This blog is now read by more machines than humans: RSS robots, spam-laying insectopoids, echoes of blog-gathering .edu projects. This essentially is the state of affairs that all human activities w
Cleaning Up the Nation
Austin Bay:
If Air America were a conservative radio network its corrupt funding trail and cynical abuse of a poverty program would be front page news at the NY Times and full-time mega-scandal at
Rank Materialism
Freedom. I am now the proud new owner of a Gateway 6020GZ laptop, perfect for students and others with limited means. I can now go into a Starbucks or a Barnes & Noble and look like I'm doing some
Fallujah Fonda
Uh-oh. From the Telegraph comes this exciting news:
Jane Fonda is returning to anti-war activism and embarking on a cross-country tour to call for an end to US military operations in Iraq.
Acros
John Pilger: Partner in Terrorism
In an outrageous piece of terrorist propaganda appearing on the cover of today's New Statesman, John Pilger puts the blame for the 7/7 London attacks not on the terrorists, but rather on Tony Blair:
Month 1/2003
You and Your Big Speech
So SotU 2 happened. It was a good speech, not a great speech. It reassured those who were already there, gently persuaded those who were looking for persuading, and did nothing for those who were alre
Defending Communists
David Neiwert responds and then responds again to my response to his initial response to my multiculturalism post. Well it turns out that what I'm really doing is fighting on behalf of white nationali
War on Dissent, episode 87b
Check this out. I'm taken to task by an actual journalist. David Neiwert, in a post called The War on Dissent, episode 87, says my piece From Multiculturalism to Anti-Americanism in Six Easy Steps is
Blogger Anti-War Coverage
Anna of BBB has her usual sarcastic commentary and some great original photographs of today's anti-war protest in DC. Check it out. I think that I have a better feel for the demonstrations from readi
Attack of the Giant Puppet Heads!
The puppets, the puppets! The giant puppet heads! It's good to see that the anti-war movement is moving forward and is right in tune w
From Multiculturalism to Anti-Americanism in Six Easy Steps
There is a connection between multiculturalism and anti-Americanism. But how can acceptance of the fact that there are no absolutes when it comes to cultural truths lead to hatred of the United States
The Islam Show, Pt. II
From FrontPage (link via Sullivan):
"So why is it somehow all right to offend Catholics and not Muslims? It's a question of relative fear, of the (perceived or real) difference between facing an angr
Public Solutions
Here's a line from Michael Pollan's NYT review of Greg Critser's new book Fat Land, which is about how fat Americans are:
So instead of seriously entertaining any public solutions to what he has so c
The Islam Show
In the Western tradition, nothing is sacred. Everything can be and eventually is criticized and ridiculed. Politics, religion, heroism, honor, truth- none are immune. If you happen to take something s
Saudi Arabia = Al Qaeda
Well, not in the details, but for practical purposes, yes.
The report asserts that the Saudi funds represent the most important source of financing for Al Qaeda and that Riyad, pressured by leading o
On the Other Hand
Remember when Bush made his "Axis of Evil" State of the Union address and there were all those complaints that Iraq, Iran, and North Korea were different and we shouldn't treat them the same? From the
Happy New Year To You Too!
Along with the new year, this blog has a new look. Whaddaya think? No doubt it's buggy as hell on other OS/browsers. And you need JavaScript enabled. If you feel so inclined, drop me an email or comme
The Islam Show
In the Western tradition, nothing is sacred. Everything can be and eventually is criticized and ridiculed. Politics, religion, heroism, honor, truth- none are immune. If you happen to take something seriously, you must realize that many others don't take it seriously at all, and they don't have to either. These others who disagree with you may occassionally be quite blunt about it too, which is to say obnoxious. And the West is becoming ever more profane- pornographic even- about it.
Compare the controversies surrounding popular criticism of Christianity in the West with controversies over criticism of Islam. Well, there's not much of a comparison, really. "Life of Brian", "The Last Temptation of Christ", "Piss Christ". These cover satire, controversial interpretations, and scatological commentary. Oh, and there's "Jesus Christ Superstar" for all your musical needs. And if you like your Jesus gay, as I do, there's "Corpus Christi". Christianity could only fight these assaults with words and (rather limp) protests. It couldn't silence or threaten or kill anybody. Compare this to the Muslim reaction to "The Satanic Verses" or Nigerian reporter Isioma Daniel's innocuous remark about Mohammed. Fatwas are cheap.
One part of the solution has to be the removal of Islam from its place beyond criticism, satire, and ridicule.
Much of Western academia seems not very helpful when it comes to scholarly criticism, with a few notable exceptions. For the most part, their criticism is reserved for our own Western institutions. In a perverse kind of Orientalism, Western multi-culti's generally don't criticize Islam, which must above all be treated with repsect; who are we to judge and the rest of it. That's a mistake.
But the rest of us can surely engage in unscholarly satire and ridicule. Some artist with a full bladder ought to tackle Islam's symbols. Add Mohammed as a character on "South Park"; he can have an affair with Jesus. Put him on Broadway: all-singing, all-dancing, five performances a day.
And after the Western media machine has completely processed Islam, cheapened its symbols and tenets, and exhausted that rich content stream, we can go back to Elvis or the Amish or something. But until then, we can have fun laughing at them.
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Brian O'Connell.
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