This dance move will give conservative people justification for criticizing art and singing and for describing singers as promoters of vice. Moreover, it encourages and promotes the use of drugs, which is a crime in itself.

I find it really strange and shocking that the artist was not aware of the consequences of performing this dance move. He was promoting a menace that is as dangerous as terrorism – terrorism causes death and so do drugs. In fact, drug use is responsible for the slow death of thousands of young people.