I am actually glad that the peace talks have broken down. As painful as an apartheid situation is, there is still more hope in the eventual outcome, even if it is in 20 years as you, Dr. Cole estimate. This current process of land usurpation will continue for much longer than that under the guise of peace negotiations. In the end, the Palestinians will have nothing so lets just fast forward this farce negotiation process to the point of no return. Thank you Bibi for enabling that...
I don't like Mahmood Abbas but I for once have a little respect for him for showing the courage to dig in his heels (a bit...). I think the first thing on Palestinian agenda should be reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas factions.
Dr. Cole, you have said before real work doesn't really get done at rallies but by those phone calls to your senators and congressmen. In any case, I went to the rally if for nothing else then to see who might show up on the guest list. There were so many people that a large majority, including myself were quite oblivious to the going-ons on the stage. Mostly were just walking amongst the crowd and having fun. The crowd was very diverse and mostly left-liberal. The attitude of the people at the rally was, as you described it, light-hearted. It was obvious from reading all the placards and signs that different people were holding where they stood on politics. In many ways the political views didn't even represent the views of the current Democratic party. It was, in a way of putting, a place where Ralph Nader would have been ecstatic (if thats possible!!).
I think, Jon could have made the focus on politics sharper if he wanted to but for everyone there, it wasn't necessary to highlight it. Jon could have been a left-leaning version of Ted Nugent but he took the high road. Similar to his appearance on CNN in 2004 where he bashed them for their useless coverage of elections, he took shots at the same (some would say soft - NYT) target. In a way he is right. Holding magnifying lens to every detail about every politician is the only focus of all these 24hr news stations. No one has time to process any news. When there is nothing to report then they start reporting what a wannabe rocker from 1970 says at his concerts. The overall information added to the knowledge bank is zero. The media is responsible for making matters worse. These outlets are only reporting on the extremes, highlighting the sensitivities and promoting bickering in populations and politics. When young people turn to Jon and Colbert for 'real' news then we know something is not right with these so called news networks.
In a country where taking potshots at your political opponents and their supporters has become the norm, someone has to stop and say this is just stupid. I think that its much more likely to be the ones left of the center then the ones on the right at this point in time. Politicians will do what they have done for centuries. We have to re-learn how to live with another point of view in this modern day an age where media is exactly trying to the opposite. May be this is naive, hippy, buy-from-whole-foods- kind of view but if there is one thing that was clear from the rally then it was that there are a lot of people who think this way.
The kind of arguments Prof. Cole has made would only mean something to an intellectual and clearly Palin is not one of those. It's astounding that even after almost a decade since the 9/11 attacks her comments are of the utmost stupidity and lack any sophistication. I wonder how she would counter the fact that there are quite a few churches that were built in the immediate vicinity of the Alfred P. Murrah building since that day on April 19th, 1995. Or does she somehow have a more nuanced view when it comes to distinctions between good and bad Christians...
The reason why Prof. Cole is going into so much detail about the context of the verse is to precisely to make the point that all non-Muslims are NOT enemies of Muslims. You seemed to have missed it completely notsobright and I wonder why?
Islam and Muslims thrived in Medina with Christians and the Jews and these other groups were never considered enemies of Islam. There was friction as exists even today but probably because a new group (Muslims) was changing the dynamics of the society in Medina much similar to our society in this day and age.
Ill-depiction of revered figures alive or dead, is unfortunately a symptom of the breakdown of morals in this society but its only one symptom. Its sensationalism masked as entertainment. The best way to deal with this is not feed into it and it will go away.
I am actually glad that the peace talks have broken down. As painful as an apartheid situation is, there is still more hope in the eventual outcome, even if it is in 20 years as you, Dr. Cole estimate. This current process of land usurpation will continue for much longer than that under the guise of peace negotiations. In the end, the Palestinians will have nothing so lets just fast forward this farce negotiation process to the point of no return. Thank you Bibi for enabling that...
I don't like Mahmood Abbas but I for once have a little respect for him for showing the courage to dig in his heels (a bit...). I think the first thing on Palestinian agenda should be reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas factions.
Dr. Cole, you have said before real work doesn't really get done at rallies but by those phone calls to your senators and congressmen. In any case, I went to the rally if for nothing else then to see who might show up on the guest list. There were so many people that a large majority, including myself were quite oblivious to the going-ons on the stage. Mostly were just walking amongst the crowd and having fun. The crowd was very diverse and mostly left-liberal. The attitude of the people at the rally was, as you described it, light-hearted. It was obvious from reading all the placards and signs that different people were holding where they stood on politics. In many ways the political views didn't even represent the views of the current Democratic party. It was, in a way of putting, a place where Ralph Nader would have been ecstatic (if thats possible!!).
I think, Jon could have made the focus on politics sharper if he wanted to but for everyone there, it wasn't necessary to highlight it. Jon could have been a left-leaning version of Ted Nugent but he took the high road. Similar to his appearance on CNN in 2004 where he bashed them for their useless coverage of elections, he took shots at the same (some would say soft - NYT) target. In a way he is right. Holding magnifying lens to every detail about every politician is the only focus of all these 24hr news stations. No one has time to process any news. When there is nothing to report then they start reporting what a wannabe rocker from 1970 says at his concerts. The overall information added to the knowledge bank is zero. The media is responsible for making matters worse. These outlets are only reporting on the extremes, highlighting the sensitivities and promoting bickering in populations and politics. When young people turn to Jon and Colbert for 'real' news then we know something is not right with these so called news networks.
In a country where taking potshots at your political opponents and their supporters has become the norm, someone has to stop and say this is just stupid. I think that its much more likely to be the ones left of the center then the ones on the right at this point in time. Politicians will do what they have done for centuries. We have to re-learn how to live with another point of view in this modern day an age where media is exactly trying to the opposite. May be this is naive, hippy, buy-from-whole-foods- kind of view but if there is one thing that was clear from the rally then it was that there are a lot of people who think this way.
The kind of arguments Prof. Cole has made would only mean something to an intellectual and clearly Palin is not one of those. It's astounding that even after almost a decade since the 9/11 attacks her comments are of the utmost stupidity and lack any sophistication. I wonder how she would counter the fact that there are quite a few churches that were built in the immediate vicinity of the Alfred P. Murrah building since that day on April 19th, 1995. Or does she somehow have a more nuanced view when it comes to distinctions between good and bad Christians...
The reason why Prof. Cole is going into so much detail about the context of the verse is to precisely to make the point that all non-Muslims are NOT enemies of Muslims. You seemed to have missed it completely notsobright and I wonder why?
Islam and Muslims thrived in Medina with Christians and the Jews and these other groups were never considered enemies of Islam. There was friction as exists even today but probably because a new group (Muslims) was changing the dynamics of the society in Medina much similar to our society in this day and age.
Ill-depiction of revered figures alive or dead, is unfortunately a symptom of the breakdown of morals in this society but its only one symptom. Its sensationalism masked as entertainment. The best way to deal with this is not feed into it and it will go away.