Year: 2009

Television

Television Documentaries and the #IranElection

islamoyankee

Recently PBS ran a Frontline documentary from 2002 on Iran. While I applaud the effort to give some necessary background to the situation in Iran, there were some problems. Jordan Robinson wrote a letter offering some critique to the piece. I quote it below with permission: Subject: Rebroadcast of 2002 “A Clash That’s Centuries Old” a disservice to US public Dear Frontline Senior Editorial Team, I just finished watching your 2002 broadcast of “A Clash That’s Centuries Old,” part of your “Terror and Tehran” series. While I appreciate your effort to inform the American public life about life in Iran…

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Current Affairs Politics Religion

My Thoughts on the #IranElection

islamoyankee

inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un – We are from God and to God we return The unrest in Iran has been going on for almost two weeks, and I have posted nothing here for several reasons: The story is unfolding in internet time, and the updates are coming fast and furious on Twitter. I am geared for academic time and television time, both of which move significantly slower than internet time. Because of the speed at which things are moving, people with deeper knowledge and/or better resources are better positioned to give real knowledge on the situation. I do…

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Politics

New Critique of Those Who Love to Criticize Academics

islamoyankee

For those unfamiliar, the “Academic Bill of Rights” is designed to curtail free speech in American universities, particularly by professors involved in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. A new report by Free Exchange on Campus, a coalition of groups opposed to David Horowitz’s “Academic Bill of Rights” and similar measures, argues that the entire movement is built on false premises and is designed to attack higher education. The report, “Manufactured Controversy,” notes that legislative successes for this movement have been minimal, but that the effort still needs scrutiny. [From New Critique of Those Who Love to Criticize Academics]

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Current Affairs

Even the Dutch Talking Smack Now

islamoyankee

So let’s see, we have the guts to torture these people, shown them our power and how “strong” we are, but we are too weak to have them in our country. TPM Reader BB, a “proud citizen of the Netherlands,” says it’s time the U.S. man up and stop NIMBYing the Gitmo detainees: … Let’s take those war criminals (of which dozens have been tried and sentenced) from the Balkan conflict as an example. Here is a group that still has lots of support (Serbs primarily) all across Europe. They are in cells in the Hague which is driving distance…

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Women

The White (Wo)Man’s Burden

islamoyankee

Fatemeh F. drops some science: These wars actively undermined the work of feminist and women’s organizations within war-torn countries; in a time of conflict, everyone’s first priority is survival and winning, rather than concern about “women’s issues.” The Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan was founded for the societal and political advancement of Afghan women in 1977, well before the United States aimed to “liberate” them in 2001. Yet few feminist organizations recognized that RAWA, or any other group led by Afghan women, was fighting its own battle against the Taliban.

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