Currently browsing posts tagged: racism.

Maine newspaper apologizes for acknowledging Muslims are human

from Jillian C. York to rconnor@pressherald.com date Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 3:27 PM subject Shame on you for issuing an apology! Dear Mr. Connor: As a researcher of the media and its interplay with the Internet, I am ashamed of your paper’s actions in regard to the apology you issued after complaints arose from [...]

14.09.2010

2 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

Is Vaseline’s Skin-Lightening App Racist?

When I read danah boyd’s post on Vaseline’s skin lightening Facebook app, I was a bit disappointed; her post touched on all of the important issues surrounding the concept of skin lightening, but then landed on the premise that the debate around them, and more specifically the Vaseline app, are taking place primarily in (presumably [...]

23.07.2010

3 Comments

Israeli Court Calls Lying for Sex Rape

For those stumbling upon this story months later, there is new evidence that suggests that this was in fact a forcible rape, not a “rape of deception”.  At the same time, it is unlikely that the Kashur will be re-tried; thus, we may never know what transpired. I think it is important to consider the [...]

22.07.2010

7 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

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

Because Colonialism and Immigration are Basically the Same Thing

It’s common knowledge that birth rates tend to be higher in economically less developed places and lower in economically developed ones. For example, the birth rate in Italy is so low that the government offers money for fecundity. On the other hand, Niger, among the poorest countries in the world, is also the country with [...]

28.08.2009

6 Comments

On Evil

A day after I write this, an 88-year-old white supremacist walks into the Holocaust museum and shoots a security guard.  Racism comes from all sides. I believe strongly in unlimited free speech.  Yet one glance at the shooter’s  Web site gives me at least some insight into why countries like Germany and Austria have banned [...]

10.06.2009

3 Comments

On Racism and the Northern Elite

So there’s this video circulating the viral Web; a bunch of American Jews in Tel Aviv are interviewed by Max Blumenthal on the eve of President Obama’s speech in Cairo and are shown on camera spouting racial epithets and hateful words, directed at the president. I’ve actually heard people express surprise at such racist outbursts. [...]

09.06.2009

4 Comments

On Apartheid

No one can put it better for the masses than Juan Cole: Netanyahu wants the Palestinians to acknowledge that Israel is a “Jewish state.” I don’t understand this demand. Israel is not a Jewish state, it is a multi-cultural state, with about half a million non-Jewish Russians and Ukrainians and 20% of its population is [...]

24.05.2009

14 Comments