Link – i24 Video – Interview – Mosab Hassan Yousef

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Political Psychology, Political Spychology, Religion

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Posted 11/30/2014.

On YouTube, it is an i24 video.

On BackChannels — if this post works — it has a context an adventure in political psychology and the interplay between personality — “malignant narcissism” — and controlled information space (language, linguistics, propaganda, gaslighting, political theater, manipulation, etc.) and political power that drives despotism, fascism, sadism.

Our global Internet with English as lingua franca has become the largest “mirror, mirror on the wall” in political history, and it reflects through and back to a political elite, from pundits worldwide to leaders worldwide.  Its reach is limited, of course, by language barriers and Internet filtering.  That leaves the despotic putting on a show for still captive constituents, but they know the barriers remain nonetheless permeable.  Bilingual national speakers, extended diaspora — including Palestinian diaspora — encounter these pages and videos as much and as well as anyone else.

There is always a “next new world”, and we’re heading for it even while some turn back and revel in a long ago darkness; for others, the dawn spreads out before them and everyone.

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Link – 500 Risky Words – The Onion

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by in Links

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According to totally and utterly depressing early reports, given the tragic deaths of 12 people, it is impossible to say with absolute certainty that this 500-word article will not make those involved in its writing—and potentially even those not involved—the targets of brutal and unconscionable violence.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/it-sadly-unclear-whether-this-article-will-put,37715/ – 1/9/2015.

Link – On Criticizing Islam

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by in Links

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Detesting ideas and hating people are not the same thing. Muslims are, and should be, protected equally under the liberal principles everyone else enjoys. Yet, for some reason, when it comes to our discourse, Islam is given a special dispensation from the standards that apply to everyone else who operates under these rules. A criticism of a faith – and the customs and philosophy that go with it – has been transformed into an act of racism.

http://thefederalist.com/2015/01/09/stop-pretending-terrorism-has-nothing-to-do-with-islam/ – 1/9/2015.

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Reprint: “Where is Molly Norris”

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Free Speech, Islamic Small Wars

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Original posted in 2010 in response to Molly Norris, a Seattle cartoon, who had encountered much of the threat visited on Charlie Hebdo (#JeSuisCharlie).  I had retrieve this piece for Facebook use before Fox got to the same thing today —

“Seattle cartoonist still in hiding following 2010 Islamist death threat.”

Also related:

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/01/08/ezra-levant-slams-medias-jesuischarlie-phonies/ – 1/8/2015.

Molly Norris is.

Molly Norris is Jesus Christ and Isis together as depicted by D. H. Lawrence.

Molly Norris is Dick Gregory, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce.

Molly Norris is every child who ever razzed authority and every adult who wished he had: Molly Norris is Bart Simpson.

Molly Norris is Howard Stern, Vladimir Nabokov, Boris Pasternak, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Dashiel Hammett and Lilian Hellman, Henry Miller, Graham Greene, and many others, challenging, politically inconvenient, transgressive.

Molly Norris is Molly Norris, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, also Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Carsten Juste, Flemming Rose, Geert Wilders, Kurt Westergaard, Lars Vilks, Olof Johansson, Roxana Saberi, and Salman Rushdie [1].

Molly Norris is Theo Van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn.

Molly Norris is Al-Nadr bin Al-Harith, Uqba bin Abu Muayt, Amsa bint Marwan, Abu Afak, Kab bin al-Ashraf, Ibn Sunayna, Abdullah bin Sad, Abdullah bin Katal (and one of two “singing-girls”) [2]; also Mansur Al-Hallaj; also, these associated with Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses,  Ali Dashti, Hitoshi Igarashi, Ettore Caprioli, Aziz Nesin; also Naguib Mafouz; also Taslima Nasrin, Farag Foda, Anwar Sheikh, Nasr Abu-Zaid, Rashad Khalifa, Matoub Lounes, Younis Shaikh, Robert Hussein, Nawal El-Saddaawi, Tahmineh Mini, Khalid Duran, Mahmoud Muhammed Talal [3] .

Molly Norris is Ayman Udas.

Molly Norris is every artist or writer who has ever been assaulted, banned, blacklisted, beaten, censored, intimidated, jailed, tortured, or murdered for something he expressed through language or fine art.

Molly Norris is every child who once doodled something naughty, every petulant teen who ever uttered an uncomfortable truth, every adult who for once told it like was.

Molly Norris is everyone.

So where is Molly Norris?

As everyone knows: everywhere.

Cited Reference

  1. May, Ned.  “The Hit List: Nine Infidels in the Crosshairs.”  The West, Islam and Sharia, July 22, 2010: http://thewestislamandsharia.blogspot.com/2010/07/hit-list-nine-infidels-in-crosshairs.html

  2. Arlandson, James M.  “Muhammad’s Dead Poets Society: The assassinations of satirical poets in early Islam.”  Answering-Islam, n.d., http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/dead_poets.htm; 2a. revised and expanded from initial publication as “Muhammad’s (non)assassinations of (non)victims” in American Thinker, October 12, 2004: http://www.americanthinker.com/2004/10/muhammads_nonassassinations_of.html

  3. Stephan, Susan.  “Intellectual Censorship in Islam: A Matter of Life and Death.”  Associated with http://www.faithfreedom.org, published on the web via Iranscope, n.d.: http://iranscope.ghandchi.com/Anthology/Islam/intelislam.htm

Other Reference

Archiving Early America.  “Thomas Paine’s Common Sense”: http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/commonsense/

Associated Press.  “Alaska man who made hit list of enemies of Islam gets 8 years in prison on terror charges.”  Fox News, August 23, 2010: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/23/alaska-man-accused-hit-list-enemies-islam-gets-years-prison-terror-charges/

Cambronero, Francis E.  “Writers Series Event Breathes Life Into Censored Authors’ Works.”  The Harvard Crimson, April 13, 2010: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/4/13/magazine-writers-event-living/

Controversial & Banned Books (web site): http://www.banned-books.com/

Fefer, Mark D.  “On the Advice of the FBI, Cartoonist Molly Norris Disappears From View.”  Seattle Weekly News, September 15, 2010: http://www.seattleweekly.com/2010-09-15/news/on-the-advice-of-the-fbi-cartoonist-molly-norris-disappears-from-view/

Finkelstein, Daniel.  “Protecting Ayaan Hirsi Ali.”  Comment Central, The Times Online, October 18, 2007: http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2007/10/charles-moore-w.html

Geller, Pamela.  “Pakistani Artist, Poet Murdered in Shariah ‘Honor’ Killing.”  Atlas Shrugs, April 30, 2009: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/04/pakistani-artist-poet-murdered-in-shariah-honor-killing.html

Geller, Pamela.  “Seven Muslims Arrested in Ireland Over Plot to Assassinate Cartoonist Lars Vilks.”  March 9, 2010: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/03/seven-muslims-arrested-ireland-over-plot-to-assassinate-cartoonist-lars-vilks.html

Gould, Terry.  Murder Without Borders: Dying for the Story in the World’s Most Dangerous Places.  Random House Canada, 2009.

Hannan, Caleb.  “Molly Norris, “Draw Mohammed Day” Cartoonist, Placed on Execution Hitlist by Islamic Cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki.”  Seattle Weekly Blogs, The Daily Weekly, July 12, 2010: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/07/molly_norris_draw_mohammed_day_1.php

Human Rights Watch.  “Banned, Censored, Harassed, and Jailed: Hellman/Hammett Grants Honor 42 Writers for Courage Facing Political Persecution.”  August 4, 2010: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/08/04/banned-censored-harassed-and-jailed

International Freedom of Expression Exchange: http://www.ifex.org/

Jonsson, Patrik.  “Cartoonist Lars Vilks attacked for showing Prophet Mohammed in gay film.”  The Christian Science Monitor, May 12, 2010: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0512/Cartoonist-Lars-Vilks-attacked-for-showing-Prophet-Mohammed-in-gay-film

Journalism and Democracy.  “Ulf Johansson gets wolf-like on freedom of speech.”  MENA – 2008 – Fojo: http://www2.fo.hik.se/mena08/subpage/ulf_johansson.html

Khattak, Daud.  “Sinter Ayman Udas ‘shot by her brothers for TV sin'”.  The Sunday Times, May 3, 2009: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6211260.ece

Lica, Mihaela.  “Bomb-in-Turban Muhammad Cartoon Artist Threatened Again.”  Everything PR, January 2, 2010: http://www.pamil-visions.net/kurt-westergaard/210080/

May, Ned.  “The Hit List: Nine Infidels in the Crosshairs.”  July 22, 2010: http://thewestislamandsharia.blogspot.com/2010/07/hit-list-nine-infidels-in-crosshairs.html

Marshall, Frank.  “The Koran Crisis: Making a Point.”  Right Side News, September 12, 2010: http://www.rightsidenews.com/2010091211607/life-and-science/culture-wars/the-koran-crisis-making-a-point.html

Militant Islam Monitor.  “Theo van Gogh’s book ‘Allah Knows Best’ – Murders of Van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn perpetrated by and for Muslims.”  November 14, 2004: http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/319

National Coalition Against Censorship (web site): http://www.ncac.org/

National Coalition Against Censorship, Blogging Censorship: http://ncacblog.wordpress.com/

Pipes, Daniel.  “‘Rushdie Rules’ reach Florida: Obama endorses privileged status for Islam.”  The Washington Times, September 20, 2010: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/20/rushdie-rules-reach-florida/

Pipes, Daniel.  “[Theo van Gogh] ‘Education By Murder’ in Holland.  Daniel Pipes (initial placement: New York Sun), November 16, 2004: http://www.danielpipes.org/2218/theo-van-gogh-and-education-by-murder-in-holland.

Rosenbaum, Ron.  “Bonfire of the Intellectuals: Paul Berman’s outraged attack on Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s attackers.”  Slate, March 25, 2010: http://www.slate.com/id/2248809/

Seccombe, Mike.  “Voices of Banned Writers Past Lend Perspective on Tense Present.”  Vineyard Gazette Online: http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?26699

Wikipedia.  “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Draw_Mohammed_Day

Wikipedia.  “List of authors banned during the Third Reich”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_authors_banned_during_the_Third_Reich

Wikipedia.  “Pim Fortuyn”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn

Wikipedia.  “Piss Christ”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ

Young, Gordon.  “Confronting Conformity.”  Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin, 31:4, Spring/Summer 2009: http://bulletin.kenyon.edu/x3016.xml

International Center for Journalists.  “Name a single jailed or censored writer or journalist.”  December 22, 2009: http://www.ijnet.org/ijnet/answers/name_a_single_jailed_or_censored_writer_or_journalist

Related right now:

http://www.vocativ.com/world/france-world/hostage-dramas-continue-terror-spree-paris/ – 1/10/2015.

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Cryptic – Integrity | Loyalty

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by in A Little Wisdom, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Philosophy

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You may have your integrity before God; your adversary does not; he has loyalty leveraged by fear, greed, or need: the father can be a very bad father — and in that is the fighting.

Link – On Political Manipulation – How the Palestinians, Among Others, are Played

08 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Political Psychology, Politics

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“In an unseen control room, to the producers’ signal, as I responded with words like ‘coexistence’, ‘integration’ or ‘pluralism’, a technician pulled the trigger and rolled the stock ‘Israel as a terrorist state’ footage; detonating my truthful and universal message. I had been reduced to an instrument of rank media opportunism.”

http://www.spectator.co.uk/australia/australia-features/9411652/a-muslims-ambush-weekend-sunrise-bares-its-anti-israel-bias/ – 1/8 (10)/2015.

Related:

I’ve been appearing a lot on Iran’s Press TV Show the Debate. Anyone who watches the show can see it’s not really a true debate, but a propaganda show put on by the Velat-y-Faqih regime in Iran.

http://kaplanwatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/im-back-will-try-to-post-more-often.html – 6/17/2014.

“Disingenuous speech” is just a fancy way of saying “dishonest talk” or, let’s get right down to it: “lying” — and as far as BackChannels is concerned, lies are told either to hide something (often the liar’s own thieving from his marks) or to get something (through deceit).

Test the thought on the oligarchs of post-KGB Soviet Russia now FSB-controlled neo-feudal Russia; or Ayatollah Khamenei and his brother (by the grace of the Setad conglomerate); on Victor Orban’s developing “regime” in Hungary; on the guy with the “White Palace” in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

There’s more to the politics played, I will grant you, but the destruction of integrity before a malignant narcissism and controlling (and frequently sadistic) will would seem a common denominator.

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Quote – From the Soviet Way of Thinking – #JeSuisCharlie

07 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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“We must execute not only the guilty,” Lenin’s commissar of justice, Nikolai Krylenko, said.  “Execution of the innocent will impress the masses even more.”

Remnick, David.  Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire.  P. 506. New York: Random House, 1993.

In light of today’s heinous attack in Paris, it may do (and with Putin’s neo-feudal and piratical Russian oligarchy in mind) to think back on the “red” part of the “red-green alliance” and its contribution to the manner of terrorism witnessed today.

Posted 1/7/2015.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/a-tribute-to-charlie-hebdo/ 1/7/2015.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/395882/folly-fundamentalism-kevin-d-williamson – 1/7/2015.  (“Reform Jewish Extremism”?  I want in!  I want to hear what ten million people singing Kumbaya in tune together sounds like).  😉  Back on the serious note, no pun intended:

When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found itself the subject of an unkind Broadway lampoon, The Book of Mormon, its leaders did not bomb the theater or even try to force the show to be shut down as “hate speech.” Instead, they decided — in a brilliant stroke — to offer theatergoers copies of their scripture through an advertisement in the show’s playbill: “You’ve seen the play, now read the book.”

http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/french-police-identify-3-suspects-in-attack-on-newspaper-office-that-killed-12-1.2177723#ixzz3OAwQp8Fy – 1/7/2015.

http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/the-islamic-state-and-the-%E2%80%9Carmy-in-being%E2%80%9D – 1/7/2015.

http://www.rand.org/blog/2015/01/terror-in-paris-answers-from-rand-experts.html – 1/7/2015.

http://gawker.com/what-is-charlie-hebdo-and-why-a-mostly-complete-histo-1677959168 – 1/7/2015.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30710545 – 1/7/2015.

There are numerous calls to violent jihad in the Quran. But the Quran is hardly alone. In too much of Islam, jihad is a thoroughly modern concept. The 20th-century jihad “bible,” and an animating work for many Islamist groups today, is “The Quranic Concept of War,” a book written in the mid-1970s by Pakistani Gen. S.K. Malik. He argues that because God, Allah, himself authored every word of the Quran, the rules of war contained in the Quran are of a higher caliber than the rules developed by mere mortals.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ayaan-hirsi-ali-how-to-answer-the-paris-terror-attack-1420672114 – 1/7/2015

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Link: “A Strong Jerusalem, A Strong Palestine” — and a Big Mouth

07 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Referral

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“A democratic, stable and developed Turkey,” he said, “is a source of power for all Muslims. [A] strong Turkey means a strong Jerusalem, a strong Palestine.”

Unfortunately, Turkey is neither democratic, nor stable — nor developed. The world’s most credible pro-democracy institutions, most notably Freedom House, list Turkey in their democracy indices as either a “not free” or a “country with major democratic deficit.”

http://www.meforum.org/4956/why-hamas-leader-khaled-mashaal-feels-so-at-home – 1/1/2015