Many Iraqis, whether from inside or outside Iraq, are familiar with Iraqi Shalash. Whether people like or dislike his approaches or not, and whether they agree or disagree with him eventually, there's a great majority of Iraqis who read his posts anyway. The simplicity in which he writes, using Iraqi slang and expressions, makes him closer to readers regardless their backgrounds and education.
When somebody intends to make a reproduction of Shalash's writings or character in a different language, it's hard to come accross as an authentic writer. Definitely not original when the name is borrowed, and when there's another writer to compare to. However, today's blogger , The Exiled Shalash, made the biggest mistake by associating himself to Shalas. The real Shalash comes accross simple and unsophisticated, the ordinary Iraqi Joe, flexible and tolerant despite his skeptical sense of humor. The Exiled Shalash? Nothing like that, and shame on the blogger for trying imitate him. The style? The writings? The thoughts? Nothing like Shalash. The simplicity, the validity and the familiarity of Shalash's writings are non-existant in Exiled Shalash's posts.
After skimming through the archive, I didn't quite have the inclination to go through posts as I usually do. However, it's a must. So the most recent post of July 26th, titled al-Maliki in Washington (3 of series) is simply a piece of second-hand news, somewhat hard to appreciate since there are enough news websites already whereas the blog is individual. There's the full text of the Bush/Maliki press conference, which I doubt anybody would bother reading, and which is left without any sort of a commentary by the blogger. You're more likely to scroll down looking for a piece of his mind, which there isn't, then you will wonder "What were you thinking?". It actually looks like the post is only there to fill some space or perhaps so he doesn't look like he hasn't updated in ages. That post almost seems like it's meant to bore people off, I for one was absolutely bored with it.
An older post that was actually a better read is of July 14th, titled Visiting Iraq. It's an account of his visit to Baghdad back in 2003 and his impressions about it, alongside the odds that he will ever visit Baghdad again. The post hued from tetchy to touching, however there was a moment that set me off the entire post:
"I never once even thought of working with the Iraqi or US government because I wanted to help my father with his shop, but that didn't matter to Sunni militants who were looking for any excuse to behead a Shi'a Iraqi returning from exile."
There are both Sunni and Shiite militants in Iraq, and having lived there throughout the war, there were well more Shiite militants than Sunni. Regardless of that, those are renegade militants regardless their sectarian courses and orientations. The differences are existent, but those differences separate Iraqis, and still Iraqis enforce the differences and keep mentioning them. That post gave me a bitter sense of Nostalgia and somewhat reminded me of my own exodus.
The older posts start with reflections upon Iraqi Shalash's writings, and then some individual thinking. The March 17th post, titled Civil War starts off with a recount and an explanation of one of the puns used by Iraqi Shalash:
"I don't know what civil war means," is how Shalash begins his latest piece. You see in Arabic civil war can be translated into al-Harb al-Ahliyyah, but al-Ahliyyah also means "private," and Ahil also means, "family." So is Iraq's civil war a private one? No, I think it is a war among a family, that's probably why it's translated as such."
It's actually somewhat amusing, but then the paragraph that followed left me quite puzzled:
"There is no such thing as a civil war, wars are not civil, not even the one that removed Saddam, if I recall correctly, I think I was a staunch supporter of that war."
Okay, what does this have to do with that? Anyway, so the post goes on, and upon reading I carried on wondering about the kind of "glue" he uses to put his thoughts together, because this one is falling apart. The post was grim, until I reached the breaking point where I laughed hysterically and simply thought "What does he know?!". That breaking point was this paragraph:
"Because we're a decent people, we have suffered so much for so long, we deserve someone better than Ja'afari and yes, someone better than Adil Abdulmahdi"
If you're a believer in God, then you know that he only gives people what they deserve to have, and somehow we've deserved Saddam Hussein for some three decades and then the past three years didn't quite show that our merit was any better. If you're a believer in humanity, then all I can say is that I've lived there and I've watched the rich and the poor loot like there's no tomorrow. You can argue that after decades of deprivation people deserve a break, but in the other hand everybody saw Munqith Al Jebah-che on TV, while he and his wife were stealing gilded tea cups. For those who don't know Munqith Al Jebah-che, he's a doctor who owned a private hospital as well as a clinic. Needless to mention Ahmed Ismail, the famous ortho-dentist, who also stole equipment from Mustansiryah University and installed them in a new private clinic that he intended to establish in Mansour Area. Those were few of many more examples. Decent? Well, the hue of killers, renegades, liars, thieves and corrupted/corrupting individuals doesn't sound that promising. Decent people, it sounds like a nice thing to be said about the majority of our people, had they only earned it throughout history. But well, who are we kidding, our bloody history does the telling. (I'm not saying that everybody is indecent there, I'm just saying that if you stick you're head out of your door you're more likely to face a renegade than anybody else).
The concluding paragraph of the post says:
"When all of this is over, maybe tens of years from now, maybe millions of lives later, maybe after Shalash and after the Exiled Shalash, maybe after Shalash becomes an Exiled Shalash, Iraqis have to put these clowns who now occupy Saddam's palaces on trial. The likes of Bayan Jabr and Abdulaziz al-Hakim and Muqtada al-Sadr and Ibrahim al-Ja'afari whose names have become known to the world at the expense of our blood should all be brought to justice and no, not some justice system crafted in the 7th century, but a real justice system that does not differentiate between a Budhist and a Muslim, a Shi'a and an atheist, a Yezedi and a Jew."
That paragraph was actually good, except for that I would seriously recommend that Exiled Shalash should never put his name next to Shalash's because he's "no more to Shalash than he is to Hercules". They could never be alike by any means. but in the other hand, yes, those names rose on our expense (But isn't that the 101 of politics?). By the way, Exiled Shalash, you say you shouldn't differentiate, why did you differentiate with militants? Or was that the result of spilling your actual bucket later on, on your blog? Anyway, the thought that supposedly made up the post was somewhat decaying or falling apart, because sometimes there's no link between two paragraphs, whatsoever.
I cannot seem to have the same feelings about two posts, sometimes he's cold and unaffected yet sometimes there's a spark, some zeal. Sometimes I utterly dislike him and sometimes he does sound reasonably acceptable. It's a good occasional read, yet not as Iraqi, and definitely not Shalash-like. The first month or two were as though his own thoughts are veiled and kept from the reader, but then the revelation is later on, in the more recent posts. Anyway, I don't argue his freedom of choice for a name but why did he have to pick that name out of all names out there, and then not do it just at all?
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Zappy!
I've been around the blogosphere for such long time now, both as a blogger and as a reader. Many were the blogs that got me disgusted with their bloggers' attitude, whether pretentious, unaffected, devious or simply oblivious. Yet in the other hand, there's been a handful of blogs that changed the ennui of having read other blogs into sheer interest in seeing what this or that blogger is unfolding. It's never about the style or the language, it's just about how sincere the blogger is and how much life they put into their writing. This is one blog that I've found simple, sincere and has got all you need to know to sort out life in Iraq.
I've been a keen reader of Zappy's blog for about as long as it had been around, some four months now, one of the most candid, simple and impartial blogs, compared to every other blog around. No headaches in terms of trying to figure what he's talking about, not much time spent on reflecting upon his political orientation and whether he's right, left or even chicken wing. For a person that is interested in a snappy kind of a report that gives an idea about what an average Iraqi is going through, Where Date Palms Grow is probably the blog to read. It says "An everyday account of Baghdad as I see it" on the top, and that's exactly what's in the blog. No deceitful twaddle about how truthful the blog is, no visionary blabber and no whining. Just a quiet report, sometimes bitter and pungent, but generally is as the blog is described.
The most recent post of August 21st, titled Rotten Onions and sweet smelling ministers is one post where Zappy's disdain and frustration is expressed. Quiet and composed as ever, his cynicism is sour, but not quite so to the point where you're more tempted to click "next blog" rather than finishing off the post. Like every other post in the archive, it recounts some of the daily incidents in the life of an average Iraqi. Some of his thoughts are also there, like his wondering:
"I wonder if Mr. Sheristani’s Generator stopped due to lack of Fuel? Or if Mr. Maliki’s Refrigerator went empty? I wonder if they have seen the streets this morning? With tons of rubbish and dug up water pipes the pilgrims dug out due to the extensive heat?"
Only few have asked these questions, and nobody had ever answered them, though the general speculation is that these figures don't go through the same things the average citizen goes through. Zappy also lets out his resentment towards those figures without putting everybody through the torture of reading through an extensive description of how much he hates them, he simply says:
"I wish I could stick those Rotten Onions up Mr. Sheristani’s …" (Fill in the blanks!)
Not much that's said and not much more to be said either. He concludes the post with what his own life looks like in struggle to get any hint of comfort, one that might be slightly better off than the remainder of Iraqis, yet still unable to find relieve:
"I am now a proud owner of three generator units a 8KV/A, a 3KV/A (broken) and a small 950 watt one, adding to that two DC to AC 1KV/A inverters (without batteries) and a member of the elite street generator (“broken” won’t be fixed until diesel fuel goes under the $1 a liter line) and 8 potable water pumps. (Only three work)Only problem is I don’t have enough fuel ;) I am also a member of the Iraqi Insomnia Society (try running every four hours day and night)."
Another post I found interesting was the one before it, August 18th, titled The "Army" Controls the Gas Pumps. It's a first hand recount of a daily torture that people go through in search for fuel. There are rather smallish personal touches into this post that happen to suffice in telling exactly how he feels. This is the opening paraghraph of the post:
"When I came back home from my “screwed up” Vacation I was searching for fuel in the black market, the guy selling the fuel was selling in 6 times the official price not 10 meters away from the pump station, when I asked him why are you selling so high he told me what’s the matter with you? Don’t you know that the Army controls the petrol stations?, because I was in no mood to argue with such a “low life” call me a Bourgeoisie I don’t care, and because the sweat was oozing into every opening of my body well I left angry."
These bits like "my 'screwed up' vacation" and the closing of the paragraph do the answering incase anybody is wondering how he's been feeling lately, thankfully no life-sucks kind of complaints and no wailing. He simply explains the suffering of Iraqis without getting too emotional, and his reaction towards these fact simply denies any possibility of him being unaffected:
"Today after nearly four weeks “I think”, I went to the same lowlife and asked him the same question “the price of fuel today in Baghdad is $1.5 per liter, an average family “theoretically” needs about 40 liters a day for their generators in heats exceeding 49 Celsius “about 120 Fahrenheit” that’s $60 a day. People do not have such money."
As simple, yet as painful as reality can get. Why add too much reflection when truth is all that it takes to stir feelings?
I could have said that the entire blog is like that, but every now and then, Zappy does give himself a break and does further than just recounting what life looks like, but what his thoughts are like as well.
The April 13th post titled Abduction is one post where his own experiences and feelings are on display. A must-read for those who had forgotten what the face of life there looked like, myself included. No more to be said by me, for all the commenting that I can do would be quoting Zappy:
"I love democracy, I always think that the constitution is the most important document of rule there is, but the Human Life is more important than all..."
There's a great difference between giving a calm description of a hectic life, and between getting all mouthy while doing that. Sometimes, horrible things are more believable if they're told simply instead of emphasizing on them, mixing the naked truth with feelings. This is one blog that is simple, his feelings and reflections are told briefly yet eloquently. Nobody can claim that he's unaffected or dishonest, because that simplicity of his is transparent.
I've been a keen reader of Zappy's blog for about as long as it had been around, some four months now, one of the most candid, simple and impartial blogs, compared to every other blog around. No headaches in terms of trying to figure what he's talking about, not much time spent on reflecting upon his political orientation and whether he's right, left or even chicken wing. For a person that is interested in a snappy kind of a report that gives an idea about what an average Iraqi is going through, Where Date Palms Grow is probably the blog to read. It says "An everyday account of Baghdad as I see it" on the top, and that's exactly what's in the blog. No deceitful twaddle about how truthful the blog is, no visionary blabber and no whining. Just a quiet report, sometimes bitter and pungent, but generally is as the blog is described.
The most recent post of August 21st, titled Rotten Onions and sweet smelling ministers is one post where Zappy's disdain and frustration is expressed. Quiet and composed as ever, his cynicism is sour, but not quite so to the point where you're more tempted to click "next blog" rather than finishing off the post. Like every other post in the archive, it recounts some of the daily incidents in the life of an average Iraqi. Some of his thoughts are also there, like his wondering:
"I wonder if Mr. Sheristani’s Generator stopped due to lack of Fuel? Or if Mr. Maliki’s Refrigerator went empty? I wonder if they have seen the streets this morning? With tons of rubbish and dug up water pipes the pilgrims dug out due to the extensive heat?"
Only few have asked these questions, and nobody had ever answered them, though the general speculation is that these figures don't go through the same things the average citizen goes through. Zappy also lets out his resentment towards those figures without putting everybody through the torture of reading through an extensive description of how much he hates them, he simply says:
"I wish I could stick those Rotten Onions up Mr. Sheristani’s …" (Fill in the blanks!)
Not much that's said and not much more to be said either. He concludes the post with what his own life looks like in struggle to get any hint of comfort, one that might be slightly better off than the remainder of Iraqis, yet still unable to find relieve:
"I am now a proud owner of three generator units a 8KV/A, a 3KV/A (broken) and a small 950 watt one, adding to that two DC to AC 1KV/A inverters (without batteries) and a member of the elite street generator (“broken” won’t be fixed until diesel fuel goes under the $1 a liter line) and 8 potable water pumps. (Only three work)Only problem is I don’t have enough fuel ;) I am also a member of the Iraqi Insomnia Society (try running every four hours day and night)."
Another post I found interesting was the one before it, August 18th, titled The "Army" Controls the Gas Pumps. It's a first hand recount of a daily torture that people go through in search for fuel. There are rather smallish personal touches into this post that happen to suffice in telling exactly how he feels. This is the opening paraghraph of the post:
"When I came back home from my “screwed up” Vacation I was searching for fuel in the black market, the guy selling the fuel was selling in 6 times the official price not 10 meters away from the pump station, when I asked him why are you selling so high he told me what’s the matter with you? Don’t you know that the Army controls the petrol stations?, because I was in no mood to argue with such a “low life” call me a Bourgeoisie I don’t care, and because the sweat was oozing into every opening of my body well I left angry."
These bits like "my 'screwed up' vacation" and the closing of the paragraph do the answering incase anybody is wondering how he's been feeling lately, thankfully no life-sucks kind of complaints and no wailing. He simply explains the suffering of Iraqis without getting too emotional, and his reaction towards these fact simply denies any possibility of him being unaffected:
"Today after nearly four weeks “I think”, I went to the same lowlife and asked him the same question “the price of fuel today in Baghdad is $1.5 per liter, an average family “theoretically” needs about 40 liters a day for their generators in heats exceeding 49 Celsius “about 120 Fahrenheit” that’s $60 a day. People do not have such money."
As simple, yet as painful as reality can get. Why add too much reflection when truth is all that it takes to stir feelings?
I could have said that the entire blog is like that, but every now and then, Zappy does give himself a break and does further than just recounting what life looks like, but what his thoughts are like as well.
The April 13th post titled Abduction is one post where his own experiences and feelings are on display. A must-read for those who had forgotten what the face of life there looked like, myself included. No more to be said by me, for all the commenting that I can do would be quoting Zappy:
"I love democracy, I always think that the constitution is the most important document of rule there is, but the Human Life is more important than all..."
There's a great difference between giving a calm description of a hectic life, and between getting all mouthy while doing that. Sometimes, horrible things are more believable if they're told simply instead of emphasizing on them, mixing the naked truth with feelings. This is one blog that is simple, his feelings and reflections are told briefly yet eloquently. Nobody can claim that he's unaffected or dishonest, because that simplicity of his is transparent.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Second-hand news.
I ran into today's blogger accidentally, while I was checking out some of the blogs listed at the IBC. I've run into Ibn Alrafidain and have had some glances at his blog. The blog description reads " Thinking Loudly To Be Heard By The World" which is interesting and tempts the onlooker to take a look at the blog. That interest doesn't last for long though, and I can guarantee that you could go for Jazeerah-English news for similar results, maybe phrased differently. Thinking, it says, but to think he does not.
The most recent post, of August 5th, titled Maliki, is one of those posts where you find Ibn Alrafidain listing all the headlines of the first week of August. You read through and mutter "I know. I know. Tell me something I don't know!". There are also loads of quotes that might as well be there to make the torture of reading through more extensive, or perhaps to help the blogger with feeling like he's written a post. There's also the usual pinch of ego where he would go like "I said this before, I said that before. I told you so!". I don't know what he thinks of his blog, but I know that it doesn't say anything about his thoughts. Even when he is actually thinking, there is no much opinion to be make things more interesting. This is an example:
"Change, sometimes, needs time. An Iraqi politician attended a conference in Israel (I think in 2004) and he was very frank in declaring it. The visit caused him lot of condemnation and he was kicked out of the Iraqi Congress Party of Ahmed Chalabi. Personally, I thought the man had politically finished. The surprise was that Mithal Alusi, the politician speaking about, managed to be a member of the Iraqi Parliament, while Ahmed Chalabi couldn't. It means that 1/275 of the Iraqis do not oppose normal relations with Israel (the Iraqi Parliament consists of 275 members)."
Any traces of opinion? There's also this cartoon which doesn't tell much of an opinion, and neither does Ibn Alrafidain explain why the cartoon is there. You just have to sort your way through the quotes, random facts, and a cartoon. The only opinion that is there is that he's Anti-American, period. No reflections upon anything whatsoever.
I've spent an exceptional amount of time digging in the archive for something slightly different, more interesting, but to no avail. I have had enough of reading news that I've heard already, on the hope that I might find a lost piece of mind somewhere, and found absolutely nothing but more news.
I took some leaps in the archive thinking that maybe sometime his style might have been different, but it wasn't. Another old example of his monotonous writings is the May 12th 2005 post, titled Another Lesson. It's a reasonably short post, ever so passive and kind of acid post. There was this irrelevant piece at the start where he said:
"My phone line is still out of order. The whole phones in the district are out of order since 11th March. And for that I do not interact with my blog regularly. Generally speaking, there wasn't any tangible development deal with the infrastructure within the past two years."
One would expect some reaction upon that, but there is none. It kind of makes you wonder whether there is a real person with some notions and emotions behind that blogger ID.
The opening is like another piece of news which lead Ibn Alrafidain to three questions, none of which sound mystifying enough to be asked really. These are the three questions:
-Are we ready, the Iraqis, to accept & integrate democracy into our culture?
-Could it be possible to burn stages of social & political development?
-And, would it result in stable society or state?
The answers, in order, could easily be predicted back in March 2005, as "No", "No" and "Isn't a stable society a result of a stable state and vice versa?". I haven't yet got a clue of what's bewildering him. The post is concluded with this statement:
"The Iraqis could not look after the state which the British established for them in 1921. They ate it away so the Americans had nothing to do but blowing out the rotten state. It has been dismantled so easily in 2003. It seems that something, maybe many things, is wrong with our collective conscious. "
I don't know what he'd had in mind at the time when he was writing this post. But I can tell that this termite-like description wasn't quite necessary, and he could have phrased things in a better, less acid way. Acid and lack of opinion are one bad combination.
Ibn Alrafidain could either do some thinking for a change, instead of the story-telling irksome manner of his, or drop the thinking bit at the top of his blog, because it's quite decieving for people to think that he's thinking while all he's doing is story-telling. If he's not that capable of writing something of his own, perhaps he shouldn't have been writing in the first place. The internet is infested with news websites to have a person borrowing them and posting them on his own blog, everybody might as well just go and read the news first-hand elsewhere.
I can bet my money that everybody is more interested in knowing his own point of view, or knowing about his own life, instead of reading a recap of CNN/Jazeerah news with bits of other forms of media like newspapers et cetera. Call it opinion, call it attitude, call it whatever you please, it's just not there on Ibn Alrafidain.
The most recent post, of August 5th, titled Maliki, is one of those posts where you find Ibn Alrafidain listing all the headlines of the first week of August. You read through and mutter "I know. I know. Tell me something I don't know!". There are also loads of quotes that might as well be there to make the torture of reading through more extensive, or perhaps to help the blogger with feeling like he's written a post. There's also the usual pinch of ego where he would go like "I said this before, I said that before. I told you so!". I don't know what he thinks of his blog, but I know that it doesn't say anything about his thoughts. Even when he is actually thinking, there is no much opinion to be make things more interesting. This is an example:
"Change, sometimes, needs time. An Iraqi politician attended a conference in Israel (I think in 2004) and he was very frank in declaring it. The visit caused him lot of condemnation and he was kicked out of the Iraqi Congress Party of Ahmed Chalabi. Personally, I thought the man had politically finished. The surprise was that Mithal Alusi, the politician speaking about, managed to be a member of the Iraqi Parliament, while Ahmed Chalabi couldn't. It means that 1/275 of the Iraqis do not oppose normal relations with Israel (the Iraqi Parliament consists of 275 members)."
Any traces of opinion? There's also this cartoon which doesn't tell much of an opinion, and neither does Ibn Alrafidain explain why the cartoon is there. You just have to sort your way through the quotes, random facts, and a cartoon. The only opinion that is there is that he's Anti-American, period. No reflections upon anything whatsoever.
I've spent an exceptional amount of time digging in the archive for something slightly different, more interesting, but to no avail. I have had enough of reading news that I've heard already, on the hope that I might find a lost piece of mind somewhere, and found absolutely nothing but more news.
I took some leaps in the archive thinking that maybe sometime his style might have been different, but it wasn't. Another old example of his monotonous writings is the May 12th 2005 post, titled Another Lesson. It's a reasonably short post, ever so passive and kind of acid post. There was this irrelevant piece at the start where he said:
"My phone line is still out of order. The whole phones in the district are out of order since 11th March. And for that I do not interact with my blog regularly. Generally speaking, there wasn't any tangible development deal with the infrastructure within the past two years."
One would expect some reaction upon that, but there is none. It kind of makes you wonder whether there is a real person with some notions and emotions behind that blogger ID.
The opening is like another piece of news which lead Ibn Alrafidain to three questions, none of which sound mystifying enough to be asked really. These are the three questions:
-Are we ready, the Iraqis, to accept & integrate democracy into our culture?
-Could it be possible to burn stages of social & political development?
-And, would it result in stable society or state?
The answers, in order, could easily be predicted back in March 2005, as "No", "No" and "Isn't a stable society a result of a stable state and vice versa?". I haven't yet got a clue of what's bewildering him. The post is concluded with this statement:
"The Iraqis could not look after the state which the British established for them in 1921. They ate it away so the Americans had nothing to do but blowing out the rotten state. It has been dismantled so easily in 2003. It seems that something, maybe many things, is wrong with our collective conscious. "
I don't know what he'd had in mind at the time when he was writing this post. But I can tell that this termite-like description wasn't quite necessary, and he could have phrased things in a better, less acid way. Acid and lack of opinion are one bad combination.
Ibn Alrafidain could either do some thinking for a change, instead of the story-telling irksome manner of his, or drop the thinking bit at the top of his blog, because it's quite decieving for people to think that he's thinking while all he's doing is story-telling. If he's not that capable of writing something of his own, perhaps he shouldn't have been writing in the first place. The internet is infested with news websites to have a person borrowing them and posting them on his own blog, everybody might as well just go and read the news first-hand elsewhere.
I can bet my money that everybody is more interested in knowing his own point of view, or knowing about his own life, instead of reading a recap of CNN/Jazeerah news with bits of other forms of media like newspapers et cetera. Call it opinion, call it attitude, call it whatever you please, it's just not there on Ibn Alrafidain.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Phenomenon: Gobbledygook
Today's blogger is getting reviewed because he's already too baffled to be left in anticipation, and that would be His Hectic Majesty aNarki-13 . I took a look at his profile, he's into Asian cultures, which is good because it means he's trying to widen his horizons. Except for that it leaves me wondering whether he can tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese things, it somewhat doesn't seem like it. Salam Adil thought it's a bit too much to have my name accented, though for a pun, and now I'm wondering whether he's taken a look at Anarki's profile.
The Blog itself, titled Then Some! doesn't inspire much, if anything at all. Then you have the blog description right under the title, which is unrelated to anything either. Then you remember the blogger's name, Anarki, and all of a sudden there's a moment of epiphany where you think "What on Earth was I thinking? It's Anarki, it's just a mess!"
The most recent post of August 8th, A million Dollars. CORRECTION: THREE million Dollars, is deceivingly short, but fits right with the whole chaotic theme where you're just not supposed to know what's going on. He said, and I quote:
"nothing. nothing. just passing through."
(crosses his fingers and holds breath in a silent prayer)
That was the entire post. What is that floating thought doing on a blog page? I know the blogger space is for free, so are our grey cells. But when we burn them up trying to figure what he's thinking, it's a great loss...unlike the blogger space.
Another post I found interesting was the August 2nd, titled "Yuss Mussah". When I first laid eyes on it, I thought it might be something related to Asia and Asian Philosophy maybe, perhaps something related to Tao or so. It was related to Asia, in the sense that Sri Lanka or Bangladesh are Asian Nations, but that's about it. The post is about the Sri Lankan young maid they have, and his humane reflections about that. It's chills my heart to see such thoughts, but it chills my brain while trying to read them. Some logic would be a nice addition to the blog. This is a...well, there's a muddle he said:
"iraq had/has/will always have its share of slavery, enforced by society and "the people above".hah. like i said, no time now. got a freaking thesis to write. and Then Some".
He does address a real issue there, a humanitarian issue. One must give him credit for that. But I don't see him writing a thesis and formulating an argument for it, let alone a solid, convincing one. He concludes the post with a Gandhi quote, which he left unnamed, and which is the most sensible part of the entire post, specially if we consider the list of what he listens to that doesn't seem to fit anywhere. Is it like a discrete wish-list for those who mean to buy him a present CD?!
"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. "
A slightly older post that I somehow ran into while skimming through his archive of wonders was the July 8th post, titled Page under const...ahh just forget about it . Of course, the title has got nothing to do with anything, which is just normal at Then Some. Opening line goes like:
"it is Moi! this is really really me writing again, the return of the centennial phenomenon aNarki13! Yeah... so, better hurry or u'll miss it!"
Okay, so he is the centennial phenomenon that can't be missed. I'm just happy that bit of ego didn't survive because I have already had my fill of embellishing writers. Then there's this show-off bit in the post:
"Domo, Otomodachi..(thank you, friends)why? for bearing with me all this time.."
Yes, his Asian orientations keep overwhelming him, as well as everybody else. The post goes on about anything and nothing, his Masters thesis, his life, politics et cetera. Yet another norm to his blog.
Anarki-13 has got a teensy tendency to show off with anything that could serve as show-off material. I guess it takes an Iraqi to smell that and recognize it. As the name suggests as well, his blog is one big mess, made of smaller muddles called posts, where the title has got nothing to do with the post and the paragraphs of the post have got nothing to do with each other. There is also this weird phenomenon going on in his blog, that where as people have gaps in their arguments, he has valleys, and very often no argument at all. You read through, and you almost feel a bit sea-sick, or maybe it's blog-sickness to be accurate.
Another blogger that needs to put a warning on the top, which says "Take your brain somewhere else if you don't want to run out of cells", and yet another blogger that needs to change the blog title to something relevant. But at the end of the day, it's chaos, what was I thinking?
Despite all of that, it's a good read and can be really interesting and hilarious. Just don't read it after a long day of work, whatever that's left of your brain will be gone down the drain.
The Blog itself, titled Then Some! doesn't inspire much, if anything at all. Then you have the blog description right under the title, which is unrelated to anything either. Then you remember the blogger's name, Anarki, and all of a sudden there's a moment of epiphany where you think "What on Earth was I thinking? It's Anarki, it's just a mess!"
The most recent post of August 8th, A million Dollars. CORRECTION: THREE million Dollars, is deceivingly short, but fits right with the whole chaotic theme where you're just not supposed to know what's going on. He said, and I quote:
"nothing. nothing. just passing through."
(crosses his fingers and holds breath in a silent prayer)
That was the entire post. What is that floating thought doing on a blog page? I know the blogger space is for free, so are our grey cells. But when we burn them up trying to figure what he's thinking, it's a great loss...unlike the blogger space.
Another post I found interesting was the August 2nd, titled "Yuss Mussah". When I first laid eyes on it, I thought it might be something related to Asia and Asian Philosophy maybe, perhaps something related to Tao or so. It was related to Asia, in the sense that Sri Lanka or Bangladesh are Asian Nations, but that's about it. The post is about the Sri Lankan young maid they have, and his humane reflections about that. It's chills my heart to see such thoughts, but it chills my brain while trying to read them. Some logic would be a nice addition to the blog. This is a...well, there's a muddle he said:
"iraq had/has/will always have its share of slavery, enforced by society and "the people above".hah. like i said, no time now. got a freaking thesis to write. and Then Some".
He does address a real issue there, a humanitarian issue. One must give him credit for that. But I don't see him writing a thesis and formulating an argument for it, let alone a solid, convincing one. He concludes the post with a Gandhi quote, which he left unnamed, and which is the most sensible part of the entire post, specially if we consider the list of what he listens to that doesn't seem to fit anywhere. Is it like a discrete wish-list for those who mean to buy him a present CD?!
"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. "
A slightly older post that I somehow ran into while skimming through his archive of wonders was the July 8th post, titled Page under const...ahh just forget about it . Of course, the title has got nothing to do with anything, which is just normal at Then Some. Opening line goes like:
"it is Moi! this is really really me writing again, the return of the centennial phenomenon aNarki13! Yeah... so, better hurry or u'll miss it!"
Okay, so he is the centennial phenomenon that can't be missed. I'm just happy that bit of ego didn't survive because I have already had my fill of embellishing writers. Then there's this show-off bit in the post:
"Domo, Otomodachi..(thank you, friends)why? for bearing with me all this time.."
Yes, his Asian orientations keep overwhelming him, as well as everybody else. The post goes on about anything and nothing, his Masters thesis, his life, politics et cetera. Yet another norm to his blog.
Anarki-13 has got a teensy tendency to show off with anything that could serve as show-off material. I guess it takes an Iraqi to smell that and recognize it. As the name suggests as well, his blog is one big mess, made of smaller muddles called posts, where the title has got nothing to do with the post and the paragraphs of the post have got nothing to do with each other. There is also this weird phenomenon going on in his blog, that where as people have gaps in their arguments, he has valleys, and very often no argument at all. You read through, and you almost feel a bit sea-sick, or maybe it's blog-sickness to be accurate.
Another blogger that needs to put a warning on the top, which says "Take your brain somewhere else if you don't want to run out of cells", and yet another blogger that needs to change the blog title to something relevant. But at the end of the day, it's chaos, what was I thinking?
Despite all of that, it's a good read and can be really interesting and hilarious. Just don't read it after a long day of work, whatever that's left of your brain will be gone down the drain.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Apathetic
I ran into today's blogger again at Astresim where he left a comment. I was tempted to take a look at his new blog, and that I did. Pen name? Truth About Iraqis, also blog title, is an interesting name, though far from being real and quite irrelevant to both Truth and Iraqis. Articulate, coherent and a bit composed. But the blogger falls into an empty circle of exaggerated condemnation and hatred that is overstressed to a point where it feels like a forge, and that could have been justified otherwise.
His most recent post of August 7th, titled Iraq is Vietnam, and the atrocities are the same is obviously, and as title suggests, saying that Iraq is the modern-day Vietnam. He talks and talks about the similarities between Iraq and Vietnam though he's being too vague which suggests a number of things, one of which is that if he gets into too much detail, his theory will fall apart. He mentions three things that he finds similar, though even I can tell him that these are "common factors" to all wars in history and that it doesn't take a genius to realize that it's just another war. It doesn't make the three points any less significant, but he's made no discovery and he should have found some more distinguished points that haven't been all the same about wars since humans started having them, to back up his argument.
There are these bits of fake enthusiasm where his tendency to overstate things blows the whole thing. This is one of them:
"My, my. Nazis? Heck yeah, why should the US military be considered any better. No difference whatsoever. Nazis killed Jews and Slavs. US military kills, tortures and rapes
everyone else."
For a post that is mainly about comparing Iraq to Vietnam, that's redundant. For a post that's mentioning historical facts, it's just another mistake. The wall of his argument is made of glass, and he keeps throwing stones at it.
Another post that I found interesting was the June 30th, with this title Iraq, where opportunities for those looking to get ahead, make names for themselves or earn a few bucks are ripe. The title is too long, and one would think it's out of concern for Iraqis sake. For some reason after having read through the archive you get this feeling that the motive behind each post is seldom what it seems, and this one is not different.
He talks about all of these people who made, or rather stole, millions of dollars from Iraq. Iraqi politicians and clerics and "others", then American politicians, business men and of course USMC guys who got promotions after serving in Iraq, or in Haditha to be more specific. He does make a point there, that lots of people got rich out of Iraqi money, but the way he phrases things gives the impression that he's envious and spiteful about that. Having Oprah stuffed somewhere into the post was quite interesting, I guess he's got some issues when it comes to people who are either successful or VERY loaded. Perhaps what disturbed him most about the entire deal is the fact that he couldn't book himself a seat where a person like Muqtada managed booking. He sure is smarter than Muqtada, but the latter is more loaded.
This interesting paragraph is probably the only paragraph to find good and American included in the same phrase:
"I guess one day, a comprehensive study will reveal just how much was stolen and how much was actually rebuilt - beyond the fresh coat of paint on schools Iraqis allegedly never had before the invasion. I am assured that a few good American Samaritans will come on and publish a book which will reveal all. Too bad Oprah won't include it on her faux Reader's Club or whatever the hell that fat cow calls it"
His motives for writing are quite questionable, because he's just as enthusiastic as I would be if I were making commentaries for Eurosport, and that would be a real sham. He might still be a patriot after all, but he still doesn't sound like one, from his blog. I don't want to get into politics, but he doesn't seem to be liking anybody. I don't know why he's writing in the first place, but since Ron of Freedom Base suggested that people can be paid to write a certain way, I would say Truth About Iraqis could potentially flow into that category. He could be practicing his borrowed perspective in a blog before saying/submitting the actual thing, or he could be just of an unconvincing, lukewarm kind of an apathetic nature.
It wasn't a good read, and he really has to pick another name for his blog, more than any other blogger. He obviously isn't the average Iraqi to be calling himself one, he obviously isn't writing for Iraqis to read, so he might as well not mislead people. He's got to do some serious thinking and adopt a more genuine style of writing, and stop that ritual of going into empty circles. Anytime you pay that blog a visit, you know you're bound to find condemnation of some sort, and you can always predict who the center of attention is going to be. I could have understood his hatred towards Americans and Israelis et cetera, had he been writing normally. But he just had to deal with things in a way that his writing looks like made up emotions that are being decorated to look real, and it only makes him sound phony.
His most recent post of August 7th, titled Iraq is Vietnam, and the atrocities are the same is obviously, and as title suggests, saying that Iraq is the modern-day Vietnam. He talks and talks about the similarities between Iraq and Vietnam though he's being too vague which suggests a number of things, one of which is that if he gets into too much detail, his theory will fall apart. He mentions three things that he finds similar, though even I can tell him that these are "common factors" to all wars in history and that it doesn't take a genius to realize that it's just another war. It doesn't make the three points any less significant, but he's made no discovery and he should have found some more distinguished points that haven't been all the same about wars since humans started having them, to back up his argument.
There are these bits of fake enthusiasm where his tendency to overstate things blows the whole thing. This is one of them:
"My, my. Nazis? Heck yeah, why should the US military be considered any better. No difference whatsoever. Nazis killed Jews and Slavs. US military kills, tortures and rapes
everyone else."
For a post that is mainly about comparing Iraq to Vietnam, that's redundant. For a post that's mentioning historical facts, it's just another mistake. The wall of his argument is made of glass, and he keeps throwing stones at it.
Another post that I found interesting was the June 30th, with this title Iraq, where opportunities for those looking to get ahead, make names for themselves or earn a few bucks are ripe. The title is too long, and one would think it's out of concern for Iraqis sake. For some reason after having read through the archive you get this feeling that the motive behind each post is seldom what it seems, and this one is not different.
He talks about all of these people who made, or rather stole, millions of dollars from Iraq. Iraqi politicians and clerics and "others", then American politicians, business men and of course USMC guys who got promotions after serving in Iraq, or in Haditha to be more specific. He does make a point there, that lots of people got rich out of Iraqi money, but the way he phrases things gives the impression that he's envious and spiteful about that. Having Oprah stuffed somewhere into the post was quite interesting, I guess he's got some issues when it comes to people who are either successful or VERY loaded. Perhaps what disturbed him most about the entire deal is the fact that he couldn't book himself a seat where a person like Muqtada managed booking. He sure is smarter than Muqtada, but the latter is more loaded.
This interesting paragraph is probably the only paragraph to find good and American included in the same phrase:
"I guess one day, a comprehensive study will reveal just how much was stolen and how much was actually rebuilt - beyond the fresh coat of paint on schools Iraqis allegedly never had before the invasion. I am assured that a few good American Samaritans will come on and publish a book which will reveal all. Too bad Oprah won't include it on her faux Reader's Club or whatever the hell that fat cow calls it"
His motives for writing are quite questionable, because he's just as enthusiastic as I would be if I were making commentaries for Eurosport, and that would be a real sham. He might still be a patriot after all, but he still doesn't sound like one, from his blog. I don't want to get into politics, but he doesn't seem to be liking anybody. I don't know why he's writing in the first place, but since Ron of Freedom Base suggested that people can be paid to write a certain way, I would say Truth About Iraqis could potentially flow into that category. He could be practicing his borrowed perspective in a blog before saying/submitting the actual thing, or he could be just of an unconvincing, lukewarm kind of an apathetic nature.
It wasn't a good read, and he really has to pick another name for his blog, more than any other blogger. He obviously isn't the average Iraqi to be calling himself one, he obviously isn't writing for Iraqis to read, so he might as well not mislead people. He's got to do some serious thinking and adopt a more genuine style of writing, and stop that ritual of going into empty circles. Anytime you pay that blog a visit, you know you're bound to find condemnation of some sort, and you can always predict who the center of attention is going to be. I could have understood his hatred towards Americans and Israelis et cetera, had he been writing normally. But he just had to deal with things in a way that his writing looks like made up emotions that are being decorated to look real, and it only makes him sound phony.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Wabbit Twacks!
So somebody has given me a taste of my own medicine which is only fair, since I have been intending to keep on picking on poor unsuspecting bloggers. Get your knife and fork, and join the feast at Salam Adil's blog Asterism, a post titled "A taste of her own medicine"...her being me. Personally, I quite liked it. It was fun to read about myself. I quite liked the poison bit, I didn't know I was that venomous. I'm flattered!
For those who are interested, there are some things to be said in reply though, and there are some things to be said about myself as well.
First of all, it seems like the accents in my name are making a fuss for the wrong reason, which I find pretty funny. Ēl Delilâh is not "The Guide" as you would translate it in Arabic, and it's not pronounced that way either, which is why the letters are accented. You can take my word for that really, unless you insist upon the fact that I'm trying to act smart. Have it your way.
And then, Salam Adil, I didn't say that Iraqi blogs are collectively ignorants and all, I just said that in some blogs, you could find all of these qualities. Oh come on!
Besides, Meemo can do better and should do better "for a change". You pat him on the head, Oliver Branch plays the Mother Duck and tells me that he will "start a war" if I keep picking on Iraqi bloggers. Well, Meemo wouldn't know what kind of a read his blog is for real if nobody comes along and tell him that he's got some real issues. You call it stream of consciousness, I go like "Oh, puhleeze!", May Sinclair is rolling in her grave. Nobody said my opinion was humble, and it sure doesn't say "My Nice, Considerate Opinion" up there.
Salam, do you think that war is an excuse for people to remain uneducated? Did he sound traumatized by the dead man at his door step? Did he sound affected at all by anything other than the fact that he can't go out that often anymore? See, there is no lost childhood to anything, it's just that you insist that it's an excuse for people to be childish if there's anything serious going on around them. Since you're into psycho-analysis, does he sound the least bit affected by whatever that is going on out there, and concerned with anything further than his hair and his shorts and his everlasting boredom?
Salam "Blue flower, red thorns! Blue flower, red thorns! Blue flower, red thorns! Oh this would be so much easier if I wasn't color-blind!".
For those who are interested, there are some things to be said in reply though, and there are some things to be said about myself as well.
First of all, it seems like the accents in my name are making a fuss for the wrong reason, which I find pretty funny. Ēl Delilâh is not "The Guide" as you would translate it in Arabic, and it's not pronounced that way either, which is why the letters are accented. You can take my word for that really, unless you insist upon the fact that I'm trying to act smart. Have it your way.
And then, Salam Adil, I didn't say that Iraqi blogs are collectively ignorants and all, I just said that in some blogs, you could find all of these qualities. Oh come on!
Besides, Meemo can do better and should do better "for a change". You pat him on the head, Oliver Branch plays the Mother Duck and tells me that he will "start a war" if I keep picking on Iraqi bloggers. Well, Meemo wouldn't know what kind of a read his blog is for real if nobody comes along and tell him that he's got some real issues. You call it stream of consciousness, I go like "Oh, puhleeze!", May Sinclair is rolling in her grave. Nobody said my opinion was humble, and it sure doesn't say "My Nice, Considerate Opinion" up there.
Salam, do you think that war is an excuse for people to remain uneducated? Did he sound traumatized by the dead man at his door step? Did he sound affected at all by anything other than the fact that he can't go out that often anymore? See, there is no lost childhood to anything, it's just that you insist that it's an excuse for people to be childish if there's anything serious going on around them. Since you're into psycho-analysis, does he sound the least bit affected by whatever that is going on out there, and concerned with anything further than his hair and his shorts and his everlasting boredom?
Salam "Blue flower, red thorns! Blue flower, red thorns! Blue flower, red thorns! Oh this would be so much easier if I wasn't color-blind!".
Friday, August 04, 2006
When America doesn't care
Today's blogger is Still Alive, who's running two blogs. She's got How To Deserve It, which is quite an all philosophical blog dedicated for an unknown purpose, and which could only serve as a quote source. That particular blog is not a blog I'd like to talk about, since it's full of floating thoughts that aren't Delilâh-Friendly. The other blog she's got is My Letters To America, her letters that is. Posts do get interesting at times, but every now and then she would fall into that habit of boring the reader as though we haven't got enough readers repeating the same old broken record for us.
The most recent post would be June 28th's, He is Missing. She starts off the post with some sort of a conversation between some relatives or family friends, unless her imagination is helping her out. The conversation itself is pointlessly addressing the same blabber about secterianism that's been everywhere from blogger's posts to CNN interviews and Jazeerah and Arabia's much hated political commentators. It's real alright, but it's still too futile and has already become cliché. In this post she said and I quote:
"Every day I leave my house I expect them to kill me after one look at my ID. They are criminals. You don't know anything because nothing is shown on TV biased channels, out there on street there is much more than what we can be tolerant about anymore. We have to start doing something to stop them"
There's no news to all of that, and that top of having to do something is as old as dirt to Iraqis, and has only proven that we're uncapable of doing anything for real but talking and protesting against whatever and whoever, regardless good or bad.
Another older post is her December 13th, 2005 post, titled Tomorrow Was Here. The post is about this book she read and how it predicted future and all of that. I'm very tempted to believe that she's read some quatrains of Nostradamus' and given that the book was so possessing, detailed and mysterious, it just had to be him. I found it interesting, after having read through pointless posts that had just nothing to talk about. She said, and I quote of course:
"There was a verse talking about a brutal leader ruling the city between two rivers, he will make it drown in blood and fire. "
That would be the 33rd quatrian:
"His last hand through sanguinary
He will be unable to protect himself by sea:
Between two rivers he will fear the military hand,
The black and irate one will make him rue it"
and the 98th quatrian:
"Ruin for the Volcae so very terrible with fear,
Their great city stained, pestilential deed:
To plunder Sun and Moon and to violate their temples:
And to redden the two rivers flowing with blood."
Well, I found that interesting really, at least she does take the trouble to read various kinds of books, unlike the nowadays typical Iraqi that can't seem to do anything better than whining for a living. Anyway, I don't quite believe in fortune tellers and astronomers, and that's where Nostradamus flows. But it did make the post interesting.
"America, don’t wait for tomorrow. Don’t be fooled. Just live, there is no time as precious as today. There is no future as sweet as the next breath."
The rest of the world isn't Iraq, there is no war on American soil, and there hasn't been any since the end of their own civil war. Sad that Iraq doesn't have a future of it's own, but true that Americans still live their lives normally. Paranoid a little bit, but more peacefully than we could dream for Iraq of becoming. I guess Still Alive should have remembered that. And then, at the end of the day, Iraqis are leaving Iraq to seek a better tomorrow out there, and many of them are satisfied with their new lives, embracing their new lives and thankful for being able to live in peace again.
The blog is titled My Letters to America, which could have changed to A Piece of My Mind for a matching blog title. She's got a tendency to be philosophical, which I find interesting at times and utterly annoyingly and boring at other times. When she's actually giving a piece of her mind though, she can be as far from reality as far as I am from the moon at the moment, and she's only realistic when she's telling off something particular like an incident or so. Sometimes it's even hard to figure what she's talking about for real, because everything is just vague.
Still Alive should consider putting a warning or a little caution at the top of each post to tell whether it's a piece of her mind or a piece of her life or a piece of candy, so people know whether it's a bed-time read or a day-time read...or a passe-temps kind of a while-at-work read. Otherwise it could be really bad to end up falling asleep on your desk at work, couldn't it?
The most recent post would be June 28th's, He is Missing. She starts off the post with some sort of a conversation between some relatives or family friends, unless her imagination is helping her out. The conversation itself is pointlessly addressing the same blabber about secterianism that's been everywhere from blogger's posts to CNN interviews and Jazeerah and Arabia's much hated political commentators. It's real alright, but it's still too futile and has already become cliché. In this post she said and I quote:
"Every day I leave my house I expect them to kill me after one look at my ID. They are criminals. You don't know anything because nothing is shown on TV biased channels, out there on street there is much more than what we can be tolerant about anymore. We have to start doing something to stop them"
There's no news to all of that, and that top of having to do something is as old as dirt to Iraqis, and has only proven that we're uncapable of doing anything for real but talking and protesting against whatever and whoever, regardless good or bad.
Another older post is her December 13th, 2005 post, titled Tomorrow Was Here. The post is about this book she read and how it predicted future and all of that. I'm very tempted to believe that she's read some quatrains of Nostradamus' and given that the book was so possessing, detailed and mysterious, it just had to be him. I found it interesting, after having read through pointless posts that had just nothing to talk about. She said, and I quote of course:
"There was a verse talking about a brutal leader ruling the city between two rivers, he will make it drown in blood and fire. "
That would be the 33rd quatrian:
"His last hand through sanguinary
He will be unable to protect himself by sea:
Between two rivers he will fear the military hand,
The black and irate one will make him rue it"
and the 98th quatrian:
"Ruin for the Volcae so very terrible with fear,
Their great city stained, pestilential deed:
To plunder Sun and Moon and to violate their temples:
And to redden the two rivers flowing with blood."
Well, I found that interesting really, at least she does take the trouble to read various kinds of books, unlike the nowadays typical Iraqi that can't seem to do anything better than whining for a living. Anyway, I don't quite believe in fortune tellers and astronomers, and that's where Nostradamus flows. But it did make the post interesting.
"America, don’t wait for tomorrow. Don’t be fooled. Just live, there is no time as precious as today. There is no future as sweet as the next breath."
The rest of the world isn't Iraq, there is no war on American soil, and there hasn't been any since the end of their own civil war. Sad that Iraq doesn't have a future of it's own, but true that Americans still live their lives normally. Paranoid a little bit, but more peacefully than we could dream for Iraq of becoming. I guess Still Alive should have remembered that. And then, at the end of the day, Iraqis are leaving Iraq to seek a better tomorrow out there, and many of them are satisfied with their new lives, embracing their new lives and thankful for being able to live in peace again.
The blog is titled My Letters to America, which could have changed to A Piece of My Mind for a matching blog title. She's got a tendency to be philosophical, which I find interesting at times and utterly annoyingly and boring at other times. When she's actually giving a piece of her mind though, she can be as far from reality as far as I am from the moon at the moment, and she's only realistic when she's telling off something particular like an incident or so. Sometimes it's even hard to figure what she's talking about for real, because everything is just vague.
Still Alive should consider putting a warning or a little caution at the top of each post to tell whether it's a piece of her mind or a piece of her life or a piece of candy, so people know whether it's a bed-time read or a day-time read...or a passe-temps kind of a while-at-work read. Otherwise it could be really bad to end up falling asleep on your desk at work, couldn't it?
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