The manufacture of an "expert"

First, a little background. The man who composed the score for Slumdog Millionaire also composed a piece of Islamic devotional music, called Zikr, or "Remembrance" in Urdu, which due to being (unlike much of the genre) actually sing-able, and moreover, actually appealing to people who don't spend most of their time in the mosque. The piece was picked up by a choir director in a school in Somewhere State, USA and . . . action!



Naturally, my favourite hatemonger picked up the story.

Now, who is this "Expert," Steve Hagerman?

Well, googling "World Turkish Organization" didn't help much. That's because Mr. Hagerman (and "Steve Hagerman" is a curiously un-Turkish sounding name) is not actually associated with any such organization.

He is, however, the president of "Turkish World Outreach." Outreach for what? The beautiful Turkish culture that he wants to share with the world?

Let's check the website, shall we? Oh, here's Mr. Hagerman himself:



So there you have it. The "expert" on Islam is a Christian missionary, whose conception of Muslims is that they are ignorant little children, who sit around the wise white man as he tries to sell them on the idea that the Almighty God needed an innocent upon whom to unleash unspeakable cruelty in order to avoid having to do it to everybody else for a sin committed by Adam.

The kid who quit the choir, is, incidentally, indulging in a little self-righteous attention-seeking. I have been in choirs (baritone/bass, thank you very much) and even sung Christmas carols. I just close my mouth during the bits about divine progeny. This kid could have done the same, but he wanted to be the poster boy for oppressed Christians, and so he got his wish.

A small victory

An acquaintance of mine who is active in the struggle for justice in Palestine was recently called, in a widely circulated document, a "one of Canada's worst anti-semites, and an idiotic spammer."

He launched a libel suit, and produced reams of letters from Jewish academics attesting to the fact that he was neither of those.

Today, the plaintiff announced that he has secured a retraction from the defendant.

I met Ed Corrigan for the first time at what is deemed as a Settlement Conference in Small Claims Court. Ed and I chatted, and among other things he assured me that he was in no way anti semitic,often took part in Jewish holidays, and was very respectful of Jewish traditions. Ed explained his work for Palestinians seeking refugee status in Canada, and certainly gives it 100% in fighting for his clients in this regard. In doing so, he has no problem in his criticism of the Israeli government. Ed often uses references to what other Jews think when they agree with his view, and I suggested to Ed that Jews, like everyone else, do not think alike. All in all, while I do not agree with Ed's assessment of life in Israel, and his constant attack on its majority, Ed pointed out that he has in fact written more than once on the better points of Israeli society. It is important to keep open the debate on human rights issues in Canada, Israel, and all countries in the Middle East. So, I am prepared to, and do retract my comment that Ed is one of Canada's worst anti semites, and an idiotic spammer. I was wrong to have alleged that. Ed has agreed to end his libel action, and we have agreed to disagree whenever we choose to do so, but in a respectful way.

Will Hechter
President
Clear Lake Historical Productions
willhechter@clearlakeproductions.com

Respect for the dead

From the New York Times to the White House, US media and government are making a big deal about the video that was leaked of US troops urinating on what are claimed to be the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. The outrage appears to be over the lack of respect shown to the corpses.

US (and Canadian) troops crossed two oceans to kill these men.

How is it that urinating on their corpses is the obscenity that everyone is wringing their hands about?

A Terrible Anniversary

There is no more potent sign of the depths to which Pakistan has sunk over the past decade than the public response to the assassination of Salman Taseer, and the heroic status given to his murderer.

From Dawn:
Taseer's killing - Symbol of a withering state

Alhamdulillah!

Every now and then something reminds me to be thankful that I am Muslim.

Loonwatch hits!

Two fantastic videos I found through the always-incisive Loonwatch:


Islamophobia and Antisemitism - Same message, different minority:




Ron Paul campaign video: Imagine.

A familiar tune

I'm almost done reading William Darymple's The Last Mughal , a history of the city of Delhi in 1857, during the tragically self-defeating mutiny against the British East India Company by its native soldiers. Having not read much at all about the place or the period, I can't say much about the accuracy of Darymple's account, but damn, the man can write. If this book were a Hollywood movie, it could easily be a blockbuster.

(To those to whom I have promised to read other books, I'm sorry, but this recommendation came from a source I couldn't refuse).

Central to Darymple's narrative is the tragic figure of Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the title character, who by the end of the book is locked up in the dungeon of his own palace, and put on trial by the British for masterminding a rebellion that he never wanted. His prosecutors alleged that Zafar, a syncretic Sufi Muslim emperor who participated - and believed in - Hindu rituals and festivals, was a participant in a vast conspiracy stretching from Turkey through Persia and into India to unseat the enlightened British Empire. To quote the chief prosecutor:

"The known restless spirit of Mahommedan fanaticism has been the first aggressor, the vindictive intolerance of that peculiar faith has been struggling for mastery, seditious conspiracy has been its means, the prisoner [Zafar] its active accomplice, and every possible crime its frightful result . . . The bitter zeal of Mahommedanism meets us everywhere . . . perfectly demonic in its actions. . . "

As Darymple points out, however, 65-85% of the rebel army that joined the soldiers who first rushed into Zafar's pristine audience hall with their horses and muddy boots were, in fact, Hindus.

To English people who didn't know any better, however, the idea of a global Muslim conspiracy directed against them seemed appealing.

The words change, but not the tune.

Amira Hass on Negotiations

The only Israel journalist who actually lives in the territory that it is her job to report on:

Palestinians must say no to negotiations with Israel

The Palestinians' application for membership in the United Nations was welcomed, even by critics of the Palestinian Authority, because it was understood as the close, albeit belated, of an overly long chapter. This was the chapter in which the Palestinian leadership, in exchange for dubious guarantees and slivers of privilege for a small group, took part in a charade of negotiations, while in reality, the area intended for the realization of the Palestinians' right to self-determination kept being reduced and fragmented. This chapter exposed the fact that the parties in Israel's various coalition governments disagree on only one thing: the number and size of the Palestinian Bantustans in Israel's master plan.