tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-990527249720913076.post1161511333306331727..comments2024-01-05T13:46:40.634-08:00Comments on northshorewoman: minarets and steeples in the living roomnorthshorewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07390144327668656601noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-990527249720913076.post-27351627430350908252009-12-27T17:11:36.686-08:002009-12-27T17:11:36.686-08:00ari, of course there are 'true' reports of...ari, of course there are 'true' reports of happenings such as the current protests in Iran. The problem emerges from the framing of issues, who does the reporting, the language used, what gets left out, how nothing is contextualized, and why so much is left out as "news". <br /><br />Is it 'true' that there is honor killings in Palestine or other places in the Middle East? Yes, that is true. But what we need to ask of what gets reported on and talked about in the west is why always the same issues about women --honor killing, hijab, passivity, and all those markers that we use to define "us" as "not that". <br /><br />The big problem is that we don't get enough news, we don't get different perspectives, and we don't hear from those who have things to tell us that we don't want to hear. <br /><br />Rockets into Israel are not terrorism. Resistance is not terrorism. When the occupation and oppression, killings and dispossesions, uprooting of olive trees, building of walls, bulldozing of homes stop, there is no need for rockets.northshorewomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07390144327668656601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-990527249720913076.post-89563989110715106982009-12-27T01:52:08.068-08:002009-12-27T01:52:08.068-08:00Western media tells us what our political leaders ...Western media tells us what our political leaders want us to believe.<br />Every article about Africa or Middle-East is more or less negative. Some news for the last few days: Taliban blow up a girl school in Pakistan; Why ? What is the reason, who understands ? Masses of people are demonstrating in Iran. Should our media be quiet or not. What is the reason to demonstrate there or is it only terrorism. Are these articles true or not or are they only bluff ???<br />---------------------------------<br />It is a common belief of finnish christians about Gaza that some bad muslim boys have shoot missiles and rockets towards Israel just for terror purpose and of course Israel has right to revenge. Media has given very little attention in Finland that palestinians have been banished from their homes to ghettos like Gaza, abroad and to Jordania.<br />-------------------------------<br />If you disagree with public opinion you get a stamp of a troublemaker or terrorist. Our media can write whatsoever still I don't understand why finnish (and many other) soldiers are in Afghanistan.Arinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-990527249720913076.post-64805612545180798212009-12-26T08:14:25.680-08:002009-12-26T08:14:25.680-08:00unfortunately, the corporate Western media continu...unfortunately, the corporate Western media continues to produce the basest stereotypes of the Middle East, and in doing so especially contributes to the rise of Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, neo-orientalism, and the homogenizing of complicated, contradictory diversities into one blob. Especially the blob of lack of so-called freedom, which is somehow the preserve of the West as we go kill innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq with no sense of hypocrisy. <br /><br />Unfortunate. Indeed, I believe it is a deliberate strategy of power. I felt this very strongly when I was in Lebanon and realized how narrow is the perception of someone raised in the West. How narrow it has been made for us. So much of what the so-called Middle East is, is made invisible to the West. It's depressing that one has to smash the simplest stereotypes over and over again.northshorewomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07390144327668656601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-990527249720913076.post-49227177182408892242009-12-26T01:39:38.802-08:002009-12-26T01:39:38.802-08:00I was born and raised a greek catholic in a muslim...I was born and raised a greek catholic in a muslim neighborhood in Beirut; I love both religions and think they are both wonderful; I feel that forbidding minarets is a symptom of the deep-seated racism of a lot of Europeans not just for moslems but for jews as well, although now they are in a repenting mode towards the jews. I am against intolerance wherever it might be; I am eagerly awaiting the renovation of the synaguogue in Beirut. It is beneath us as humans in the 21st century to be bigotted.tasteofbeiruthttp://www.tasteofbeirut.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-990527249720913076.post-53515988953156074822009-12-25T16:04:00.470-08:002009-12-25T16:04:00.470-08:00What is freedom of religion in islam countries. It...What is freedom of religion in islam countries. It is an unknown term there. I think that it is not very easy to build a christian church for ex. in Saudi-Arabia and it is not very easy for a muslim to convert to christianity there. You can do that but your life time is very short after that. In Europe and in America a christian can freely convert to islam or to atheism. Why must western countries have more freedoms than muslim countries ??? Anyhow the restriction of minarets is not very civilized. Perhaps it shows that the fear of islam is getting bigger and bigger all the time and Switzerland is on the way to a closed society like North-Korea.Arinoreply@blogger.com