“…trapped in a maze of social interaction with people who appreciated me but didn’t understand me.”
“To live in diaspora is to be haunted by histories that sit uncomfortably out of joint, ambivalently ahead of their time and yet behind it too. It is to feel a small tingle on the skin at the back of your neck and know that something is not quite right about where you are now, but to know also that you cannot leave. To be un-homed is a process. To be unhomely is a state of diasporic consciousness.”
“We conclude that verses extremists cite from the Qur’an do not suggest an aggressive offensive foe seeking domination and conquest of unbelievers, as is commonly assumed. Instead they deal with themes of victimization, dishonor, and retribution. This shows close integration with the rhetorical vision of Islamist extremists. Based on this analysis we recommend that the West abandon claims that Islamist extremists seek world domination, focus on counteracting or addressing claims of victimage, emphasize alternative means of deliverance, and work to undermine the ‘champion’ image sought by extremists.”
A new study propoganda from 1998 to 2011 shows that Muslim extremists are more concerned with defending against foreign intrusion than striving towards worldwide offensive Jihad. The study’s researches, Jeffry Halverson, R. Bennett Furlow and Steven Corman, assert that
continued claims to the contrary, by both official and unofficial sources, only play into a ‘clash of civilizations’ narrative that benefits the extremist cause. These claims also undermine the credibility of Western voices, because the audience knows that extremist arguments are really about victimage and deliverance.
This, of course, only adds to the long line of research that points toward motivations for extremism that don’t agree with the Islamist narrative often promoted in the West.
(via rcabbasi)
I mean, this all goes back to the fact that “external jihad” wasn’t really a thing until the Crusades, when Islam was used for political purposes (what?! religion used for political purposes?! it’s not like the Church wasn’t doing that for the Crusades in the first place…) to rally the Muslims to defend their homelands.
(via sarahstocracy)
Anthony Lane reviews “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “Take This Waltz”: http://nyr.kr/KOni1z
Lena Dunham Remembers Nora Ephron: http://nyr.kr/OAeimX
Her advice was unparalleled. At one of our lunches this past January, I was sheepishly describing a male companion’s lack of support for my professional endeavors. She nodded in a very “don’t be stupid” way, as if I already knew what I had to do: “You can’t possibly meet someone right now. When I met Nick, I was already totally notorious”—note: Nora was the only person who could make that word sound neither braggy nor sinister—“and he understood exactly what he was getting into. You can’t meet someone until you’ve become what you’re becoming.” Panicked, I asked, “How long will that take?”
Nora considered a moment. “Give it six months.”
Why Are American Kids So Spoiled?
With the exception of the imperial offspring of the Ming dynasty and the dauphins of pre-Revolutionary France, contemporary American kids may represent the most indulged young people in the history of the world. It’s not just that they’ve been given unprecedented amounts of stuff—clothes, toys, cameras, skis, computers, televisions, cell phones, PlayStations, iPods. (The market for Burberry Baby and other forms of kiddie “couture” has reportedly been growing by ten per cent a year.) They’ve also been granted unprecedented authority. “Parents want their kids’ approval, a reversal of the past ideal of children striving for their parents’ approval,” Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, both professors of psychology, have written. In many middle-class families, children have one, two, sometimes three adults at their beck and call. This is a social experiment on a grand scale, and a growing number of adults fear that it isn’t working out so well: according to one poll, commissioned by Time and CNN, two-thirds of American parents think that their children are spoiled.
Elizabeth Kolbert considers new research on American family life the phase of adultesence: http://nyr.kr/L9sCOG
Rasmussen College’s infograph on multitasking is fantastic.
Obviously the print is a bit tiny, but click the image to see it full-sized, it’s definitely worth a look. Now if you’ll excuse us – we have to get back to our ineffective multitasking now!
The Nation’s double issue on Islamophobia is out today. Inside:
No more Mr. Nice Obama: “…the President is, apparently, not afraid to get a little nasty.” http://nyr.kr/M93EwX
Can We Reverse The Stanford Prison Experiment?
In the summer of 1971, Zimbardo took healthy Stanford students, gave them roles as either guards or inmates, and placed them in a makeshift prison in the basement of Stanford University. In just days, the prisoners demonstrated symptoms of depression and extreme stress and the guards had become sadistic. The experiment was stopped early. The lesson? As W. Edwards Deming wrote: “A bad system will defeat a good person, every time.” But is the opposite true? I asked Zimbardo, “Can you reverse the Stanford Prison Experiment?”
Absolutely fantastic article. He talked about a lot of this stuff when I met him last year at WPA. What an awesome guy.
(Source: khpiryv)
