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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:56 am Post subject: |
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| I'm saying that globalization will reverse to the pre-super bubble. Trade will lessen, the movement of peoples will slow, the movement of capital slow. Economic growth will be lower. But China will be a major player. So, the world will look like 1995 (or so) with the big difference being the introduction of China as a major economic power. In fact, I think wages/wealth are likely to decline back a decade or so too. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:20 am Post subject: |
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Dubai court fines man for cross-dressing
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An Indian national working in Dubai as an administrator with a property development company has been sentenced to a six-month suspended jail term and fined $2,722 for cross-dressing and wearing mascara in public, the Dubai newspaper Gulf News reported.
According to the paper, the man was arrested by a police officer in civilian clothes in the Mall of the Emirates in what the police described as a glittering outfit, a bra, mascara, women's perfume and a wig.
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The Jerusalem Post |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:22 am Post subject: |
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| Canadian author Margaret Atwood is pulling out of a book festival in Dubai later this month because of its snub of a British writer. Organizers are refusing to let Geraldine Bedell launch her newest work at the festival. At issue is the position some of the characters take on the war in Irak and the fact that one character is a gay Sheik who has a British lover. Organizers thought they might catch some flak over that. Atwood is vice-president of PEN International, a writers' group that promotes freedom of expression. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:25 am Post subject: |
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| Good on Atwood |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:49 am Post subject: |
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Atwood's letter to the director of the festival...
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Dear Isobel Abulhoul;
It is with great regret that I inform you that I cannot attend this year's Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature in Dubai. I know you have put an enormous amount of work into it, I can imagine how many difficulties have had to be overcome, and I am very sad about the regrettable turn of events surrounding The Gulf Between Us.
I was greatly looking forward to the Festival, and to the chance to meet readers there; but, as an International Vice President of PEN -- an organization concerned with the censorship of writers -- I cannot be part of the Festival this year.
I wish you much success. Perhaps in the future I will be able to attend.
With best wishes,
Margaret Atwood.
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And the director's reply...
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Abulhoul, the festival director, called Atwood's decision "regrettable," saying, "In organising any literary festival... one has to take decisions regarding the target audience. Dubai has not changed its social norms, culture or laws...The ambition behind setting up the festival is fuelled by our heartfelt belief in actively engaging and helping to bridge the gap between East and West. I would hope that anyone informed and interested in the differing cultures around the world would both understand and respect the path we tread in setting up the first festival of this nature in the Middle East."
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Towleroad |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
And the director's reply...
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| Abulhoul, the festival director, called Atwood's decision "regrettable," saying, "In organising any literary festival... one has to take decisions regarding the target audience. |
That's obviously what she did.
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| Dubai has not changed its social norms, culture or laws... |
Clearly not.
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| The ambition behind setting up the festival is fuelled by our heartfelt belief in actively engaging and helping to bridge the gap between East and West. |
So what's the problem?
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| I would hope that anyone informed and interested in the differing cultures around the world would both understand and respect the path we tread in setting up the first festival of this nature in the Middle East." |
Boo-fucking-hoo.
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Situations like that are always difficult. Will change come quicker through boycott or engagement? I'm not saying Atwood is wrong, but I usually think engagement is better. Call me an optimist. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Will change come quicker through boycott or engagement? |
Change should come through a Manhattan Project-style determination to develop alternative energy so that we can relegate these losers to their sandbox. Then they can have fun squabbling and killing each other over the all-important issue of who was the true last prophet of the pedophile.
I don't relish Muslims killing each other, but that is apparently what's gonna happen regardless. I say we should just stand out of the way. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't think Moslems will end up killing each other over Margaret Atwood's choice not to attend the book festival. I could be wrong, though. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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| Canadian author Margaret Atwood is pulling out of a book festival in Dubai later this month because of its snub of a British writer. Organizers are refusing to let Geraldine Bedell launch her newest work at the festival. At issue is the position some of the characters take on the war in Irak and the fact that one character is a gay Sheik who has a British lover. Organizers thought they might catch some flak over that. Atwood is vice-president of PEN International, a writers' group that promotes freedom of expression. |
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Murakami happened to speak to the issue this month:
"So let me tell you the truth. In Japan a fair number of people advised me not to come here to accept the Jerusalem Prize. Some even warned me they would instigate a boycott of my books if I came. The reason for this, of course, was the fierce battle that was raging in Gaza. The U.N. reported that more than a thousand people had lost their lives in the blockaded Gaza City, many of them unarmed citizens -- children and old people.
Any number of times after receiving notice of the award, I asked myself whether traveling to Israel at a time like this and accepting a literary prize was the proper thing to do, whether this would create the impression that I supported one side in the conflict, that I endorsed the policies of a nation that chose to unleash its overwhelming military power. This is an impression, of course, that I would not wish to give. I do not approve of any war, and I do not support any nation. Neither, of course, do I wish to see my books subjected to a boycott.
Finally, however, after careful consideration, I made up my mind to come here. One reason for my decision was that all too many people advised me not to do it."
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/02/20/haruki_murakami/
The whole speech is good (and only one page). |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:07 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| I don't think Moslems will end up killing each other over Margaret Atwood's choice not to attend the book festival. I could be wrong, though. |
 You never know, they just might. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:47 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Situations like that are always difficult. Will change come quicker through boycott or engagement? I'm not saying Atwood is wrong, but I usually think engagement is better. Call me an optimist. |
My problem with the issue is this...
I'm opposed to the Dubaians(?) denying entry to Geraldine Bedell on anti-homosexual grounds. So I can support Margaret Atwood's protest. And my position is made all the more comfortable by the fact that Bedell is probably someone I would agree with on a lot of things.
However, I'm also against the UK denying entry to Geert Wilders on anti-"hate speech" grounds. But I regard Wilders as a fundamentalist Xtian clown. And I'm pretty sure that's the way Margaret Atwood would regard him as well.
I guess what I'm wondering is if Atwood would be so uncompromising in her actions in defense of free speech if the banned writer were just some low-brow rabble-rouser from the sticks, rather than a high-brow columnist from London. |
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bigverne
Joined: 12 May 2004
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:18 am Post subject: |
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| But I regard Wilders as a fundamentalist Xtian clown |
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have never heard Wilders referred to as a fundamentalist Christian. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:07 am Post subject: |
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| bigverne wrote: |
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| But I regard Wilders as a fundamentalist Xtian clown |
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have never heard Wilders referred to as a fundamentalist Christian. |
He is a lapsed Catholic:
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Wilders has the nicknames Mozart and "Captain Peroxide" due to his flamboyant platinum blond hairstyle.[4] Despite his Catholic upbringing, Wilders is religiously lapsed, and he does not even celebrate religious holidays such as Easter Sunday.[4] He is married to a Dutch-Hungarian diplomat, with whom he can only meet about once every week due to security concerns.[9] |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Wilders
Further, he is pro-abortion, pro-gay everything, supports Hollands drugs laws and all the rest. If anything, he is a fundamentalist libertarian. But the lefty press calls him "far right", in yet another huge misuse of labels by multi-culties. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:53 am Post subject: |
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| Further, he is pro-abortion, pro-gay everything, supports Hollands drugs laws and all the rest. If anything, he is a fundamentalist libertarian. But the lefty press calls him "far right", in yet another huge misuse of labels by multi-culties. |
I stand corrected(though I wouldn't neccessarily say it's wrong to call Wilders "far right", if libertarians are considered as occupying the right of the spectrum, which in fact is what libertarians themselves argue when they equate "left-wing" with "collectivist".
Let me rephrase...
I wonder if Margaret Atwood would boycott a festival in the UK to protest the banning of Fred Phelps(a fundamentalist Christian clown if ever there was one) in that country. |
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