Currently browsing posts tagged: Islam.

Personal Reflections on a Decade

I hadn’t planned to write about 9/11. In fact, I’d planned to avoid commenting on the day entirely, instead choosing to reflect quietly as I have each day since 2001. It’s not that I oppose public reflection, no, this year it’s quite the converse: I’m by chance at a conference in NYC this weekend and [...]

11.09.2011

2 Comments

Did firing Juan Williams shut down a conversation about Muslims in America?

I don’t believe I live in a country where Muslims are seen as ordinary human beings.  It’s nearly impossible for the media to have a serious discussion of Islam in America; when they try, they’re seen as “sympathizers.”  Journalists with bigoted views toward Muslims are allowed to say whatever they want with impunity; just look [...]

21.10.2010

19 Comments

Is This America?

Yesterday, referring to the hate speech run amok against Muslims in this country, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof asked the question, “Is this America?”  Citing the recent words of bigot de l’année Marty Peretz of The New Republic, Kristof wonders aloud where all of the lessons learned in the past say, sixty years, have [...]

12.09.2010

3 Comments

This isn’t fear, this is hate.

Not too long ago, at the late end of a conference day in some faraway country, I was having a beer with a journalist whose work (and choice of journalistic employers) I respect.  Palestine being much the topic of the day, our conversation started there and quickly evolved into media bias and American perceptions of [...]

23.08.2010

21 Comments

Palin and the First Amendment

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is being posited as the latest in a victim of liberal attacks on free speech, most notably by Sarah Palin, who claimed on Twitter this week that Schlessinger was forced to step aside “bc her 1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence” her and that that was “not American and not [...]

20.08.2010

3 Comments

Why I Don’t Understand America: The Illustrated Edition

Could someone please explain to me why American Muslims–a great number of whom live in New York–should be concerned with the feelings of an Alaskan when it comes to an Islamic community center (not a mosque, a community center) being built in Manhattan? I don’t understand why Cordoba House is a problem, I don’t understand [...]

18.07.2010

9 Comments

Why the UK Home Office’s “Pro-Islamic” Blog Study is Wrong

Update: Al Jazeera published a modified version of this post, complete with interviews with As’ad Abukhalil, Rime Allaf, and Edip Yuksel. CONTEST is the United Kingdom’s counter-terrorism strategy, with a stated aim to “reduce the risk to the UK and its interests from international terrorism.” The UK’s Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU) is set [...]

26.03.2010

4 Comments

Jason Calacanis Shows His (Horribly Bigoted) Stripes

Here’s no secret: Jason Calacanis doesn’t impress me. Sure, the dude can make money (but so could Bernie Madoff), but as far as ideas go? I’m underwhelmed, seriously and truly underwhelmed. So today, when I spotted this delicious rant of Jason’s on TechCrunch, I was quite pleased to be among the first in line to [...]

04.01.2010

55 Comments

A democracy is only as righteous as its citizens

Many people are outraged at the Swiss people’s decision to ban minarets from their skylines, a decision made by referendum. From the outset, let me say that I am wholly opposed to this decision, just as I am opposed to the burqa ban in France, Egypt’s ban on building churches, several Muslim countries’ bans on conversion, and Saudi Arabia’s banning of female hair. I fundamentally believe in the right of anyone to practice their religion, anywhere (though I certainly prefer they keep it to themselves). I should also say that two wrongs don’t make a right: I’ve heard plenty of statements along the lines of “good for the Swiss, they’re standing up to Islam” from people who, were the tables turned, would call inequality if a majority-Muslim nation does the same thing.

01.12.2009

10 Comments

stuff white people do: mistake greeks for arabs, arabs for muslims, and muslims for terrorists

This is just a little something the wonderful Macon D of anti-racism blog stuff white people do allowed me to guest post over there…For those of you who may have missed it. ***** Last week, a few days after the horrific events of Fort Hood, a Marine reservist in Florida mistook a visiting Greek Orthodox [...]

20.11.2009

7 Comments

Religion is Personal

In a post I wrote recently for Global Voices, I covered the efforts of the Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles, a new Moroccan activist group that recently made headlines for eating in public during Ramadan.  In effect, they broke the law; Article 222 of the Moroccan Penal Code stipulates that a Muslim who openly [...]

17.09.2009

22 Comments

How to Write About Muslim Countries

I’m a little peeved at myself for my last post…I don’t regret what I said, but it was more self-centered than I would have liked, and left out the incredible parts of living abroad. With that in mind, I’m going to look today at another article – Judy Bacharach’s “Twice Branded – Western Women in [...]

05.09.2009

21 Comments