Terry Jones will not anger me.

 

I am a Muslim and Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center will not anger me.

I’m glad msn.com (as well as every other news organization) has made it a point to make news out of hate. Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center is set to burn copies of the Qur’an on the 11^th of September. We are supposed to hate him for this. But that is the easy way out. Who he is, and who he represents should be irrelevant to how we react to it. Our reactions are the only thing we can control in situations like this. He will most likely be fined by the city of Gainesville, FL for having a bonfire in public without a permit. And He may face repercussions for hate speech and for endangering troops and military efforts overseas.

Ask yourself if this is the most extreme example of prejudice or hate you’ve seen. Probably not. It is not easy for a Muslim explain the depth of importance the Qur’an has in his or her life to them. And this may be a form of blasphemy on my part, but it is a book with ink on paper. No human can ever burn away the meaning or the message.

This isn’t even a real issue. This is typical backwater redneck hick racism. This is just like I’ve mentioned before, media hype based around an Eid that may fall on the 11^th of September, and an Islamic center being built around the corner a few blocks away from New York ground zero. I’m not in any way, shape, or form saying that we should ignore what’s going on out there, I’m glad the news has made us aware of the trash that floats around. But for anyone who reads this, I say, do not settle for rage in your heart. Do not even settle for anger. There is only one feeling we should have for these people: pity.

I’m all for a good serving of violence when it is warranted and constructive, and has a clear and credible goal. Rage, malice, contempt, hate and other such emotions are surprisingly powerful motivators. Just make sure if you do feel these things you use them to do something positive for humanity and the world, (hate poverty for example). I don’t want to just prove, but I wanna cram it in the faces of people like Terry Jones that we will not let his message of hate fester in us, and breed more hate.

I pray that despite angry and possibly violent protests around the world, that Muslims (at least in the west) will not do or say anything that will make non-Muslims speaking out against Terry Jones regret their decision. For all of those against Pastor Jones, I thank you, but this message extends to you to, don’t let his hate affect you.

K,

Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr 2010

 

     I already know what some of you are thinking, “Two posts on your blog in one year?!” Yes, it has come to that. I’m not an ‘I have to give my opinion on everything’ type blogger, so I’m okay with what I post and how often. But let us get to the point…

 

     Today, August 11^th, is the first day of Ramadan, (for some of us anyways). The holy month of fasting during which we take time to consider peace, humility, charity, love, patience, and thankfulness. But I digress, this isn’t about that either.

     The month that ends with a grand celebration called Eid al-fitr. A day of celebrating at the end of the month of Ramadan, not only because we’re done and we can eat again on a regular basis, but because if we’ve taken the time, we’ve gone through a mental, physical and spiritual detox. Now some of you may have done the math and are the point: August 11^th + Thirty days = Oh My God!

 

Cue lightning, dramatic music, etc…

 

     Yah, Eid may be on the 11^th of September. I’m pointing this out for several reasons. First and foremost: Who cares? Only time will tell, but I have a few predictions of things that may happen. First, bloggers, and yes I understand the irony of this, will flood the internet with their opinions on all things religious and all things 9/11. Yawn. Next will be the tweet. Oh who of you tweeters will have the most prolific and thought provoking one hundred and forty characters? Who will, in one tweet, make sense of so much thought on something so irrelevant? Scoff. Talk show hosts may or may not bring it up because ‘it’s in the news’ or ‘it’s being talking about on the internet’. But considering the calibre of talk shows, without Conan, there’s little doubt that anything interesting will be said. The news media will work in tandem with religious loudmouths. On the one side there will be people demanding that Muslims change the (possible) date of Eid and apologize for 9/11 and so forth. On the other side you’ll have Muslims who may actually be willing to do this. Sigh. The only think more sad is that the media will consider this news worthy.

     Then the Colbert report and the Daily show will make their jokes. They will stand as the staples of the non issue. Or maybe that will be the punchline, that it is a non issue.

 

     This is all of course assuming that according to the lunar calender that Eid ul-Fitr will be on the 11^th of September. Some groups are already stating that Eid will be on the tenth. Whether or not this is an avoidance of the issue or if its part of the typical traditional divide on what night the moon will show, we may never know. Maybe I’m being paranoid and this is a preemptive warning about yet another tossing of opinions about truly unworthy news and take away from real social concerns, or maybe and I hope I am. I’m wrong and this will have not have been worth reading, more so.

 

K.

 

 

You just don’t Get It!: Facebook bans, Free Speech, and Cartoons.

 

An open message to the people who want to draw the Prophet, and the people who want to kill them.

It is a sad reality that people still confuse the issue of drawing the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) an issue of free speech when it is more an issue of racism. What is worse is that people don’t understand why it is an issue of racism even if the drawings were to be ‘positive’ or ‘non-offensive’. Now we have idiots who are banning websites and declaring war on things that just need to be talked about intelligently, or in this case simplified for the masses of goons on both side of the argument.

First off, I’ll say I’m Muslim, genetically Pakistani, and a South Park fan.

There is a blaring irony that a show of a such high intellectual calibre would miss or neglect the issue of racism and look at it so lopsided as an issue of free speech. With amazing episodes like ‘With apologies to Jesse Jackson’. ‘Cartoon Wars’, ‘Imagination land’, among others, this seems to be a blind spot in an otherwise enlightened writers room. The excerpts here are from the genius work of the South Park writers from episode 1201 ‘ With apologies to Jesse Jackson’. An episode in which Stan’s father uses the N word as a guess for a Wheel of fortune clue, and Stan ends up trying to apologize to the token black student Token.

Stan: Listen, Token, my dad isn’t a racist. He’s just stupid, all right? He just blurted out the N word, and it’s no big deal, okay?

Token: Uh, well, actually it is kindofa big deal, Stan.

Stan:Token, my dad wasn’t trying to be offensive. Just forget about it.

Token:That’s easy for you to say, Stan.

Stan: Yeah, but he didn’t say it in anger or anything like that.

Token: That doesn’t mean I can just be fine.

If you really think it’s not a big deal, then you really are ignorant.

For those of you wondering, yes, I am comparing the N word to a picture of the Prophet. There is a separate issue of the use of the N word, ownership issues and so forth, but for the most part you don’t say it, and if you do you’re obviously not saying it around black people.

Stan: Hey Token. I just wanted to let you know that everything is cool now. My dad apologized to

Jesse Jackson.

Token: Oh I see, so I’m supposed to feel all better now.

Stan: Well, yeah.

Token:You just don’t get it, Stan!

 Let me help clarify for those of you who ‘don’t get it’; the same way that there is no inoffensive way to say the N word, there is no inoffensive drawing of the Prophet Muhammad. Can you respectively offer a Muslim or Jew, halal(lawful) or kosher pork? No, you cannot, the very concept is a paradox. Obviously just because Muslims aren’t supposed to eat bacon that doesn’t mean other people won’t. But this is a little deeper than a dietary issue:

“You might believe in not being able to draw the prophet, but I don’t, so I’m gonna do it.”

Fine, but realize that’s like someone saying they don’t believe that words can never hurt like sticks and stones, so the N word in theory should be fine to say anywhere, any time.

Stan: Now look, Token, I’ve done everything I can to make this right! You have no reason to still

be mad!

Token: I have every reason to be mad! You just don’t get it!

Stan: I’m not responsible for what my dad did!

Token: No, but you can’t just pretend it never happened either!

Stan: What the hell do you want from me?!

Token: Nothing!

Stan: Then stop being mad!

Token: No!

 

 It is possible to think this could be an issue of free speech and ‘Mozlems need to lighten up’, and yeah, at times we do. I will be the first to admit that no one should be killed over a stupid drawing. I always think back to a lesson of the Prophet Muhammad where an old lady would throw garbage on him on a daily basis and he never flinched until the day she stopped throwing it, only to see if she was Ok. No, do not start throwing garbage on Muslims to test to see what they will do, that’s like poking an angry and hungry bear. You will get mauled, and you will deserve it for being stupid enough to exercise you ‘right’ to poke an angry bear. The point of the story is that he wouldn’t have killed over a picture defacing him, so Muslims of this generation shouldn’t either.

Stan: [comes to a certain realization] Wait a minute. That’s it! I don’t get it.

Kyle: …Huh?

Stan: Don’t you see, Kyle?? I don’t get it! [smiles, then walks up to Token] Token, I get it now. I

don’t get it. I’ve been trying to say that I understand how you feel, but, I’ll never

understand. I’ll never really get how it feels for a black person to have somebody use the N

word. I don’t get it.

Token: Now you get it, Stan.

Stan: Yeah. I totally don’t get it.

Token: Thanks, dude.

 There have been visual depictions of the Prophet among ancient Islamic empires and that Muslims are ignorant to those, or just don’t care enough to find and destroy them. Black people use the N word in rap music, does that make it Ok for us to say it all the time, or at all? There are black people who are offended by the use of the N word, even in a rap music context, similarly, there are Muslims who find those ancient depictions of the Prophet just as offensive as the ones made today, even if they aren’t meant to be offensive.

There is an issue here that is being overlooked though: the depiction of other Prophets. I love calling out other Muslims on their indifference to depictions of Jesus or Moses. But I suppose that they’ve been instilled with the notion that Muslims don’t really have any ownership over skinny white Jesus. Academics from different fields will probably tell you that Jesus was depicted that way to make poor pail skinned Christian peasants relate to the church. This brings up the question of why Moses is depicted the way he is. We know that South Park likes to stay true to its internal continuity, and that Moses originally appeared as a giant glowing face in the second or third season. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a coincidence that Moses appeared the way he did, but how would Jews react if he was depicted as a man? How would Muslims react?

Facebook.

Many of you may have heard that Facebook was, or may still be, banned in Pakistan for allowing a group called ‘Draw a Picture of Prophet Muhammad Day’ which somehow was able to allegedly enlist 44,000 people. All major internet providers disallowed Pakistani internet users from accessing Facebook, which must have pissed off more people (read youth), than the drawings of the Prophet did. Protesters blah blah blah’d about the evils of Facebook and called it a holy war or some nonsense, and I usually don’t care for these things, but I have to say I’m sort of impressed. Because aside from the fact that no one was killed, a welcomed change of pace, I’m also impressed that this was a form of protest that actually worked. It may appear to be a form of religious ‘censorship’, and I’m sure the western media will make it look like Muslims are after ‘your right to free speech’, but lets look at the chain of events:

Facebook allows a group promoting free speech and drawings of the Prophet, which we’ve already determined will always be offensive, if not racist. Due to Protests, Pakistani Government pressures the country’s internet providers to deny access to Facebook. The website loses millions of eager, addicted users who connect with millions maybe billions abroad. That is a big loss to traffic and ad revenue. Being hit where it matters, the bank accounts, Facebook takes down the group in question and capitalism prevails. I wish I could say reason, or democracy prevailed, I really wish I could, but it’s probably just not the case.

We can only allow the rights of the people who want to draw Muhammad, if we also give those same rights of ‘free speech’ to Racial supremacists, eg. KKK and Child pornographers, eg. NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association). On the same note, those people who think this is some sort of holy war won by the grace of Allah, you’re morons. This argument was won by the greed of the people running Facebook.

Now, can we please stop drawing pictures of the Prophet so that people stop getting angry and move onto something new? Peace be upon you, and maybe my next post won’t take a year or so.

Khy,

Tools ‹ Teenage Mom Magazine — WordPress

 

Ok, so, some of you may be thinking “Teenage Mom Magazine”, what kind of name is that for a blog that has little to nothing to do with teen moms?” For those of you who think you get it, skip this article and go directly to the comments to make fun of anyone who doesn’t get it. For the rest of you I’ll just spell it out, but if you do need this much of an explanation, you should feel a little shamed that you didn’t take the time to think enough about it.

 

I work in a book store in which there is a massive number of magazines, the majority of which I think are useless. There are those I think have a negative effect on society, and about a dozen that have actual worth. What I realized though, was that a magazine needs not any true worth to be published. Its success does not rely on how many sell or how many bitches, (yes bitches), pick them up flip through them and leave them in a corner in the opposite end of the store (this happens in every store). The magazine will succeed, by which I mean make money, if it sells enough ad space.

Ad space is bough by companies trying to sell crap, but that’s capitalism, fine. A question crossed my mind: Do the ads exist for the magazine or do the magazines exist for the ads?

If you like something like knitting, or bead jewelry, wood working, art, or just shoes, then you’ll think that all 112 magazines dedicated to the thing you like are there to expand on your hobby/interest. I for one was interested in comics, Wizard magazine was the only one, but even that’s not worth reading much, I haven’t picked up a copy in years now. But the stupid gits who decide they need to pick up all 12 different mags on hair styles (and leave them in a corner in the opposite end of the store) may think that all 12 mags are necessary. This could not be further from the truth.

 

Are you friggin kidding me?

There is no need for so many magazines on hobbies like knitting, shoes, hair, or soccer. Absolutely none whatsoever. But they will not go away because they make money and they make money because there is a niche market. Markets for everything. Markets which can be advertized to. Those markets are running out. Nowadays there’s even books on how everything is super-individualized, sub-individualized (‘the sexy part of you will like this’, ‘the animal abuser in you will squeal with joy’, your inner 1/68^th transgender alien will flip for this’) and they’ve even decided to create new markets, convincing people they’ve been interested in something when really they are not. And lets face it there’s a lot of complete friggin’ morons out there who will say “Yes, I have been looking for decorating ideas for my new condo electronically enhanced rooftop art deco french countryside retro Italian inspired collapsible tool shed.” It only sounds insane till you realize there are people that stupid out there, and they are out there.

 

 

 

The newest Market that people who need new markets are trying to legitimize and bring into the mainstream are teen moms. Don’t believe me just because ‘Parent Fail‘, and ‘Latte Mom bimonthly on child negligence and shitty parenting‘ aren’t on newsstands? Well don’t worry, I was fortunate to come across this brilliant research conducted by the bright people at “Steve’s World”. And because you’ve read so much, don’t worry, this next part comes in moving pictures with sound:

This video came following these:

Holy crap, we are doomed. Not only is there crappy news, but shitty reporters presenting it.

Wow. Research shows this is “Not good”. Oh my god, hope for the future is now at an all time low. “I don’t think enough parents are telling their young girls that they shouldn’t get pregnant.”

If you haven’t gotten it yet, the title of the blog is to point out the absurdity of mainstreaming something like teenage motherhood to try and sell things you know… to teen moms,… and stuff like that.

Khaiam Dar.

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