Friday, October 26, 2007

Pictures of Purvis

This is the character my sister thinks I most resemble. At least back when I had braces. She said I have to post it on my blog. And I always do everything she tells me to.

Compare this to me today. Yeah, baby!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Racism? eh.

I just read about the incident at George Washington University. Apparently, a conservative student group is hosting something called "Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week," (nice, huh?) featuring a bunch of speakers who have written widely on How Much Muslims Suck. Monday morning, a bunch of totally over-the-top posters were plastered all over campus that said, "Hate Muslims? So Do we!!" along with a diagram of a "typical Muslim" mentioning features such as "hatred of women," "suicide vest," and "hidden AK-47." Much backlash occurred because of this, and the conservative student group in question denied all involvement, saying "We neither endorse nor support any form of hate speech," (Oh?) "rather we promote freedom and liberty."

It turned out the culprits were seven students OPPOSING the "Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week," and if you look at the fine print on the poster, it says it was " brought to you by Students for Conservativo-Fascism Awareness." It also refers to a BBC documentary called "The Power of Nightmares," which notes strong similarities between the rise of the American Neo-Conservative movement and that of the radical Islamist movement. Following the backlash, the students released this statement, taking responsibility for the incident and explaining that the whole point of their actions was to expose the absurdity and racism of "Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week."

I'm not going to comment on the incident itself, but I wanted to point out something I see a lot in the Muslim community, that really gets on my nerves--why do people keep saying anti-Muslim bigotry is "racist?" Yes, I understand, that most Muslims are people of color, but not all are. If someone (presumably a white person) directed an Islamophobic slur in my direction, for instance, that wouldn't be racist, because I'm white! You could argue that Judaism is a race, but Islam... not so much. Islamophobes are often racist also, but I don't think that makes Islamophobia the same as racism. Islam is a religion, folks! And when we call anti-Muslim bigots racist, I believe this weakens the argument against them. Or makes it look like maybe we don't speak English so well... All throughout the aforementioned letter, the word "racist" is tossed about freely. I really wish they had just said "bigoted" instead. I think the statement would be taken more seriously, and it would be more accurate, and more powerful. That's all.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Doctor to honor Ramadan rituals in space

Coooool!!!!

A Malaysian doctor who will spend the last days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in space has vowed to follow the rituals of his faith even as he hurtles around Earth at 17,000 mph.

Empire State Building to go green for Eid

New York's iconic Empire State Building is to be lit up green from Friday in honor of the Muslim holiday of Eid, the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar marking the end of Ramadan, officials said.

"This is the first time that the Empire State Building will be illuminated for Eid, and the lighting will become an annual event in the same tradition of the yearly lightings for Christmas and Hannukah," according to a statement.

Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month, is expected to be celebrated in New York from Friday, depending on when the new moon is sighted, and the city's tallest skyscraper will remain green until Sunday.

Built in the early 1930s, the 443-meter-tall (1,454-feet-tall) Empire State Building was first lit up with colored lighting in 1976, when red, white and blue lights were used to mark the American Bicentennial.

An estimated seven million Muslims live in the United States.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

So? What's the problem?

Japan's Agriculture Ministry reprimanded six bureaucrats after an internal probe found they spent work hours contributing to Wikipedia on topics unrelated to farm issues — including 260 entries about cartoon robots.