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roachboy · 07-27-2005, 01:29 PM

what i meant, powerclown, is that it is the response i might have expected in general (in a more cynical moment no less), but not from you.
that is not trolling--i offered an interpretation of your post and, in the end, asked you if you meant it or not.
i was surprised--your post seems to diverge considerably from other interactions we have had around parallel questions.
don't throw around accusations of trolling without at least some basis, pc. it looks like you are simply trying to make a conversation stop.

as for your counter concerning media coverage of the american gulag (i'll leave the scare quotes aside, though in general i wouldnt use the term--a question of scale and degree--accuracy even...) what you list are actions undertaken by american troops/contractors that reveal the extent to which religious symbols are being used as instruments to break prisoners down during interrogation within the legal black hole (i like that term better)--these incidents are entirely about signifiers and the official american relation to them as performed by various individuals in the context of interrogation. what these incidents point to is not good--but it is about problems within the american military and its relation to islam, not to islam itself.

not a bit of that is about making more complex--or even starting to consider--the complexity of the muslim community in the states or anywhere else--none of it is about the obvious fact that the vast majority of muslims do not support the actions of these small fringe groups that undertake actions like flying jets into the trade center.
in fact, your examples do not even begin to address the central problem--that in order to build support for this war on terror, the administration has had to skirt dangerously close to conflating it with a war on muslims. at times, this was justified with reference to the wholly ridiculous clash of civilizations line drawn from samuel huntington--you remember that--i think you invoked it yourself on occaision (my meory could be faulty on this--if so, mea culpa)....

07-27-2005, 01:29 PM	#23 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	what i meant, powerclown, is that it is the response i might have expected in general (in a more cynical moment no less), but not from you. that is not trolling--i offered an interpretation of your post and, in the end, asked you if you meant it or not. i was surprised--your post seems to diverge considerably from other interactions we have had around parallel questions. don't throw around accusations of trolling without at least some basis, pc. it looks like you are simply trying to make a conversation stop. as for your counter concerning media coverage of the american gulag (i'll leave the scare quotes aside, though in general i wouldnt use the term--a question of scale and degree--accuracy even...) what you list are actions undertaken by american troops/contractors that reveal the extent to which religious symbols are being used as instruments to break prisoners down during interrogation within the legal black hole (i like that term better)--these incidents are entirely about signifiers and the official american relation to them as performed by various individuals in the context of interrogation. what these incidents point to is not good--but it is about problems within the american military and its relation to islam, not to islam itself. not a bit of that is about making more complex--or even starting to consider--the complexity of the muslim community in the states or anywhere else--none of it is about the obvious fact that the vast majority of muslims do not support the actions of these small fringe groups that undertake actions like flying jets into the trade center. in fact, your examples do not even begin to address the central problem--that in order to build support for this war on terror, the administration has had to skirt dangerously close to conflating it with a war on muslims. at times, this was justified with reference to the wholly ridiculous clash of civilizations line drawn from samuel huntington--you remember that--i think you invoked it yourself on occaision (my meory could be faulty on this--if so, mea culpa).... __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 07-27-2005 at 01:34 PM..