Islam the Religion of Peace Unless You Disagree

In 2012 Blogger Raif Badawi was arrested for his views posted upon his blog "Saudi Arabian Liberals", where he advocated secularism and hosted political and religious debate in the highly charged religious atmosphere of Saudi Arabia. In 2013 Badawi was convicted with the crimes of violating the Kingdom's information technology laws and insulting Islam and was sentenced to seven years behind bars along with 600 lashes to be filled out through his incarceration.

When appealed, Saudi Arabian Courts increased his sentence to ten years and 1,000 lashes. Badawi received his first set of 19 public lashing in January of this year.

However the Raif Badawi story is just one of many when it comes to speaking your mind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Courts have recently sentenced to death Palestinian-born poet Ashraf Fayadh for his 2008 book of poetry, " Insructions Within ". Citing his work contained evidence of atheism and destructive thoughts. Originally Fayadh was given the sentence of four years and 800 lashes, however, a new court panel concluded that his punishment was to light and a decision of death was handed out instead.

International outcry over the death penalty urged Western intellectuals and the literary community to hold rallies and sign petitions calling to set Fayadh free. In February their efforts paid-off somewhat as the case was retried for a third time leading to Fayadh receiving an eight year sentence along with 800 lashes.

*Mona Kareen, a New York based writer and friend of Fayadh, is translating the controversial book from Arabic to English for the independent Brooklyn based publishers The Operating System. " Most of it [the book] is about the experience of being a refugee in an oil kingdom. Specifically as Palestinian refugee born and raised in Saudi Arabia. Fayadh challenges [the] common narrative in which migrations end in Western countries. His work calls into question the role of Arab states... Highlights the marginalization of refugees in Arab society. " Mona Kareem goes on to say that Fayadh's poetic protests are inherently political and this is why the government of Saudi Arabia has come after him.

Saudi Arabia is home for 240,000 Palestinian refugees however they are excluded from laws that allow expatriates to purse citizenship and exist in limbo of statelessness. When it comes to other refugees in the Arab Kingdom who break laws many are deported, although, in the case of Ashrah Fayadh, whom is a Palestinian but born and raised in Saudi Arabia, he has no state to be deported too.

Today the 35 year-old poet sits in jai. No longer writes. Preparing for a new process of appeals. Looking at a reality of years of prison. His one and only care is that people don't forget him. But forget him they will. Many don't care about what goes on the other side of the world, about things they no nothing or care about. If the West in looking for change in places like Saudi Arabia they are never going to find it as the governments turn blind eyes to the abuses that are delivered Daily for those trying for change. Obama and other Western governments talk about trying to spur openness and freedom in places such as Iran but continue to allow our supposed allies in the region carte blanche when comes to their own Human Rights Violations.

*Mona Kareem is a researcher for the advocacy group Migrant-Rights.org and is currently a PhD candidate in the Comparative Literature Program at Binghamton University. You can find her at MonaKareem.blogspot.com

The Generation of the F*#ktarded & the Rise of the Twitterite

Social Media is like the Wild West except now it’s in the form of the modern age. But it still seems that it is almost the same type of atmosphere of an anything goes policy and a way to look at things. Instead of gunslingers and prospectors and the like walking along dusty roads we now have gunslingers in the form of “cyberbullies”, prospectors in the form of “ad space” & and wannabe Mad Men marketers, all populated by the world around them. As the “Mtv Generation” gave birth to the “Twitterite Generation”, many from that former generation seemed to want & did change the world. And like the “Hippie Generation” that gave birth to “Mtv’ers” it wasn’t for the better.  

Many believed that the “Mtv’ers” were to hold nothing sacred, as we [they] chased the next fun time or high or whatnot, supposedly “mimicking” the things we saw in those “rock” music videos as if they were somehow real. Because back in the 80s music videos were going to be the downfall of western civilization. Hell, they even made documentary about it titled just that. Back then, Mtv was our social media outlet. You were looked on as odd if you didn’t know who were the popular VJ’s -as the hosts had become to be known- were; that you hadn’t yet seen the latest “Guns & Roses” (“GNR” for those “in the know”) video. Now, ironically Mtv no longer plays music. The videos now replaced with the awesome antidotes of the “Jersey Shore” & “Buckwild” & the like. Reality TV rules the day & a large part of that is thanks to Mtv. (another bit of irony is when it was started the “M” in Mtv stood for “music”. Now it’s just a “M”). But as the “adults” that had to deal with the “Mtv’ers” & their strange cultural ways almost the same can be said about the “Twitterites”, what was said about the one that gave birth to them. That they are exactly that: a generation where nothing is held sacred. Only now when you ask about who and what is in the know, it has to be plastered, uploaded on the interweb. It’s only really cool if it ends up there for all the world to see. That you are nothing or it didn’t happen unless it is posted on some social media site. The more sites the better, meaning if said “post” keeps popping up over and over (going “viral” as the hipsters say) then the more popular you are. Because we have raised a generation that not only expects to be famous but deserves to be famous, regardless of what they do. Keep in mind that each and every generation has dealt with same looked upon disdain from their older & supposedly wiser counterparts. But this time around the case can almost be made that teenagers of today might just be as stupid as we think them to be. Well, maybe not just teenagers. There are plenty of  “Adults” that are as stupid as we perceive them to be as well.

Now I’m not just talking about FACEBOOK, or TWITTER, or YOUTUBE or any of the other thousand other sites. Just look at porn. The rise of wannabe fame whores (both male & female) has no qualms about uploading their sexual acts. Whether it’s Spring Break parties (This is where we have to thank Joe Francis and his “Girls Gone Wild” franchise) or just good times wherever. If you do a quick Google search for porn you’ll easily find a plethora of sites that will show dumbass, drunk college people getting naked and fucking their what little brains they have left out. Add on top of that, these sites are quite popular. So there will be no shortage of coed fuck sites to choose from any time soon. Now am I saying that they are bad? No. Of course not. Although, I am not saying that they are good either. I am against censorship of any kind, and when it comes to adults (people over the ripe old age of 18) you know how the world works and should have enough common sense not to put yourself out there. But in reality it’s the exact opposite.

Now though... now we have the likes of stupidity coming from towns like Steubenville (well that’s not entirely true. We also have places like Torrington too). I mean, what the fuck. A) what retard thoought it was okay that to say: “yeah, she’s drunk as hell. Lets fuck her” and B) “hey, lets do one better and video it.” The realm of stupidity from these “Two young men with promising futures” as stated by CNN (Nevermind that Trent Mays or Ma’lik Richmond thought it wise to take advantage of someone that was passed out), how they have now thrown their lives away. Oh, yeah. They raped somebody. The fucking idiots that defend these stupid motherfuckers have actually gone out and said that they didn’t realize what they were doing was wrong. That they didn’t know that it was rape because they live this sheltered life and they didn’t realize that this was wrong. Really? Can anyone possibly say at their age that they don’t know what rape is? Let’s get a little serious here. They and the assholes that taped it ALL KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING WAS WRONG. The reason I can say this with definite proof is that all those TWEETS that were posted about all miraculously disappeared from the their accounts. And yes, they all posted about it, even the 12 minute video of the actual rape. It was put out for the simple reasons that I had stated before: because people today (it’s not just the youth) seem to have to out their every bowel movement on social media. Like somehow they wouldn’t exist otherwise. Hell, maybe you shouldn’t.

And when I say it’s not just the youth of today, I mean it’s not just the youth today. I have had personal experiences with “adults” that act like their teenage kids. Arguing about the dumbest shit posible on FACEBOOK with kids. Acting like those kids as they argue. It just boggles my mind on how many people in this world have FAILED to move on from high school.

Case in point: Steubenville. AGAIN.

We have come to see an age where parents want to be friends with their children; adults who refuse to grow up. Instead, still living out the glory days of high school youth. What the fuck is that about. Have we become so desensitized, and fear growing up that we need to relive those days vicariously through our children & the “Twitterite Generation? Act like we had it somehow so bad that, that our parents were such douche-bags, that we need to make every girl a princess and every boy that plays sports a god damn god (the sports thing, however, varies from place to place depending in what part of the country you in. In other parts of the country we see pageants or parents try to turn their kids into some kind of star. But you get the point). Not only that, but we all somehow deserve some dickhead reality show. Now with the case of Steubenville, as I have researched about it, I see that Football is its own brand of religion there. That every boy from the “right” side of the tracks wants to become the next High School Football Star (be part of what they call “Big Red”). High School Football is such a religion in Steubenville that even the adults still live out those glory days that I talked about already. As they refer to themselves as #steubenvillestarsforlife. That mentality is rather frightening in my book. I have seen cults act the same way. Especially when you speak out against them. As people are now. Only to be attacked by our modern day gunslingers that troll the social media. Nevermind that this girl was raped. No. She deserved it they say because she was so drunk. So it’s okay then because this girl was too drunk to say “no, please don’t rape me” that these privileged boys should be allowed to do whatever it is they want. That her being raped was, eh, a misunderstanding on HER part. Not only that, but, hey, lets put it all on the web. Like I said there is a 12 minute video floating around out there of people cheering on the retards that ASSAULTED this girl. And lets not forget all the wonderful TWEETS (because remember: Things don’t happen in life unless it is on SOCIAL MEDIA) talking about how this girl looked dead. About peeing on her. About “you don’t sleep through a wang in the buthole.” Classy.

I know I am getting repetitive here about the TWEETING and the RAPE. But I want to make sure that my point gets across. Because it appears that this type of behavior not only seems to be spreading like a plague around the country but there also seems to be something of a cover up going on. As this appears to be an ongoing tragedy when the layers of shit are peeled away from the surface.

 

We have to ask ourselves who is really at fault? In no way am I saying that Trent Mays or Ma’lik Richmond should not be punished. Actually I think they got off pretty fucking lightly, with their 1 and 2 year Juvenile Sentences. If it were my daughter that part might have played out differently. And I’ll just leave it at that.  

In the end I believe that we as a whole are a large part of the problem. We allow this to happen. But in no way am I advocating our lives being taken over by the likes of Mayor Bloomberg or VP Biden as they have gotten on their high horses over the Sandy Hook tragedy. No. A nanny state run by assholes is nothing we need. What we do need is to teach a little common sense in the world that is sorely lacking common sense. Give the next generation the tools to take on and combat this type of bullshit. Again I am NOT ADVOCATING violence. But this turn the other cheek and tell an adult is about as useless as fuck all. Especially when hear things about how teachers and coaches know about some of these things, how cops along with them turn the blind eye when it comes to the those like the “Big Red” crew. Because those boys & girls have such a bright future ahead of them. God forbid they derail themselves with their own stupidity.

Until next time...   

Generation F*cktard

Hunter S. Thompson proclaimed the 1980s to be the “Generation of Swine” assuming that the US social landscape was populated by greed and immortality of the obscene; Where Hunter Thompson saw “brainless freaks”, “money-sucking animals” and “greed crazed lunatics” this generation is made up of half-wits, inane no-doers; a generation that thinks that they are special for doing pretty much nothing. Just believing that since they are born they need to be followed. We have replaced our Hemingways, Brandos, and Einsteins with a new crop of “not-so-reality” stars the likes of which include Snookie, Jwow, and the Honey Boo-Boo clan. (And lets not forget Mtv’s new awesomeness of mental fucktards whose swimming hole is in the shadows of a nuclear power plant.) A generation shat forth from frothy vaginas of the swine that became over-barring soccer moms hell-bent on making sure that their crass little spawns did not have to do anything other than be famous. Because we all need to be famous, right? Never mind any of that being creative, or that of talent, or intelligence. No you just have to be able to video yourself doing the most moronic thing possible and not die, make funny monkey noises as you roll around drunk on the floor, or, hell, just make a sex tape with someone sort of kind of famous. Then sell it to TMZ and E!. The latter of which will more than likely give you your own television show. If not then there is always Mtv.

So it sort of surprised me that when El President-aye Obama, in his Inauguration Speech, said that this was this generation’s task to carry on what the pioneers began. Really, President Obama? Have you not laid eyes on the so-called role models that plague this generation? I know you are not that secular of a person, hidden away and only surrounded by cherry picked people. Hell, some of these idiots where actually part of your campaign.

I am not saying that this entire generation is completely made of up brainless retarded zombies. Not at all. I know that there are plenty of people that are talented, and creative, and smart. While some do break out from under the pile of shit of society’s fucktarded, we do not like to prop up most of them. As it is much easier to sit back and watch the carousel of clusterfuck that is “The Real Housewives of Whatever”, “Dance Moms”, and the ever awesome “Bad Girls Club”. Just to name a few.