Deepak Chopra said of Allah, Liberty and Love, ” When we realize that liberty and love, meaning and purpose are more sacred than ideology and dogma, our religion and spirituality will come of age.”
I highly recommend this book for anyone questioning dogma, yet wanting to keep faith. It is a great guide to how can each of us embark on a personal journey toward moral courage – the willingness to speak up when everybody else wants to shut you up.
Watch Beauty and the East’s Coverage of the Arab American Comedy Festival.
There is some seriously funny stuff here. I applaud the comedians and the organizers for putting the show together in this polarized political environment where everyone takes themselves way too seriously. Sometimes the best way to connect people is through comedy and to show the commonality in all of us. Enjoy!
I haven’t seen Four Lions yet, and and will try to get my hands on it asap, but the trailer is amusing and interesting. Four Lions by British comedian, Chris Morris, tells the story of a group of jihadists who pursue their dreams of glory. As the wheels fly off, and their competing ideologies clash, what emerges is an emotionally engaging farce.
Four Lions is based on three years of researching surveillance materials from major trials, and meetings with everyone from imams to ex-mujahedeen. Four Lions goes beyond seeing these young men as alien or evil, instead, it portrays them as human beings.
Some people may not find it funny. The best defense is a better offense and nothing is better than humor, if it’s done well. Frankly, the heated debates, the blame games, and the angry tirades are not working, but only making people and attitudes more polarized. Why not try something new to show the absurdity of it all?
If anyone has seen this, I’d love to hear your opinions.
I am posting this story to bring to light some of the reasons, and I use that term loosely, why women are abused and looked down upon in Afghanistan.
It is about time this issue came up (even though it’s on Fox (smile). The repression, treatment, and abuse of women along with the rampant ‘bacha bazi’ (playing with boys) is totally linked and correlated with the sexual repression that is touted in the culture and religion. It’s ok for a man to have a wife, call himself a muslim, yet sexually abuse a little boy.
It’s the open secret, and it’s psychologically sick and unhealthy. Until Afghans, and frankly, muslims, accept that sexuality and sexual desires in men AND women are completely natural and part of being a human being, these problems will not be solved. Repressed sexuality usually comes out in unhealthy ways, that usually involve someone being a victim and paying a high price.
