Via the BBC, Hans Rosling examines the correlation between income growth and life expectancy in 200 countries over the last 200 hundred years in an amazing animation. Take a look:
[From 200 Years In 4 Minutes]
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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
Geert Wilders and Free Speech
Aziz beat me to it. Geert Wilders was arrested for attacking Islam. Dumb idea. As Aziz says “the best answer to bad speech is more speech.” The best thing to happen now is that a group of Dutch Muslims comes forward to his defense. Islam is bigger than one person, whether OBL or Geert Wilders. It can take care of itself. It’s Muslims who need to care of ourselves, and that doesn’t mean supporting dumb ideas.
New CNN Piece: What Tsarnaev gets wrong about Islam – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs
My Take: What Tsarnaev gets wrong about Islam – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bomb suspects, reportedly wrote that “an attack against one Muslim is an attack against all” on the wall of the boat in which he was hiding from police last month. Variations of this refrain seem to be common among angry young Muslim men, especially those who are attracted to violence. However, such a view ignores history, religious thinking and contemporary reality. It should be seen as a crass advertising slogan rather than a declaration of belief.