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too much and too little |
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And now I can't find the damned CDs.
Oh, but it brings you back. Maybe it never went away. Standing with your arms aloft in the darkness of the crowd and hearing the strains of Don't Look Back In Anger is a majesty all of its own. If only it had happened 10 years ago, when I knew all the lyrics, when we used to cross a bridge in Bukit Timah singing Champagne Supernova, feeling our hearts quicken whenever the chords Noel strung and the words Liam sung (words that had no discernible meaning or context and were therefore sacred) marched through the radio. Before I grew up, grew out, grew old. But maybe I wouldn't have appreciated it.
Pussy Projectiles
To breathe Bangkok's air is to inhale a strange, swirling cocktail of benzine, ethanol and Di-Dehydroepiandrosterone. The effect, according to controlled observation, is the strange desire to hum songs named "Lyla". There is no other explanation for walking home with yet another Oasis CD. I also blame olfaction for the collective state of mind the travelling group possessed when we decided that it would be a good idea to sit six people on one tuk-tuk. On farangs, apparently, it induces fence-jumping, drunkenness, lewdness, a general disdain for all other cultural norms and other uncivilising behaviour. But the worst symptom the poisonous blend of gases that pass for an atmosphere induces in the Western tourist is undoubtedly the hallucination that Asia really, really wants to see hairy man-tits that have been pinkified in the Pattaya sun. Bangkok. It's alive! But too alive for me. I imagine wading through a cancerous tumour would not be too unlike walking through Patpong. With a sufficient amount of Euro one could shove anything he likes up anybody's Baht. In what other place would one be terrified of picking up a ping pong ball off a street? But I liked Bangkok, almost as much as I hated it. E.g. I liked the cheap massages parlours but Nobody massaged my groin. Nobody massaged my groin. NOBODY MASSAGED MY GROIN. NOBODY MASSAGED MY GROIN!  Nobody goes to Bangkok to massage their own.
OKAY now I'm confused
Stranger and stranger. http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/2006/02/egyptian-newspaper-pictures-that.html This Egyptian newspaper published the comics back in Oct 2005 to no real uproar. I can only see one reason for the long delayed outrage despite the fact thousands of Muslims must have already seen the pics in Egypt, without finding the need to go out and burn stuff: This is the Muslim's world punishing Denmark for giving us Michael Learns To Rock.
Two different essays, one I liked, one I didn't
Both were written by Muslim academics teaching in Western countries. I liked the one published in Pakistan's The Daily Times far more than I liked the one in Saudi Arabia's Arab News. I will freely admit it is because I agree with the former and not the latter. I also think it is because the latter isn't internally consistent to me. But one is always more critical of those things one disagrees. So make up your own mind. Assoc Prof Istiaq Ahmed for The Daily Times Extract: But the freedom of expression should be exercised with greater sensitivity when it refers to founders of religion such as the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Since Muslims do not accept that their Prophet should be presented in a pictorial form or in a caricature it would be wise to avoid doing so. On the other hand, a historical-sociological analysis of the Islamic heritage needs to be attempted so that instead of an anti-intellectual dogma killing all critique of the past a more balanced and humane account is provided. It is time that serious Western and Muslim scholars try to present a more nuanced picture of Islam. Muslim extremists have actively contributed to presenting Islam as an intolerant and violent culture. Why give only lip service to past achievements? We keep hearing that Islam respects other religions and the example given is of Hazrat Umar who when he visited Jerusalem in 638 AD as the caliph of Islam after Palestine had been annexed by Muslims from the Byzantine Empire politely declined the invitation of the Christian Patriarch to worship in a church, saying that this might encourage some Muslims to abuse that favour. Today fanatical Muslims are killing innocent tourists and setting fire to churches as has happened many times in Pakistan. Hindu girls are forcibly converted to Islam and Ahmadis are gunned down while praying. It is unfortunate that mischievous individuals and other vested interests exploit such situations to present Islam only as a violent creed? The solution is not censorship and suppression of dissent and criticism, but educating people to exercise the freedoms of expression and religion with greater sensitivity and discretion. Adjunct Prof Nasim Zehra for Arab News However that the notion of freedom of expression cannot be translated into unlimited freedom to abuse another's faith is basic common sense. But also the way many Europeans have selectively applied the principle of freedom of expression is intriguing. When the ancient Buddhas in Afghanistan were criminally destroyed by the Taleban, the Europeans screamed murder the loudest. We all did too in the Muslim world. My opinion: He fails to realise an obvious point -- a great deal of the resentment is a reaction to the violent, far-reaching and fundamentalist-driven protest in the Muslim world. I suspect newspapers would not have needed to show solidarity otherwise. There were no Buddhists going on the streets burning embassies and screaming murder because of the Buddha statues. Perhaps Europeans would have been more willing to condemn the acts otherwise. I know, for one, that my own perspective was shaped by the violence.Are the Europeans so generous in applying their concept of freedom of expression at the cost of causing great pain and injury to Muslim world? Is it because their bohemianism has a method to it? The method is to attack and disrespect those who are generally viewed as the politically, scientifically and economically the downtrodden of the human race - the weak and the lambasted, the violated and the angry, the reactive and seething? These are not the ways of a civilized people. These are ways toward pushing for a grand and mad conflict of civilizations. Will the European media see wisdom is stepping back and reviewing their dangerous notion of freedom of expression? For now the limited apologies that have come were perhaps prompted by the widespread anger and protests emanating from the Muslim world. But wisdom and true civilized behavior demands that we internalize the limits of our own freedoms where it begins to undermine the freedom of another. While reading this part I wondered if this was a carefully veiled attack on Arab predispositions to caricaturing Jews and Americans in the most disgusting of manners. Maybe. I mean, the last paragraph makes no sense otherwise: of course, we have to internalise our freedoms when it infringes on that of another. But how does publishing pictures of YOUR religious founder infringe on YOUR freedom not to draw YOUR religious founder? Your freedom not to be offended? What exactly is he talking about? It is your taboo to observe, not mine. Perhaps he should internalise the limit of his freedom to not include newspapers in secular lands.
Funny YTMND gif AND moderate apology
This link contains some of the offending comics, but it is pretty damn funny. None of the fake ones the nutty activists slipped in to rouse their constituents, of course. But I'm just linking it, okay. You don't have to click on it. Also, for the dickheads who say moderate Muslims never speak out, here's: http://www.sorrynorwaydenmark.com/ (Ok, it's kinda dumb, because you can't really apologise for what other people do, but it's also really cool.) In the middle of all the mayhem surrounding the Danish cartoons controversy, a group of Arab and Muslim youth have set up this website to express their honest opinion, as a small attempt to show the world that the images shown of Arab and Muslim anger around the world are not representative of the opinions of all Arabs. We whole-heartedly apologize to the people of Denmark, Norway and all the European Union over the actions of a few, and we completely condemn all forms of vandalism and incitement to violence that the Arab and Muslim world have witnessed. We hope that this sad episode will not tarnish the great friendship that our peoples have fostered over decades.
Funny quotes from MSNBC
MSNBC STORY "Just because you can say something doesn't mean you should say something," the teenager said. "If somebody showed a picture of the pope with a bomb on his head, that would cause a great public outcry. Nobody would be talking about freedom of speech." Actually, most people wouldn't give a fuck, yo. Here, let me draw one:  Oh, and just to add, how about one for gay Jesus?  But this takes the cake: "Technically, you have the right to walk into a crowded theater and yell 'Fire,' " said Uzma Unus, 34, a teacher in Sterling who is also vice president of ADAMS (All Dulles Area Muslim Society). "But is that responsible?" What? Dude, don't you know that in America, you don't ACTUALLY have the right to walk into a crowded theatre and yell Fire? You could have made a much better point here, pal.
The Israeli Viewpoint
 Jerusalem Post editorial excerpt: The cartoon was disgracefully insensitive. It depicted a barbed wire Star of David in which innocent Palestinian men, women and children were trapped. By the time it appeared in the Seattle Times in July 2003, hundreds of Israeli civilians had been mercilessly slaughtered by Palestinian terrorists in what they call the "second intifada." But compared to what is typically found in the Arab press, cartoonist Tony Auth's effrontery was fairly bland. Arab political "humor" knows no bounds. A cartoon in Qatar's Al-Watan depicted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon drinking from a goblet of Palestinian children's blood. Another, in the Egyptian Al-Ahram al-Arabi showed him jackbooted, bloody-handed and crushing peace. blood-suckers. Just this Saturday, Britain's Muslim Weekly published a caricature of a hooked-nose Jew - Ehud Olmert.
Fucking extremists
 Why aren't liberal Muslims speaking up? Maybe because the extremists are assholes. According to a BBC report, two Jordanian editors, hats off to them, re-published the pix, and wrote in their editorial: "Muslims of the world be reasonable," wrote Mr Momani. "What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?" Of course, the next thing that happens is THEY GET ARRESTED.Free Shihan and al-Mehwar editors Jihad Momani and Hisham Khalidi! Unconfirmed reports say an imam in Norway preached that people should calm down and talk. The next day his 12-year-old son got beaten up by Muslim extremists and he received death traps. These guys DO realise that the Buddha and Jesus Christ have been made by people into FREAKING DILDOS without anyone burning down any embassy?
Freedom Beer?
Danish Embassy torched in Syria
 (It houses the Swedish and Chilean embassies too. Too bad for them.) (oh and the Norwegian embassy got burnt too) -- I liked the Globe And Mail editorial. Whether or not you agree with decision by Jyllands-Posten to publish the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, the reaction in the Islamic world has been far out of scale to any offence given. I liked the Toronto Star report too : In recent years, some Christians have been deeply offended by modern "art" that pictures Jesus's face on the lid of a "toilet altar." That has a Crucifix immersed in urine or offers a picture of the Virgin Mary smeared with elephant dung. Some see such images as a blasphemous affront to faith and an attack on believers. But the American and British artists who produced these images were free to put them on display, and they have been widely reproduced. (...) Many Muslims who are angry come from Arab states where the press routinely prints cartoons linking the Jewish faith to violence. Recent ones have made a Star of David into a terrorist's face, and have shown an orthodox Jew blowing flame from a ram's horn to scorch an Islamic shrine. Where is the outrage at these images by people who are upset by the caricatures of Mohammed? But the best one, I thought, was from The Washington Post, a lucid, balanced summary of what many of us have been thinking and yet have been unable to articulate without being inflammatory or over-simplistic. I won't quote it because I think it deserves to be read in full. Here: The Washington Post
LET US TURN TO LIFE OF BRIAN
Matthias: Look, I don't think it should be a sin, just for saying "Jehovah". [Everyone gasps] Jewish Official: You're only making it worse for yourself! Matthias: Making it worse? How can it be worse? Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah! Jewish Official: I'm warning you! If you say "Jehovah" one more time (gets hit with rock) RIGHT! Who did that? Come on, who did it? Stoners: She did! She did! (suddenly speaking as men) He! He did! He! Jewish Official: Was it you? Stoner: Yes. Jewish Official: Right... Stoner: Well you did say "Jehovah. " [Crowd throws rocks at the stoner] Jewish Official: STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! STOP IT! All right, no one is to stone _anyone_ until I blow this whistle. Even... and I want to make this absolutely clear... even if they do say, "Jehovah. " [Crowd stones the Jewish Official to death] Now if only they had Monty Python doing those cartoons maybe there wouldn't be such an uproar. REMEMBER: A lack of funny is the number one cause of riots. 
Danish Cookies
Sheesh man, are cartoons in a single newspaper worth declaring holy war against an entire country? Aren't some of these guys people who love the Taliban, who also happened to destroy a bunch of ancient, sacred Buddhist statues? Oh yes, the newspaper was retarded and insensitive, but seriously. Reminds me a bit about us Chinese and the Japanese, but I don't think I've ever seen that level of intensity. Anyway, was reading the Washington Post report about how several newspapers across Europe are taking up the torch of press freedom by reprinting the cartoons (though I think this comes pretty close to crying fire in a packed theatre), I found that the newspaper France-Soir reprinted 12 caricatures of Muhammad and proclaimed on its front page: "Yes, we have the right to caricature God". It also showed a new cartoon of Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Muslim gods floating on a cloud over Earth. "Don't grumble Muhammad ... we have all been caricatured here," a smiling Christian God tells the angry-looking prophet. Come on. You must admit that's pretty funny.We've all laughed at Jesus jokes. Come on, sheesh. Blasphemy is fun. The weirdest thing: Armed militants in the Palestinian territories this week warned Danish, Norwegian and Swedish citizens to leave the Gaza Strip and West Bank or risk being killed. (The Telegraph) WTF, Norwegian and Swedish? What did they do? Reminds me of a King Of The Hill skit: Hank-"So are you Chinese or Japanese?" Kahn-"I lived in California last 20 years but ahh first come from Laos." Hank-"huh?" Kahn-"Laos, we Laotian." Bill-"The ocean, what ocean?" Kahn-"We are Laotian, from Laos STUPID, its a land locked country in Southeast Asia. Its between Vietnam and Thailand ok, population 4.7million." Hank-"So are you Chinese or Japanese." Replace names with suitably Arab and Danish ones.
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