• Home
  • About
  • Concepts, Coins, and Terms
    • Anthropolitical Psychology
      • Civilizational Narcissism
      • Conflict – Language Uptake – Social Programming and Scripting – A Suggestion
        • Language Uptake – Programming – On Learning to Listen
        • Mouth –> Ear –> Mind –> Heart System
        • Social Grammar
      • Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy
      • Malignant Narcissism
      • Narcissistic Scripting
      • Normative Remirroring
      • Paranoid Delusional Narcissistic Reflection of Motivation
    • FTAC – “From The Awesome Conversation”
    • God Mob
    • Intellectual Battlespace
    • Islamic Small Wars
    • New Old Now Old Far Out and Lost Left
    • Political Spychology
    • Shimmer
    • Syndicate Red Brown Green
  • Library
    • About Language
    • Alpha by Author
    • Dicks and Spooks – Political Spychology
    • Judaism and Jewish Culture and Life
    • Russian Section
  • Comments and Contact
  • X of Interest
    • A-Z Links
    • Alpha – Zulu
      • Associated Articles of Governance – United States of America
      • Daniel L. Everett – Reading Highly Recommended
      • Khamenei and Iran – Assorted Reference
      • Lee Smith’s Comment on ‘Media Warfare’ in the Middle East
      • Lies are Told for Only Two Reasons
      • On Being a War Journalist — Francesca Borri in Syria – 7/1/2013
      • Putin and Russia — Assorted Reference

BackChannels

~ Conflict, Culture, Language, Psychology

BackChannels

Tag Archives: Rayhaneh Jabbari

Comments Not Posted – Posted

13 Monday Oct 2014

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Dallas Mosque Center, Iranian justice, Rayhaneh Jabbari, Yusuf Kavakci

For its quirky qualities, BackChannels draws a low but steady stream of viewers daily from around the world.  Apart from SEO spammers, few to none offer helpful comment, and when attempts are made, the qualities of the transmission may be sketchy.

Responding to an October 2013 story about imam Yusuf Kavakci, formerly of the Dallas Mosque Center and now living somewhere in Istanbul, this note arrived under pseudonym with an e-mail address traceable to a list of untraceable available e-mail addresses 🙂 —

Imam yusuf was not fit to be the imam,because he hide the true deen of Allah,without the sunnah of Prophet Mohammad mpbuh the deen is not complete. he was not following the sunnah in daily prayers and Janaza prayer. may Allah guide him,I am so glad he left the main mosque.


This spam-looking message responded to a piece critical of the Iranian regime’s little boy at the top and the flow down of that personality into the cruelty meted to Rayhaneh Jabbari:

***Please ACT & SHARE***
These petitions for #ReyhanehJabbari seem to have worsened the state of reconciliation for the two families. Please DO NOT sign or share such petitions, and also ask @Avaaz to remove this petition (there are also other sites such as the Amnesty international, Amnesty USA and…. please tell them, too):
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/contact
and
https://secure.avaaz.org/act/?aSRcjhb
Choose campaign feedback in the section topic area and write sth like this:
Hello
Thanks for the petitions. You do a great job, but this petition on #ReyhanehJabbari’s case may worsen the state of the two families in reconciliation and saving Reyhaneh. I have heard that these petitions have increased the rage of the late Mr. Sarbandi’s family. So please remove this petition, it is so urgent. Reyhaneh may be hanged because of the impact of this petition. Thank you.

An Iranian engineer sent it.

Allegedly, Rayhaneh Jabbari fended off her would-be rapist, which is the only story that makes any sense of “Mr. Sarbandi’s” death, either at Jabbari’s hands or some other.

The truth may never be known, for to preserve the family honor of the deceased, Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, with Ayatollah Khamenei’s complicity, the alleged primary crime, that of alleged attempted rape, must be erased, and to that end, evidence has been mangled and prosecution-side stories changed while Jabbari sits in jail under pressure to sign a “confession” to a murder without motive.

Someone living in fear of the despot, perhaps in his pay, or just plainly cognizant of how things work in the culture — a voice for the realpolitik that might spare a life — has sought fit to attempt to quiet the worldwide attention garnered by the Jabbari case.  The approach, however, would seem ventured far at the expense of justice and the kind of cold hard truthful examination that would lead to the same for Jabbari and all Iranians.


While BackChannels appreciates the attention, its comment and contact guidance has been updated.

# # #

Khamenei, in the Name of God – A Comment on the Rayhaneh Jabbari Story

10 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Political Psychology, Politics, Psychology, Regions

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

despotism, hangings, Iran, justice, Khamenei, malignant narcissism, Rayhaneh Jabbari, sadism

. . . Shole Pakravan, said Wednesday morning that her daughter has heard nothing about the execution and is being pressured to sign a document that denies there was any attempt at rape and that there was no third party present at the time of the alleged murder.

http://www.bayoubuzz.com/us-news/item/759116-life-or-death-family-of-capitve-iranian-woman-left-in-the-dark – 10/9/2014; primary: http://www.lisadaftari.com/family-rayhaneh-jabbari-iranian-woman-death-row-dark-despite-report-spared/

As if more proof were needed of Ayatollah Khamenei’s ______ (you fill it it in — the writer’s tired), the entire world has now the spectacle of this smiley old white haired fella torturing a young woman not only by denying her an inherent right to an authoritative, honest, fair, just, and open — and openly audited — trial before the Iranian public but by degrading and humiliating her all the way to the gallows — or freedom, God willing.

Reyhaneh Jabbari’s first lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, had apparently made it clear that Jabbari’s death sentence was signed by the courts even after the evidence had been destroyed or went “missing.” Possibly those who signed her death sentence in the Islamic Republic of Iran are not even sure of Jabbari’s guilt themselves, or could be just trying to blame her for the murder, regardless.

 http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4283/iran-rayhaneh-jabbari-stay-of-execution – 4/23/2014.


The government announced that the execution will be postponed but did not give any indication the sentence had been overturned. It also did not disclose if any future execution date had been set.

Jabbari, who has already served seven years in prison, claims Sarbandi drugged her and attempted to have physical contact with her.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/04/15/tehran-government-postpones-execution-woman-charged-with-killing-her-accused/ – 4/15/2014.


Modafe website 31 Aug 2010 News Report- (Human right Lawyer Mr Mostafaei’s Official site)

Reyhaneh Jabbari is a girl from Iran. She is now 22 years old and has been in Tehran’s Evin prison where the last Wednesday of every month a number of prisoners are hanging. She has spent the best years of her life in the prison and she will. Maybe some other days of her life have left.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-reyhaneh-jabbari.html – 8/31/2010.


Here is an interesting trio based on the web search “Iran, executions, last Wednesdays”:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/08/07/iran.executions/index.html – “Human rights group notes ‘alarming spike’ in Iran executions” – 8/7/2009.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-iran-executions-idUSTRE71161O20110202 – “Iran executions three times last year’s rate: U.N.”- 2/2/2011.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/04/us-iran-idUSBREA330VH20140404 “Spike in Iran executions seen politically motivated” – 4/4/2014.

Proposed film title: “Iranimania II: Death Cult Hanging Orgy!”

Each of the above reports, published in  2009, 2011, and 2014, comments on the acceleration of the rate of hangings by the Iranian regime: more arrests, more “trials”, more hangings, never fewer, often if not predominantly similarly unjust — and when a hanging is “unjust” it is only a common act of murder.

Into this atmosphere of the Islamic Devilution in Iran comes Rayhaneh Jabbari who presents as a young miss who handily fended off a known regime _______ (again, you fill it in) “—a former intelligence officer and, at the time, a high-ranking member of Iran’s government—,” says an April 2014 Vice article of the deceased Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, who had attempted to sexually assault her.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch declared in a most polite header with subheading, “Iran: Stop Woman’s Execution: Legal Process Plagued With Irregularities” (October 1, 2014).  The tone was matched by an equally circumspect recounting of the horror.


”The grotesque spectacle of bound, blindfold figures being hauled into the air by cranes in public hangings is a common sight in Rouhani’s Iran.”

Many of these executions were carried out after trials lasting “only minutes,” added Mr Hogarth.

“Iran is a serial human rights offender and Britain needs to confront this fact in any dealings with the country,” he said.

Since Hassan Rouhani has become president over 1000 prisoners have been executed including women and juvenile offenders.

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/17329-iran-a-prisoner-hanged-in-zahedan-prison3 – 10/8/2014.

Update – October 26, 2014

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/breaking-iran-executes-reyhaneh-jabbari-26-year-old-woman-who-killed-her-rapist-1471698 – 10/25/2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/25/iran-woman-hanged-for-killing-rapist_n_6046350.html – 10/25/2014.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/10/amnesty-iran-set-hang-woman-at-dawn-2014102422855125759.html – 10/26/2014.

# # #

Rayhaneh Jabbari – Uncertainty and State Sadism

07 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Middle East

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

political, political absolutism, political psychology, political sadism, politics, Rayhaneh Jabbari

 

Ayatollah Khamenei’s regime had granted Reyhaneh Jabbari a stay on execution to October 8, 2014.

As I type, it is about 9 p.m. in Tehran.

The known facts of her case are clear and simple: a male boss plied her with a date rape drug, took her to a deserted space, and attempted to rape her.  Rayhaneh Jabbari fought back.  Whether she only injured him (with a small knife) or killed him has not been discerned: given the ethical and procedural issues attending the case, the pack of human rights groups who tally the most egregious miscarriages of justice have been following the Jabbari’s story for years.

Facebook pages, petitions, blog posts (like this one), attention across the global press have been to little avail other than to have delayed Jabbari’s execution to about this hour.


With more than 700 executions during his tenure, Rouhani has even surpassed Ahmadinejad’s statistics, and has virtually doubled the rate of executions. Dozens of public executions, mass hangings in prison courtyards, and clandestine and undocumented murders of prisoners are what define Rouhani’s notion of human rights improvement.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/06/19/Over-700-Executions-in-Rouhani-s-First-Year-As-Human-Rights-in-Decline-in-Iran – 6/19/2014.

The combined Khamenei-Rouhani “charm offensive” should by now have now transformed into an “offensive charm”, i.e., a charm offending a greater world, including a greater Persian world within the state, a world still in possession of conscience and heart and still sensitive to and outraged by theft.

Fox News journalist Lisa Daftari has maintained a page on Rayhaneh Jabbari.

Reuters has had online great coverage of the (often stolen) “Assets of the Ayatollah”.

After a while, one must ask: where does this ayatollah-thing live where it cannot see its own true image?

From the “Chain Murders of Iran” to the horrors of Evin Prison, the regime would appear to sweat evil:

“To many Iranians, the concept of Evin prison is synonymous with political repression and torture,”Gissou Nia, executive director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, told FoxNews.com. “Today, anyone who is perceived to be a threat to the Iranian regime, including human rights defenders … is kept within the confines of Evin and other notorious prisons in Iran.”

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/28/inside-evin-look-at-world-most-notorious-political-prison/ – 1/23/2013.


From a recent Daftari interview with Rayhaneh’s mother:

“The countdown has begun. It’s hell. It’s the worst feeling. I can’t be awake facing this reality and I can’t go to sleep,” she said. “When people see that someone (is) drowning, some rush to rescue and some who are indifferent stay away and say that ‘let’s not get involved because if we do we will get our pants or feet soaked in water.’ I can shout and shout that my daughter is in danger, but everybody knows what the right thing is to do for my daughter in this situation.”

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/10/02/execution-iranian-woman-accused-killing-attacker-back-on-says-mom/ – 10/2/1013.

A note of hope has appeared today in the L.A. Times:

Authorities were seeking consent from the family of the victim to vacate the capital judgment against Reyhaneh Jabbari, according to an Iranian judiciary spokesman, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, who made the comments at his weekly news conference.

Meanwhile, the semiofficial Iranian Students News Agency quoted Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi as saying that the hanging of Jabbari would be put off for at least a month.

http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iranian-woman-death-penalty-20141006-story.html – 10/7/2014.

Is there really hope in that story?

Why were things discussed today not undertaken months or years ago?

To hold over someone’s head the power of life and death — to hold over the world’s head the power of life and death — one might wonder how that feels?

For an answer, ask the sociopath and sadist — the one or the two — best positioned to know the answer to that question but don’t hope for a conversation: next to killing innocents, lying, smiling, and thieving (from those who trust them most) would seem their next best and most proven talents.

Update: Wednesday, October 8, 2014

In order to save her daughter’s life, Pakravan published the contents of this call on social media and asked the public for help. In fact, the execution was postponed, in Pakravan’s opinion, because of the public pressure, she told DW.
Now only one thing can save her daughter: if the slain man’s family pardons Jabbari. But Sarbandi’s family of refuses to do this on the grounds that Jabbari dragged his good name through the mud with allegations of rape.

http://www.dw.de/the-last-word-in-iranian-justice-revenge/a-17982603 – 8/3/2014.

IF Sarbandi is but an alleged rapist, how can Rayaneh Jabbari be other than an alleged murderess?

There is no justice Ayatollah Khamenei’s Iran, only darkness and capricious and sadistic raw power.

# # #

Ayatollah Khamenei’s Islamic Injustice – Rayhaneh Jabbari

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iran, Middle East, Political Spychology, Politics, Regions

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ayatollah khamenei, criminality, Rayhaneh Jabbari

Update – October 2, 2014

“Iran: Rayhaneh Jabbari’s mother confirms execution set for Wednesday, October 8.”

http://www.lisadaftari.com/iran-rayhaneh-jabbaris-mother-confirms-execution-set-wednesday-october-8/ – 10/2/2014

Update – October 1, 2014

Rayhaneh Jabbari, sentenced to hang for defending herself from her would-be rapist, appears to have been given ten days reprieve:

“An Iranian woman due to be put to death for killing a man she said was trying to sexually abuse her is reported to have had her execution postponed.

Officials said on Monday that Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, had been transferred to a prison west of Tehran to be hanged.

But activists claimed on Tuesday that an online campaign had persuaded the state to give her a 10-day reprieve.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29429942


Such a reprieve, however, may not respond to the depravity and depth of the injustice bound up in the rigging of the case in “investigation” and “law”.


10/1/2014


The only thing I want … from God, from people around the world … in any way, in any form, is I just want to bring Rayhaneh back home,” Pakravan said in Farsi, which was translated by FoxNews.com. “I wish they would come tie a rope around my neck and kill me instead, but to allow Rayhaneh to come back home.”

http://www.lisadaftari.com/mother-rayhaneh-jabbari-iranian-woman-sentenced-death-makes-plea-daughters-life/ – 10/1/2014.


What is Khamenei going to do?

Is he going to wait until the news cools down over the next two weeks — and then murder Rayhaneh Jabbari?

Or will the Ayatollah count on other news overshadowing the carrying out of the kangaroo sentence?

Or might the regime issue a “Tut, tut, it was all done too much in a hurry” accompanied by exoneration?

Let the world keep a steady watch on whatever course this injustice takes and judge with heart and reason the cruelty of the trial meted to Rayhaneh Jabbari to possibly spare the reputation of a man acknowledged to have slipped her a “date rape” drug:

Jabbari, who worked as a decorator, was convicted of the 2007 fatal stabbing of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. Jabbari, who was 19 at the time, has long maintained Sarbandi drugged her and tried to rape her after the two met at a café and she agreed to go to his office to discuss a business deal.

Sarbandi took Jabbari to a rundown building in a remote location, according to her supporters. Once there, he offered her a fruit drink which forensic tests conducted by the police determined contained a date-rape drug, according to human rights advocates.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/29/iran-set-to-execute-woman-accused-killing-attempted-rapist/ – 10/1/2014.

What might one call such a man if one cannot call him that which evidence suggests?

Related on BackChannels

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2014/09/29/ftac-the-gift-of-good-conscience-rayhaneh-jabbari/

Additional Reference

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/09/232348.htm – 9/30/2014: “Reported Pending Execution of Reyhaneh Jabbari.”  U.S. State Department Statement.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/806276129394270/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-Execution-of-Reyhaneh-Jabbari-%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%86%DA%A9%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%AF/229296820611775/p>

# # #

  • Compassion
  • Empathy
  • Justice
  • Humility
  • Inclusion
  • Integrity
____________

Caution: The possession of anti-Semitic / anti-Zionist thought may be the measure of the owner's own enslavement to criminal and medieval absolute power.
___________

Diane Weber Bederman Recommends BackChannels on Facebook!

"If you want to read great ideas and great prose, check out this FB page: BackChannels. James S. Oppenheim is a brilliant writer Get a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, sit down and enjoy."

Recent Posts

  • FTAC: Arab Thinkers Confront Self-Defeating Boycotts of Israel – Some Related Advice
  • The Confidence Man – He’ll Tell You Anything
  • FTAC: Encouragement for Palestinian Democracy
  • Norms! Impeachment Inquiry – The New World Still Battles the Old
  • Protection Racket – ‘Quid Pro Quo’? Yes | Shiff asks, ‘Is There Any Accountability’?
  • Arlo, Elvis, Pete & A Story About Peace

Categories

  • 21st Century Feudal
  • A Little Wisdom
  • Also in Media
  • American Domestic Affairs
  • Anti-Semitism
  • Asides
  • BCND – BackChannels News Day
  • Books
  • Conflict – Culture – Language – Psychology
  • Epistemology
  • Events and Other PSA's
  • Extreme Brown vs Red-Green
  • Fast News Share
  • foreign aid
  • Free Speech
  • FTAC
  • FTAC – From The Awesome Conversation
  • International Development
  • Islamic Small Wars
    • Gaza Suzerain
  • Journal
    • Library
  • Journalism
  • Links
  • Notes On Reading BackChannels
  • Philology
  • Philosophy
  • Poetry
  • Political Psychology
  • Political Spychology
  • Politics
  • Psychology
    • Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy
  • Referral
  • Regions
    • Africa
      • Central African Republic
      • Kenya
      • Libya
      • Mali
      • Morocco
      • Nigeria
      • South Africa
      • Sudan
      • Tunisia
      • Zimbabwe
    • Asia
      • Afghanistan
      • Burma
      • China
      • India
      • Myanmar
      • North Korea
      • Pakistan
      • Turkey
    • Caribbean Basin
      • Cuba
    • Central America
      • El Salvador
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Mexico
    • Eastern Europe
    • Eurasia
      • Russia
      • Ukrain
      • Ukraine
    • Europe
      • France
      • Hungary
      • Poland
    • Great Britain and United Kingdom
    • Iberian Peninsula
    • Middle East
      • Egypt
      • Gaza
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Israel
        • Palestinia
      • Jordan
      • Kurdistan
      • Lebanon
      • Qatar
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Syria
      • United Arab Emirates
      • Yemen
    • North America
      • Canada
      • United States of America
    • Norther Europe
    • Northern Europe
      • Sweden
    • South America
      • Argentina
      • Brazil
      • Columbia
      • Ecuador
      • Venezuela
    • South Pacific
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
      • Papua New Guinea
      • West Papua
  • Religion
  • Spain
  • Syndicate Red Brown Green
  • transnational crime
  • Uncategorized
  • Visual Data

Europe

  • Defending History
  • Hungarian Spectrum
  • Yanukovych Leaks

Great Britain

  • Stand for Peace

Israeli and Jewish Affairs

  • Chloe Simone Valdary

Journals

  • Amil Imani
  • New Age Islam

Middle East

  • Human Rights & Democracy for Iran
  • Middle East Research and Information Project

Organizations

  • Anti-Slavery
  • Atlantic Council
  • Fight Hatred
  • Human Rights First Society
  • International Network Against Cyberhate
  • The Center for Victims of Torture

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Epigram

Hillel the Elder

"That which is distasteful to thee do not do to another. That is the whole of Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and study."

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? If not now, when?"

"Whosoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whosoever that saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."

Oriana Fallaci
"Whether it comes from a despotic sovereign or an elected president, from a murderous general or a beloved leader, I see power as an inhuman and hateful phenomenon...I have always looked on disobedience toward the oppressive as the only way to use the miracle of having been born."

Talmud 7:16 as Quoted by Rishon Rishon in 2004
Qohelet Raba, 7:16

אכזרי סוף שנעשה אכזרי במקום רחמן

Kol mi shena`asa rahaman bimqom akhzari Sof shena`asa akhzari bimqom rahaman

All who are made to be compassionate in the place of the cruel In the end are made to be cruel in the place of the compassionate.

More colloquially translated: "Those who are kind to the cruel, in the end will be cruel to the kind."

Online Source: http://www.rishon-rishon.com/archives/044412.php

Abraham Isaac Kook

"The purely righteous do not complain about evil, rather they add justice.They do not complain about heresy, rather they add faith.They do not complain about ignorance, rather they add wisdom." From the pages of Arpilei Tohar.

Heinrich Heine
"Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned." -- From Almansor: A Tragedy (1823).

Simon Wiesenthal
Remark Made in the Ballroom of the Imperial Hotel, Vienna, Austria on the occasion of His 90th Birthday: "The Nazis are no more, but we are still here, singing and dancing."

Maimonides
"Truth does not become more true if the whole world were to accept it; nor does it become less true if the whole world were to reject it."

"The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision."

Douglas Adams
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" Epigram appearing in the dedication of Richard Dawkins' The GOD Delusion.

Thucydides
"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."

Milan Kundera
"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."

Malala Yousafzai
“The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.”

Tanit Nima Tinat
"Who could die of love?"

What I Have Said About the Jews

My people, not that I speak for them, I nonetheless describe as a "global ethnic commune with its heart in Jerusalem and soul in the Land of Israel."

We have never given up on God, nor have we ever given up on one another.

Many things we have given up, but no one misses, say, animal sacrifice, and as many things we have kept, so we have still to welcome our Sabbath on Friday at sunset and to rest all of Saturday until three stars appear in the sky.

Most of all, through 5,773 years, wherever life has taken us, through the greatest triumphs and the most awful tragedies, we have preserved our tribal identity and soul, and so shall we continue eternally.

Anti-Semitism / Anti-Zionism = Signal of Fascism

I may suggest that anti-Zionism / anti-Semitism are signal (a little bit) of fascist urges, and the Left -- I'm an old liberal: I know my heart -- has been vulnerable to manipulation by what appears to me as a "Red Brown Green Alliance" driven by a handful of powerful autocrats intent on sustaining a medieval worldview in service to their own glorification. (And there I will stop).
One hopes for knowledge to allay fear; one hopes for love to overmatch hate.

Too often, the security found in the parroting of a loyal lie outweighs the integrity to be earned in confronting and voicing an uncomfortable truth.

Those who make their followers believe absurdities may also make them commit atrocities.

Positively Orwellian: Comment Responding to Claim that the Arab Assault on Israel in 1948 Had Not Intended Annihilation

“Revisionism” is the most contemptible path that power takes to abet theft and hide shame by attempting to alter public perception of past events.

On Press Freedom, Commentary, and Journalism

In the free world, talent -- editors, graphic artists, researchers, writers -- gravitate toward the organizations that suit their interests and values. The result: high integrity and highly reliable reportage and both responsible and thoughtful reasoning.

This is not to suggest that partisan presses don't exist or that propaganda doesn't exist in the west, but any reader possessed of critical thinking ability and genuine independence -- not bought, not programmed -- is certainly free to evaluate the works of earnest reporters and scholars.

Blog at WordPress.com.