Shittiness Galore

Observers keep wondering: “where are the moderate rebels in Syria? Why can’t we see them?” The answer is simple really: You can’t see the moderate rebels in Syria, because they don’t bomb schools like Bashar Al-Assad or cut off people’s heads like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In fact, they spend most of their time fighting against pro-Assad militias and ISIS fighters with low-quality weapons and haphazard external support, activities which, according to standards long established by international news organizations, are not noteworthy enough to warrant regular coverage, if any, as they lack a certain element of sensationalism and je ne sais quoi.

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Of idealism and indifference! – A call for an open debate

Thousands of Syrian refugees crossing into Iraq on August 15, 2013. (photo credit: AP/HO)

We should be idealistic, yes, but not stupid, realistic, yes, but not indifferent.

Can we stop genocide without recourse to violence, or at least the threat of it? Do psychopaths who embark on mass methodical killings leave us much of a choice when it comes to the methods that we need to deploy to stop them? How do we deal with psychopaths whose very strategy is meant to defeat the nonviolence ethos by upping the levels of violence to the maximum allowed by the instruments of deaths under their disposal, by deploying it methodically, and by targeting the very figures and voices who are leading the nonviolent movement? How do we deal with psychopaths who are so committed to drawing blood from their nonviolent opponents they regularly plant well-armed agents of violence within their ranks?

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A Necessary Mea Culpa

Authoritarianism, sectarianism, corruption, cronyism, lack of interest in developing our societies, beyond the introduction of certain consumerist façades, these things existed long before the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The U.S. invasion of Iraq merely removed a lid on all this. I am not saying no major fuckups were made during the invasion and ensuing occupation, for there were plenty. Still, the idea that we were better off somehow before is a lie we tell ourselves, and others, so that we can continue shirking responsibility for who we are and what we are doing to each other.

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On Heresy & Apostasy in Politics and Religion

The burning of adherents of the pantheistic Amalrician sect in 1210, in the presence of King Philip II Augustus. (Wikipedia)

It is not easy for me to criticize an American president, irrespective of his ideological background, because when I do, my criticism often get used by all sorts of anti-American forces in the Arab World, and beyond, in their attack against America and American values, that is, the very values which I long came to embrace, albeit always critically. For, to me, America is an idea, a worthy idea, whose advancement requires critical adherence not blind faith, and armies of analysts and scientists not militias and informants.

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