'50 years of conquering outer space:"At the time, it was the only way to get out of Russia ! "'
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Funny Cartoon: Russian Space Program
Funny Cartoon by the talented artist Dilem of the Algerian Newspaper "Liberte"
Yet Another Time... and why we should NEVER allow politicians to hijack our faith
Another day and another exploitation of the sacred by politicians...
The English teacher arrested in Sudan after allowing a child to name his teddy bear "Muhammad", the name of the prophet of Islam, made the headlines to most newspapers in London. Needless to say, this is yet another disgraceful attempt by politicians to (ab)use religious beliefs and sacred figures.
Obviously the matter is blown out of proportion, and let's be honest some people just love that.
a closer look at the event will reveal that the true intention behind it is the Sudanese government challenge to Britain, kind of arm twist, especially about Darfur's humanitarian crisis.
The Ulemas were quoted to say that this represents :"another ring in the circles of plotting against Islam". The spirit of conspiracy is very clear in the words of these religious officials; a title which is opposed to the corp of Islamic philosophy of absence of mediators between the divine and humanity. These kind of people are trying to set fire in the normal moderate majority of the population; and it's a very bad timing... very bad indeed. Because on the other bank, there exist a bunch of polemicist who will, unashamedly, use this to perpetuate their image of Islam as a barbarian backward religion and discriminate against the Muslims.
What the world needs is to strip these two groups, extremist Ulemas and ignorant xenophobes, from their "raison d'être". hatred flows from generation to the next, and poverty and injustice does no good in reducing it. A better understanding based on fair dialog between civilisations is more than necessary. When moderates are silenced by dictators or, much worse, by interests, only the ignorants on both extremes of the spectrum are making their messages heard!
The English teacher arrested in Sudan after allowing a child to name his teddy bear "Muhammad", the name of the prophet of Islam, made the headlines to most newspapers in London. Needless to say, this is yet another disgraceful attempt by politicians to (ab)use religious beliefs and sacred figures.
Obviously the matter is blown out of proportion, and let's be honest some people just love that.
a closer look at the event will reveal that the true intention behind it is the Sudanese government challenge to Britain, kind of arm twist, especially about Darfur's humanitarian crisis.
The Ulemas were quoted to say that this represents :"another ring in the circles of plotting against Islam". The spirit of conspiracy is very clear in the words of these religious officials; a title which is opposed to the corp of Islamic philosophy of absence of mediators between the divine and humanity. These kind of people are trying to set fire in the normal moderate majority of the population; and it's a very bad timing... very bad indeed. Because on the other bank, there exist a bunch of polemicist who will, unashamedly, use this to perpetuate their image of Islam as a barbarian backward religion and discriminate against the Muslims.
What the world needs is to strip these two groups, extremist Ulemas and ignorant xenophobes, from their "raison d'être". hatred flows from generation to the next, and poverty and injustice does no good in reducing it. A better understanding based on fair dialog between civilisations is more than necessary. When moderates are silenced by dictators or, much worse, by interests, only the ignorants on both extremes of the spectrum are making their messages heard!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The Truth Behind the Title
I published this in another blog, and there was some technical problems (it's very techi you gotta be a nerd to understand... i lost my password!)... I thought i post it here... enjoy:)
I assume that the best way to start this blog is to explain why i called it "Seeking The Truth". I am not a conspiracy theory fan, so the truth here is not about UFOs or Lady Di or the such. I mean the Truth of my life, our life; the Truth of Life.
The question that might come to mind now is: why assuming that there is a meaning at all?
Well, that is far from being an assumption. nihilism could be an option but after close investigation, the emptiness that this leads to will have to be filled-necessarily. Nihilism assuming that there is no meaning, no truth, actually proves the ongoing thirst for finding something- even if in this case this something is the nothing-ness.
Okay... moving on..
The case for the presence of meaning in our life can be found everywhere. since antiquity, philosophers, scientists, mystics and ordinary people believed that behind the order and patterns in nature is something deep, that there is more to life than what meets the eye. Even some scientists who argue against a meaningful life base their entire research on the assumptions that "more facts can be uncovered". This is the pillar of scientific research, otherwise they are wasting our tax money in the pursuit of "the nothing".
This is a very serious issue, one that touches the core of the human "being". I will try and swim the sea.
I'm No Superman
One of my favorite songs is: "I'm no superman" , the theme song of the TV show "scrubs". I even used it as my phone ringtone for a very long time.
I'm no superman, and I'm no super-writer either... but what i will try to do here is to express some of my ideas and feelings as they come.
Coming from a country where dictatorship is reigning over its people, i learned as did most of my compatriots, to self-sensor my ideas. This was a survival step more than anything else.
The state of paranoia created by dictatorship, where the public feels spied on all the time is very effective in controlling "the masses" . When people believe that anything they say will be known to "the government", even the "thinking" mechanism itself starts to diminish. Eventually, we end up with a society made up of apathetic members struggling to survive and to get their "daily bread".
The Internet, Thank God, is one of the last resorts for people to say what they want... well not perfectly safe, because if you are Chinese.. oh, "they" WILL get ya!
Anonymous blogging is OK, as long as it is not the last step. sometimes words must be said out loud... and the truth must be known, even at the risk of loosing the dearest of things. Heroism should not be the aim, but heroes must always be remembered... remembered that they are "not superman".
I'm no superman, and I'm no super-writer either... but what i will try to do here is to express some of my ideas and feelings as they come.
Coming from a country where dictatorship is reigning over its people, i learned as did most of my compatriots, to self-sensor my ideas. This was a survival step more than anything else.
The state of paranoia created by dictatorship, where the public feels spied on all the time is very effective in controlling "the masses" . When people believe that anything they say will be known to "the government", even the "thinking" mechanism itself starts to diminish. Eventually, we end up with a society made up of apathetic members struggling to survive and to get their "daily bread".
The Internet, Thank God, is one of the last resorts for people to say what they want... well not perfectly safe, because if you are Chinese.. oh, "they" WILL get ya!
Anonymous blogging is OK, as long as it is not the last step. sometimes words must be said out loud... and the truth must be known, even at the risk of loosing the dearest of things. Heroism should not be the aim, but heroes must always be remembered... remembered that they are "not superman".
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