Michelle Obama headscarf controversy - do Saudis really care?

When Michelle Obama appeared at her
husband's side in Saudi Arabia without wearing
a
headscarf, you might expect a backlash on
social media.
Only it didn't really materialise.
Although someforeignmedia reported a big
social
media controversy, an Arabic hashtag that
translates as "Michelle Obama with no
headscarf" or "Michelle Obama immodesty"
was
in fact tweeted about 2,500 times - not a small
number, but not overwhelming in a country
with
a relatively high Twitter following.
And significantly, this "backlash" was dwarfed
by
another tag related to the US President's visit
to
the kingdom. "King Salman leaves Obama to
pray" attracted more than 170,000 messages.
Saudis used this slogan to show their warm
admiration for new King Salman leaving during
the Obamas' visit to pray, as shown in a news
report that was widely viewed on YouTube.
A Monitoring, which was tracking the
criticism
of Michelle Obama, said most tweeters from
the
Arab world using " Michelle Obama with no
headscarf" were making fun of the situation
and
of conservative Saudi regulations. Some were
sharing pictures of a Michelle Obama wearing
a
headscarf during a trip to Malaysia in 2010,
while
others used the tag to call for more freedoms
in
the kingdom.
Far fewer voices were angry at the first lady's
uncovered head, and a huge number of tweets
came from US users slamming Saudi
traditions.
In fact only 37% of the tweets using the
"Michelle Obama with no headscarf" tag came
from Saudi at all.