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A few weeks ago I was in the Pajamas Media offices and saw the illustrious Baldilocks there, but I didn't have a chance to say hello. (Hello!) She wrote this little parable a few weeks ago in another context, but when I saw it I thought it was a brilliant rendering of what happens all too often when someone tries to explain the jihad threat to a person who absolutely will not see it.
The TwistingAnother One-Act Play
******
He: The sky is blue.
She: No it’s not, it’s plaid.He: Why are you saying that?
She: Because that the way I see it.He: But it is the color that has been historically called blue.
She: I don’t see it that way.He: (stops passing man and points at the sky) What color is that?
Man: Blue. (Man goes on his way.)He: (stops another passing man and points at the sky) Welche Farbe is das?
Man 2: Blau. (Man goes on his way.)He: (stops a woman and points at the sky) ¿De qué color es que?
Woman: Azul. (Woman goes on her way.)He: See? Everyone sees blue up there.
She: But it’s not blue, it’s plaid.He: No it’s not—it’s blue!
She: I have a right to say it’s plaid! Are you trying to infringe upon my rights?He: What? This conversation doesn’t have anything to do with your r—
She: I see. I’ve hurt your feelings. You simply feel that the sky is blue. Well, I can’t do anything about your feelings. The sky is plaid and that’s that.He: (pauses with jaw-dropped) Rights and feelings? The color of the sky is objectively blue! Plaid is not a single color! It’s a--
She: I’ll come back when you’ve calmed down. (walks away)[The End]
I refuse to calm down!
Posted by Robert at November 5, 2008 2:38 PM
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You recognized *me*???
I wanted to come up and shake your hand like a fangirl, but didn't get the opportunity as you say.
God bless you, sir, for not calming down.
Posted by: baldilocks![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 5, 2008 2:51 PM
It just proves that we Scots discovered the sky first.
Posted by: tanstaafl at November 5, 2008 2:53 PM
That was awesome! The play reminds me of exchanges I and others have had with Abdullah Mikail.
Posted by: champ at November 5, 2008 3:11 PM
There's something terribly self righteous and holier-than-thou about that advice to calm down. I encounter it constantly unfortunately. So yes..let's NOT calm down together and celebrate the solidarity of like minds.
Posted by: johndoe at November 5, 2008 3:12 PM
This is pretty much what happens in most conversations today, regardless of the topic.
There are no objective facts anymore, only subjective feelings.
Posted by: Mo at November 5, 2008 3:35 PM
Chopped up vaginas, inconvenient veins and bloody muscles spilling out of the heads of dead suicide bombers, 13 year old girls who are raped three times, buried up to their shoulders and stoned to death so they can't spill on who did the raping, (the same who did the stoning.)
'Sorry. I will not calm down.
Posted by: Isabellathecrusader at November 5, 2008 3:44 PM
Robert,
Maybe you should self medicate today. If you're in a state with medicinal marijuana, you should come down with an acute case of nonspecific neck pain. Or something.
Posted by: PRCalDude at November 5, 2008 3:46 PM
Naw, forget medicinal marijuana and go for the classic Southern California soother. Tequila!
Posted by: Isabellathecrusader at November 5, 2008 3:53 PM
Funny, tanstaafl. The real-deal Scotch (High or Low-lander)?
Posted by: Vee at November 5, 2008 4:04 PM
Oh, and very much agree with your thoughts about it, Mo. No objectivity; another result of profound changes in our educational system.
Posted by: Vee
at November 5, 2008 4:11 PM
I had a conversation like that with someone on another forum. They threw out the classics: "Christianity Equivalency", "Muslims treated Jews better than Christians", "Christians aren't allowed to criticize Islam" and "I can take the bible out of context too."
at November 5, 2008 4:24 PM
Sharia Finance has been available here in the united States for more than 23 years.
Suddenly it's now the new "anti-terror!" punching bag?
What a crock.
It is unconstitutional to tell the populace how they have to manage and invest their money...or are you all calling for "Hugo Chavism" here in America?
Inquiring mind wants to know, who cares if we ditch interest bearing investments for more solid dependable returns?
Peace
Abdullah Mikail
at November 5, 2008 4:26 PM
This reads like The Bald Soprano, Darth Robert.
Posted by: Jewel Atkins at November 5, 2008 4:36 PM
Ooo, the boy-lover is back. Icky.
Posted by: undaunted at November 5, 2008 4:53 PM
I'm not calming down either. I couldn't even sleep last night. Calming down is not in my nature.
On a side note, speaking of 'twisting,' I asked my field methods informant what 'Obama' means in Luo, after learning what it was in Arabic and Persian. It means 'twisted' or 'crooked.' There's also a town in Japan by the same name.
Posted by: jdamn at November 5, 2008 5:06 PM
Sounds just like the people I work with,they are bi-polar. They have an excuse, their brain chemistry is misfiring. No excuse for stupidity and selfishness.
Posted by: gymgal at November 5, 2008 5:16 PM
Abigale~
1: You are a Sophist, not a Muslim. The kind of guy who made a living on the streets of Athens by schilling the ability to refute any argument.
2: You’re right. Sharia Finance has been available in the United States for more than 23 years. It used to be called the Slave Trade.
at November 5, 2008 6:09 PM
'Mo', you wrote:
"This is pretty much what happens in most conversations today, regardless of the topic.
There are no objective facts anymore, only subjective feelings".
C S Lewis saw this coming years ago - just check out his little book 'The Abolition of Man'.
Posted by: dumbledoresarmy at November 5, 2008 6:20 PM
"I asked my field methods informant what 'Obama' means in Luo, after learning what it was in Arabic and Persian. It means 'twisted' or 'crooked.' There's also a town in Japan by the same name."
That's correct. (I'm half-Luo also, though I don't speak the language.)
Interesting, no?
Posted by: baldilocks at November 5, 2008 7:07 PM
Baldilocks:
Thank you! Thank you for writing this, and for your clarity of vision, and for all your great work.
Next time I will make sure to say hello even if it disrupts production schedules!
Yours
Robert
at November 5, 2008 8:21 PM
It is unconstitutional to tell the populace how they have to manage and invest their money...or are you all calling for "Hugo Chavism" here in America?
Inquiring mind wants to know, who cares if we ditch interest bearing investments for more solid dependable returns?
--Abdullah Mikail.
Abdullah, you may have a partial point there. In theory, at least, the principle of property rights implies that Muslims don't necessarily have to put their money in a Wells-Fargo Savings account if they don't want to.
I think the concern with this Sharia-Financing is that it may lead to a sort of 'untouchable' segment of the money markets. If Islamists are in control of these banking systems then it is unlikely that they will cooperate fully with terrorism investigations, thus leading to a sort of financial 'safe-haven' for Islamic terrorist groups. This would eliminate our most potent weapon against al-Queda and similar groups.
Also, you mentioned leaving interest-bearing investments for more solid returns. That sentence is confusing to me. If you get a monetary return on your investment, thats interest. Isn't it? It seems the only way to invest without interest is to not expect anything in return other then getting your original investment back at some later point in time, which would seem silly to us capitalist-minded folks. Perhaps you have a different definition of interest in mind here - if so can you clarify?
Posted by: Monte Gardner at November 5, 2008 8:36 PM
Funny, tanstaafl. The real-deal Scotch (High or Low-lander)?
Posted by: Vee at November 5, 2008 4:04 PM
Now Ve.....
A Scot is an individual from Scotland.
Scotch is a distilled beverage made by Scots. (Although other nationalities claim to make Scotch whiskey, we all know the best whiskey comes from Scotland.)
Sad to think what would happen if Muslims ruled Scotland. All that tradition - gone.
Cue the bagpipes! Rattle your basket-hilted rapiers! Time to "up and war them all"!
Posted by: tanstaafl at November 6, 2008 11:55 AM
Just out of curiosity. What are your thoughts on the vicious crimes that the media ignores and most people remain oblivious to.
1) Mass arial bombings of Baghdad, other Iraqi cities and Afghanistan, bombings that have killed, maimed, orphaned and disposed millions of civilians, civilians that posed no threat to the US, and also Iraq could not even take down one US fighter jet so I doubt they could have attacked the US, but then again the administration new this and Iraq not having WMD's is what allowed your fascist country to invade and occupy it.
2) What are your thoughts on the use of MK77, which was primarily used on the civilians of Falujah, and basically turned human bodies(men, women and children) into charcoal, I can send you the pics, but you probably dont care.
3) what are your views on them cowardly filthy terrorist you call soldiers, the ones that humiliate, oppress and shoot unarmed civilian men, women and children, yet they cower and squeal when the Mujahideen appear and call for arial support as opposed to fighting like men. Again, I can send videos and pictures both when they play the big tyrant with unarmed civilians and when they cower and squeal when the faced with the Mujahideen.
4) What are your views on the wide spread, torture, rape and murder of countless detainees be they civilians or freedom fighters? Women repeatedly gang raped, humiliated and impregnated by those scum bag, criminal low IQ cowards you call soldiers and heroesm who infact were classed as criminals in your own country before being given the opportunity to rob rape and murder and be heroes in doing so. Again pictures, testimonies etc are available for any one of conscience that dares seek the truth, as opposed to being brain washed by US political and media deception.
5)What are your views about the old men who were humiliated, tortured, defecated and unrinated on and made to drink menstrual blood? What are your views on the children made to watch as their family and homes were destroyed by the self claimed good guys the USA?
Just because the Neo-con controlled media fails to acknowledge these crimes, does not mean they have, and do, not occur. The pictures and testimonies of both the oppressed and oppressors are out there. So how can you claim any sort of moral high ground? How can this hypocrrite Spencer and those tyrants even claim to be God fearing Christians. or people that do good.
Every US soldier on Iraqi, Afghan or Arab soil is a terrorist. You talk about the so-called stealth and violent Jihad to control the world, which infact is just a Jihad to liberate the Muslim world from American political, economic and military occupation. The only attempt to impose on others is from the USA through its stealth media, economic (eg forcing the dollar on other), political (puppet regimes) and overt military crusade.
If the USA is not an imperialistic tyrant, that controls and dominates overs through intimidation and straight up slaughter then why does the USA have military bases throughout the world, war ships in all the oceans and nukes pointed at every major city in the world? Because the USA is an imperialistic tyrant state, that controls the world at the barrel of a gun, and accuses others of doing what it has and continues to do, while hiding under the facade of righteousness and goodliness.
Posted by: Benson at November 6, 2008 12:26 PM
She, please listen to me and do EXACTLY AS I SAY
Put the bong down and WALK AWAY!
Good stuff. Thank you Baldilocks!
Posted by: LucyintheSkywithCubicZircons at November 9, 2008 7:36 PM
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