Ottoman Empire - Murtadd to Human

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Ottoman Empire

A collection of 6 posts

How to live next to persecutors and break even

Anti-Semitism Featured

How to live next to persecutors and break even

Polish communists joined Soviet communists in their grief that Hitler failed to kill all European Jews. The Palestinian Nakba is a tragedy because in 1948 the Arabs failed to kill the Jews, both those who came to Palestine from antisemitic Europe and those who had lived there from time immemorial.

Anatomy of a madness, Part 3

Anatomy of a madness, Part 3

I read The Satanic Verses in the winter of 1996-97, unemployed and frozen, and again in the winter of 2014-15, Charlie Hebdo on TV 24/7. The third time was in that magical realist summer of 2020, with a fresh-ish MFA to my name, to study the work as art. 12 August 2022: the author survived.

The double death of "the Palestinians" - Part 2

The double death of "the Palestinians" - Part 2

We need to understand the Palestinians' initial refusal to acknowledge that they were henceforth Palestinians. Yesterday they were the mighty Arab nation fighting to drive the Jews from a part of that Arab nation’s vast land; today they are nothing but Palestinians, an Arab people without land.

Totalitarianism: we have become comfortably numb - Part 10

Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism: we have become comfortably numb - Part 10

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day-by-day and minute-by-minute. History has stopped.”

Totalitarianism: we have become comfortably numb - Part 8

Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism: we have become comfortably numb - Part 8

Arbitrary control is the conditio sine qua non of totalitarianism. All you need to do is point your finger, utter “Islamophobia”, and it is done. When we agreed to create “hate speech,” we conceded that our thoughts and emotions must be policed. This has always been the business of totalitarianism.

Israel: the worst thing that ever happened to Islam

Israel Featured

Israel: the worst thing that ever happened to Islam

These countries are finally setting up national markets, with the attendant liberalising transformation. Arab states have an enormous task on their hands: restructure society away from Islam and towards freedom, i.e., modernise, and the key is Israel. It is a complete repudiation of Hassan al-Banna.