no bye, no aloha
What I want to do is read lots of books and travel the world. And marry Michael Palin. I admit that the age difference would be sick and wrong; he is old enough to have fathered me after all (literally - I was watching 'Sahara' tonight, and he mentioned his age when he tried playing beach football with some Tangiersian children, and that was filmed what - two years ago? Yup, could be my dad). What a catch, though.
And reading that statement crystallised why I felt uncomfortable at times, reading papers and watching Channel 4 news a couple of days afterwards. On the news, they had a series of interviews with Muslim "community leaders" and others (including this doctor bird), who wasted no time condemning - and they used that word a lot - the bombmakers. The whole premise of the interviewing was to question why people would do such a thing, and whether the leaders, as it were, could fathom any theories about the psychology behind it. And they all refused to even address any motive beyond gross criminality - all they said was, 'They were not Muslim. They were criminals. Islam condemns this'. Which is fair enough; but reactionary, and how can we prevent future generations from going to similar lengths again if we don't understand how these people arrived at their conclusions, utterly mangled though they are? When the leader guys and gals and doctor lady were asked, they again repeated that they'd tell their congregation/Muslim friends how strongly they condemn it. That should do the trick. ANYWAY Palin expresses this better than I can.
Anyway.
I've almost finished the exam run.
Now what's left is (one exam, the rousing finale-practical, which I should be keenly preparing for but am ignoring until I finish) my essay, the one I've mentioned so much in this journal yet shamefully neglected doing. God, my essay! There was a time when I relished writing essays. I was efficient and took pride in structuring arguments and fashioning conclusions. I'd whip 'em out, 2000 words in 7 hours, no problem. BUT TODAY
Yeah. All that stuff is boring. What's good is that I've got the new Harry Potter! It's tense.
And reading that statement crystallised why I felt uncomfortable at times, reading papers and watching Channel 4 news a couple of days afterwards. On the news, they had a series of interviews with Muslim "community leaders" and others (including this doctor bird), who wasted no time condemning - and they used that word a lot - the bombmakers. The whole premise of the interviewing was to question why people would do such a thing, and whether the leaders, as it were, could fathom any theories about the psychology behind it. And they all refused to even address any motive beyond gross criminality - all they said was, 'They were not Muslim. They were criminals. Islam condemns this'. Which is fair enough; but reactionary, and how can we prevent future generations from going to similar lengths again if we don't understand how these people arrived at their conclusions, utterly mangled though they are? When the leader guys and gals and doctor lady were asked, they again repeated that they'd tell their congregation/Muslim friends how strongly they condemn it. That should do the trick. ANYWAY Palin expresses this better than I can.
Anyway.
I've almost finished the exam run.
Now what's left is (one exam, the rousing finale-practical, which I should be keenly preparing for but am ignoring until I finish) my essay, the one I've mentioned so much in this journal yet shamefully neglected doing. God, my essay! There was a time when I relished writing essays. I was efficient and took pride in structuring arguments and fashioning conclusions. I'd whip 'em out, 2000 words in 7 hours, no problem. BUT TODAY
Yeah. All that stuff is boring. What's good is that I've got the new Harry Potter! It's tense.