Month: December 2008
Gaza Crisis [12/31] [updated]
Updates from 12/28-12/29 and 12/30. The Dove quotes an American general on the folly of the current incursion. Money quote of the money quote: Politically, the ultimate result of ’06 was to make Hizbullah, and their Christian allies under General Aoun, the arbiters of events in Lebanon. “We have now seen the Israelis run through their target list in Gaza. Hamas is still firing at Ashkalon and Beersheba. One wonders just who has who by the testicles in this situation. If the Israelis back away with some sort of unilateral ceasefire, then the ’06 judgment of the Muslims on them…
Gaza Crisis [12/30]
Starting a new page, the other one was getting too crowded. Israelis ram a relief boat that is also carrying a former US Representative. One Palestinian family loses five daughters in the same night after a mosque is targeted. If I’ve done the math right, according to the article 16% of all victims are confirmed civilians – that’s using the UN’s numbers. (h/t MJ Rosenberg) Compare to the total of 4 Israelis who have been killed. Can we just call it even and stop now? No, because that’s not the way the cycle of violence works. I have little hope…
City of Brass: Guest Post on Ashura
Aziz was kind enough to allow me a guest post on City of Brass while he travels. I’ve written on Ashura here. Ashura
More on Muslims in New York Public Schools
Previous posts here and here. Updated website here. Muslims in the West, NYC
The Muslim “Catcher in the Rye”
I have the utmost respect and admiration for Carl Ernst, and I think it’s hilarious that he compares Taqwacores to Catcher in the Rye. One, I would be saddened if Taqwacores became a classic of Muslim American literature. I think MMK is a good writer, I’m really enjoying his book The Five Percenters, but Taqwacores is not great literature. Of course, I don’t like Catcher in the Rye either, so I’m a bit of a philistine. Anyway, isn’t Catcher the conspiracy nut’s handbook? Exactly what we need, more paranoid conspiracy-focused Muslims. As no one seen Mel Gibson’s Conspiracy Theory? Imagine…
Gaza and Obama
Haroon says Obama is silent, and that’s bad. MJ Rosenberg says Obama is silent, and that’s good. As a matter of political principle, as painful as it is for me to say it, Obama must be silent. He is absolutely correct; with three weeks before his inauguration the US cannot be seen as speaking with a forked tongue. Bush is absolutely, 100% wrong now, as he has been on most of his Israel policy. It’s been bad for Israel, it’s been bad for Palestinians, and it’s been bad for the US. However, we must respect the Office of the President,…
Peter Murphy is Muslim
Peter Murphy, of Bauhaus (the band, not the architectural movement), is Muslim. Shahed told me on Twitter, but I didn’t believe. I am so sorry Shahed. You speak the truth. My entire anti-religious, rebellious adolescence was spent listening to a Muslim musician. Go figure. Music
Prince of Persia and Orientalism
This New York Time’s commentary ties Edward Said’s classic opus, Orientalism, to the game Prince of Persia. Then it stops. Good idea. Lousy implementation. “C” at best. We do not see the rest of the world except as a mythologized “us.” To see the world as being composed of difference, means we have to acknowledge difference at home, and perhaps internalize the challenge to our uniqueness. It is far easier to control and encourage emulation of “us,” than to deal with difference. Orientalism, Prince of Persia