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ustwo:
interesting.
given what you chose to describe of your experience, i find it surprising that you maintain what seems like a position based on generalizations.
that your experience has brought you into contact with people whose view of their world and/or history is warped (compared to who?) has most to do with who you happen to have run into in your experience--it doesnt give you much to go on in making general arguments--most of the racists that i know claim there are exceptions to their rule in any event--i know x, he is a good guy, not like the others...others about whom you know nothing--it is the usual move that precedes the claim that the speaker is not a racist...
imputing some essential features to people whose commonality is a religion seems a pretty suspect thing to do--it doesnt allow you to understand anything. particularly these days, particularly on the question of "terrorism" when you have an administration and their lackies in the media who are more than willing to encourage people to not ask any questions about the nature of--say--globalizing capitalism, the economic pressure brought to bear on entire regions by it, etc. it does not allow you to say much of anything about politics--syria is a mostly secular regime--so is jordan--iran is quite different, but that has more to do with the nature of the shah's regime than it does with anything general about muslims...it does not allow you to say much of anything about questions of policy. it does not give you much room to think.
so while your experience is nice sounding, i guess, there is nothing in your account of it that actually bears on your politics, as you present them in this space.
btw--middle eastern countries have no monopoly on crappy education--outside affluent areas of ther states, the educational system is nothing to brag about--the church basement operations are if anything worse, every bit as bad as what you tlak about elsewhere, except they are "nice chrisitians" (a hilarious idea, given the history of the christianity, is the notion that it is not a violent religion)-- post responding to
but it seems your politics on questions concerning the middle east has more to do with justifications of the present administration and its inept policies, combined with a desire to see as many muslims far away dead as possible.
i also find it odd that you seem to have to step so far outside your own politics, your own kind of writing, to incorporate anything of your experience. i would assume that politics would connect to your experience in a coherent manner. i do not understand when it appears not to.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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