I truly wish that you are having a better Eid and New Year Eve than I am! I have a nasty flu that kept me in bed the past 2 days. My kids went out celebrating Eid with my family, came back, went to bed and I was in a complete coma through it all. I remember waking up, taking a peak at the TV, taking my medicines and falling to sleep all over again.
Now that I am relatively better, I am trying to recall some of the things I heard and saw while in and out of coma! I remember waking up around 6 am on the news of hanging Saddam on the Eid morning. I remember that thinking that the timing is off. And that his death was not as “satisfying” as I thought it would be.
Later that night I saw interviews on Al-Jazirah, CNN and Arabia across the Arab world mourning the death of a distinguished “Arabic Leader”!! Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen .. even Iraqis !! I went to coma again hoping not to wake up again to a world where someone like Saddam Hussein is mourned and considered a great leader!
My next conscious moments were when a new CNN Presents show began. It was around the Da Vinci Code theory of the changes made on the Christianity beliefs across the centuries and the role of the Roman Empire is shaping the religion into its current shape and away from its originally intended message. I went to sleep again thinking, how can people still believe despite all this clear undisputed evidence that their faith had been tampered?!
Today I am a bit better. So I could stay up for longer periods and follow the complete stories in the news. One of the interesting documents I saw today was a repetition of a 20/20 episode titled “Where is Heaven?” Barbara Walters meets people of different backgrounds and belief systems and discusses the origin and meaning of heaven across cultures, philosophies and religions. She interviews a scientist who discovered a “God Gene” that basically proves that some people are genetically more inclined to “believe” than others.
Finally there was a Panorama show on the nuclear black market! The program illustrates in minute details the way Pakistan, Iran and Iraq obtained their nuclear powers with the blessings of the American and British intelligence. A large network of well trained Eastern and Europeans selling technology, hardware and Uranium to the area regimes in delicate coordination with the US and the UK. The trading was stopped only when the same network began doing business with Libya!
I am sick, tiered and drugged, so my little brain can not really comprehend how can some people SEE Saddam’s atrocities and still be blind to it. I don’t understand how can people TALK about the alterations in History and still believe in absolute truths? How come there are those who HEAR all about the nuclear black market in Germany, Dubai and Pakistan and still think that this can play to our benefit?
The truth is that we see, hear and comprehend what we want to see, hear and comprehend. Our perception is selective and highly biased by our beliefs and values. Hmmmm the “God Gene” ?! Can this be genetic ?!
16 comments:
methel ma mo3awiya bn aby sufyaan "ameer elmo'mineen", sadam 7sain "ga'ed 3arabi 3atheem" .. so excuse me for not acting one bit surprised.
dinya 3alimatna, aii walah
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and if ur interested, look up "who wrote the bible", it's a brit documentary that is presented very 'lightly' (too lightly for my taste) but is nonetheless extremely interesting in that its content is well-sourced and diverse.
my bad, here:
who wrote the bible? (1hr 45min)
oh my god ! sick and drugged ! what are you ON exactly ?
Salamat matshofen shar, get well soon....... oh and Happy Eid, Happy Execution, Happy New Saddamless Year :)
Hi there :) Happy New Year to all!
A. Temi dear .. I totally agree with the Adu Sufyan analogy. But you might find an excuse for those who are misguided now because of all the misinformation and brainwashing that is done through years of education and media. But SADDAM ?!! This is so current and clear that you only have to be blind, dumb and deaf not to see it :(
Thanks for the documentary. I have a full library of those even before the DaVinci Code. There is a more thorough series done by Peter Jenings RIP.
7akima love, Happy 2007 and may it bring peace, love and health to you and all your loved ones :*
Can't wait for your input ;)
Fuzzy Puzzy! How are yoooooooooou?! Hope you've had a great break!
I wish and a I pray for a Happy SaddamLess year .. but the signs so far are not encouraging :(
My cocktail is Propain, Sudafid and Panadol Night .. For even a longer coma add Cleratine ;)
I do totally agree that Saddam is one of the worst Arabic leaders. However, the way they killed him and the timing is totally wrong. First the people will always remember him as the “Hero” who was killed by the Americans on the morning of AlEid. And the Video, that you should all see, betrayed him as the Sunni who was killed by Shiaa’s.
I think that the death of Saddam is the beginning of dark years for the region; this nightmare would take the shape of sectarian violence and wars that will drag us into a dark tunnel.
Mateshofiini shar… and it is just a flu. You are stronger than the flu :)
Dear Anon,
I can't agree more. I strongly believe that the timing of the hanging is another American attempt to fuel the sectarian feud in Iraq.
First he was not trialed for ALL his crimes? In all war crime ALL the victims are given fair chances of closure and facing the offender. Then the collective rulings are applied. This was not the case which made it seem more of a rivenge than justice.
Second, he is a key witness for prosecuting others just as bad as he. How can we get his version of the story now?
Third, the timing!!! What is the point of hanging him on Eid day?!!
These are NOT stupid mistakes. These are well planned acts to egnite the ongoing civil war :(
Any comments on the God gene? :)
Propain, Sudafid and Panadol Night .. For even a longer coma add Cleratine !!!
i would go for something like a Cup of Fresh Ginger mixed with Honey and Lemon, Followed by a shot of camomile, then a pill of Zinc + 2 Grams (4 pills) Vitamen C
and perhaps a Zyrtic Pill if needed :)
the problem is Flu spreads so quick in the house, like a desease... oh well, we kept on asking for Winter all Summer Long :)
Salamaat again
God gene!?
Why recently they claimed that what ever we do is related to our Genes? If they really discovered the god gene then god should not punish any one because there is no free well. And he (god) made us this way? This is in contradiction with the Abrahamic religions principles. So, if there is such a gene then there is no God, or there is no Abrahamic God…
Fuzzy dear,
Thanks for the tips :) Sounds like a "healthy" therapy ;)I prefer natural therapies for the kids. For me, I would rather quick and effective chemicals because I really can't afford the time :)
Anon dear,
Great to have you back :)
The God gene is mislabled, I think. It does not mean that God is a gene. It is the name scientists give to the gene responsible for our tendency to BELIEVE. Some people are more enclined to beleive than others. Some, who do not have that gene, are more skeptical and need hard data/evidence before they trust or beleive in something.
That applies to our tendencies to beleive in ideas, people, philosophies and religions.
7akima my dear friend,
I couldn't agree more on the Saddam execution. Yesterday there was a Kurd leader on CNN saying exactly the same and accusing the Americans of playing this to their favor. I loved his guts :)
The problem with the tendency to beleive is that its a bouble sawrd. I think its the same thing that makes people believe that Saddam is a HERO despite the clear facts and that Jesus is a God despite the historic data against that.
So faith might be a good and empowering thing if you beleive in good things in moderation. But it truns ugly when faith blocks one's mind and heart.
welcome back 7ubi & samdilla 3al 7alama ;-)
i too woke up on the news and was frustrated that it was not satisfying at all.
i've been visiting some pro-saddam blogs and it's scary!
civil war, it seems, is inevidable :-(
then the whole thing about Geneva conventions and that he should have been executed by shooting not hanging...
then the timing, and how it wasn't wrong since Shiiat's eid is a day after...
then arab leaders' statements...
just plain disgusting that even his death is annoying!
Arfana Honey! Great to see you :)
Well, they made a hero of him in his life and now made sure he dies as a hero. And we are passive observers in all that :(
Allah Yastir !
my short take on the god gene issue:
by logic (note: different from logically), if there were to be a so-called god gene then how would one go to account for those who lose faith, and those who attain it?
i.e. if we were to give in to the suggestion that something of this caliber could be predetermined in DNA, then what does one do with reality? shake it off saying that it's nothing but a mood swing on the part of the person? is it conditioning of the environment?
isn't everything? the infamous nature vs nurture debate comes to mind here
genes as i understand them (and i suck at biology btw) mold a being, meaning that it is not you nor i that mold our genes or "change" them according to what we know
now, logically (different than 'by logic'), what would be the need or insistence on the 'concept of faith' in theology for one to be a believer if there was an argument in the favor of a god-gene predetermining one's chances in believing?
to me, personally, sticking 'everything' to the name of science is just as pathetic an attempt as trying to stick 'everything' to the name of religion
A. Temi .. I understand what you're saying. But the idea that genes are "blueprints" that control our behavior is a bit outdated. The new understanding is that genes are more of "switches" they are turned on and off by the enviroment. Hence the ongoing nature/nurture argument is kind of concluded to neither nor :)
A great book on that is "The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture" by Matt Ridley.
Back to the "god" gene, research shows that its the tendency to beleive that is genetic. So the same extremist Shi3i will be a Salafi suni and the extremist religious fundamentalist will be a stubborn atheist :) So education and upbringing (enviroment) might change the "object of beleif", but the strenght of conviction is genetic ;)
what research if i may ask?
how was one study conducted, let alone the majority? what institutions were behind the funding, then publishing, which journals?
the literature will have a LOT to do before even selling the idea of something so abstract to be as prospectively concrete
i must say however that in your final comment (one directly above), i could not help but think that you were discssuing "character traits" and psychological (if one must insist) tendencies that are connected to genetics
if that is indeed what is being discussed, then just as easily, a 'god gene' can be taken to be the label for something like, say, "co-dependency for the purpose of one's existence" (in a sense which i assume is clear)
yoba allah belkhair, akhalsich? naby allah Ibraheem 3alaih wa 3ala nabeyna elsalaam 3ammah/oboh (depending on where you look) kan mn el kofaar ..
naby allah Nou7 3ala nabeyna w 3alaih elsalaam, ham weldah kan mn el kofaar..
naby allah Ya3gob 3alaih elsalaam, shakk b 11 wa7id mn i3yaalah fi gatheyat 7ilm naby allah Yosif 3laih elsalaam
ma7ad genetic a7ad yam3awda .. aii wala, shelimhen shelimhen :)
A. Temi dear :)
What are you arguing against? Genes? Or the existance of a gene responsible for a certain perdisposition? In both cases there are plenty of published studies that have been proven medically by DNA mapping.
Now once someone in the family gets the gene it does not mean that all the family has it. Otherwise we will all have the same skin color, eye color, genetic deseases .. etc. So a family member with a personality disorder (genetic), or thalasimia, genetic blindness, does not mean that all his/her offsprings will get the desease :)
Moses got stutterning (genetic), Haron did not ;)
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