Friday, June 09, 2006

Warm up the virgins

My Muslim fundamentalist friend, The Urchin, misunderstood my intent in linking to a post of his below. I can understand how this could happen, since I am typically very critical of Judeo/Christian/Muslim religions and the con men and violent psychopaths they enable. And also, let’s face it, fundamentalists often do not get irony, so it is not at all surprising that one would misunderstand the things I write. I don’t try to make the space between every word ooze with irony, it just comes natural.

So I will try to explain, really, really try, with neither hyperbole nor irony so that we can better understand each other.

I’ve learned from my blogging experience that in addition to making fun of right wing idiots, I enjoy showcasing the writings of people that are presented as little more than caricatures by our dominant media, at least if they write well. I enjoy wallowing, so to speak, in the humanity of those who have been dehumanized by the noise-making organs of our culture.

I highlighted Mr. Urchin’s writing because I thought it was very good and because it gives us insight into a type that is relentlessly caricatured in our culture, a type that very many of us want to kill, who some of us are concocting elaborate plans to kill, and who some of us are actually killing right now in Iraq and Afghanistan. The self-described Muslim fundamentalist is not considered a human being worthy of life by large and very powerful segments of our culture.

In short, I felt that Mr. Urchin’s writing demonstrated the Muslim fundamentalists can be people too. I know that seems obvious, but such is the state of our world that for all too many it is not.


i just want to live a peaceful innocent life.
i wish those who represent Islam in my country were actually knowledgeable scholars and not some opportunists and/or religious fanatics.
i miss the time I spent during my 2nd Grade to 5th Grade .
i fear Allah may decide not to guide me due to my overweening arrogance.
i wonder when Bangladesh will become something better than a developing country.
i regret often for talking too much.
i am not an extremist but a fundamentalist.
i cry when I can't solve the exercises from the "The Art of Computer Programming" by Donald Knuth even though I try like a thousand times.
i made little or no contributions to the society I live in(yet).
i write cos I can't speak very well.
i need to develop some abs and muscles.
i should learn not to take myself seriously.
i finish everything abruptly.

I find all that to be beautifully human in, let us say, a very fundamental way.