BBC News just MADE my evening

[burythehatchet]

Two things

1) They did a 20 minute segment on Islamic culture in London. In the span of that 20 minutes, that program taught me more about Islamic culture than all major media have taught me in the 3 years since 9/11.

It just re-affirms my belief, in fact I am convinced, that media manipulation is THE most harmful social phenomenon today.

2) At the end of the show they had ONE LINE about Reagan. And it went something like this, "And of course let's not forget the solemn occasion of the passing of former ACTOR and president, RR". That's it. And he is an actor first.

VERRRRY satisfying.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

1. You missed the beginning: 5 minutes on Reagan

[burythehatchet]

2. Sure Rose - rain on my little parade

;)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. It's because she's Rational. You want RomanticRose. (nt)

[LondonAmerican]

3. Was just watching BBC here in London

and they had at least 10 minutes on the Reagan funeral, with lots of stuff about Thatcher and Gorbachev being there.

Actually a very positive spin on the event and the Reagan presidency -- especially by way of comparison with Bush II.

[camby]

4. Looking at Reagan's Presidency

Through the wrong end of the telescope, I guess. Oh well, that was 20 years ago, this is now....

[LondonAmerican]

7. Not sure what you're getting at

How else are people here in the UK supposed to look at it? It is 2004 now, we are where we are and at any rate we have to look at things from our own vantage point.

In point of fact, Reagan does make Bush II look pathetically bad -- not only was Reagan a man who could actually speak in public, he wasn't in hock to the religious right (he _used_ them, but he wasn't used _by_ them) nor to the neocon/TrotskyCon factions that make policy in this Bush administration.

Sometimes, it's good to just let people make the comparisions.

Reagan in any case is dead and there's no point in acting like freepers who rail on and on about Roosevelt. Better to live in the present and try to change the way things are going NOW, not what happened 20 years ago.

[Cocoa]

6. they mentioned the lack of black people

yesterday's report on the "ordinary people" lined up, they mentioned that glaringly obvious fact, which the American media somehow failed to notice.

[burythehatchet]

8. Its because he was the first president

to resurrect the racial divide in america

[LondonAmerican]

9. Oh, and by the way

did they ask anyone in the London Muslim community what their feelings are about 'burning' gays or why their leaders are cooperating with the far right to get homosexuality made illegal again? Probably not, but I am curious to hear.

[burythehatchet]

10. Sir

I do not know you but I can suggest that the greatest personal challenge you have to overcome is to understand that nothing in this world is black or white. That would be a decent start.

[LondonAmerican]

11. Actually

I just don't like the idea of people suggesting that because I am gay that I should be executed, or that because I am gay I am 'worse than a pig' or that because I am gay I should be thrown into jail.

Some choice quotes:

Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of North America, says "homosexuality is a moral disease, a sin, a corruption… No person is born homosexual, just as nobody is born a thief, a liar or a murderer. People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education." Sheikh Sharkhawy, a cleric at the prestigious _London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park_, compares homosexuality to a "cancer tumour." He argues "we must burn all gays to prevent paedophilia and the spread of AIDS," and says gay people "have no hope of a spiritual life." The Muslim Educational Trust hands out educational material to Muslim teachers – intended for children! – advocating the death penalty for gay people, and advising Muslim pupils to stay away from gay classmates and teachers.

I suspect if some Christian born-again type said those things about you that you would not be thrilled. You might even take a view of them that was, dare I say, 'black and white'.

I don't see the difference between bible belt bigots and the extreme religious right represented by political islam.

Maybe you are subtler than I am, but when someone says that I should be killed then yes, I do view that as a matter of basic friend/enemy distinctions.

I think you should think about what political islam really means for many of the communities that have traditonally been part of the progressive movement, especially for women and gays.

Believe me, we will not be pushed back into the closet, or thrown off of buildings head-first (as advocated by some lovely muslim 'clerics' here in London) without a fight. I am not willing to offer myself as a sacrifice for your 'subtle' view of the world.

[burythehatchet]

12. A liberal or progressive mind tends to place the greater good

on a higher order than one's own.

Your plight is a really bad thing.

The plight of an entire civilazation, through its utter demonization is worse. In my humble opinion.

[iangb]

13. Intolerance meets...............? (n/t)

[LondonAmerican]

15. Not sure what your point is...

would I somehow be a better person if I said that I don't mind people organising politically to kill me and others of my kind (after all, I wouldn't want to be 'intolerant' of anyone's proselytising genocide, would I)?

Should I also extend the same privilege to Nazis and klansmen?

Or do you just think they're kidding?

[PainInTheAss]

14. Me too

I really love it when foreign press smacks us back to the reality of their own design. It's not like Reagan was elected by a large number of voters so they should continue to smack us down until we elect one of their choosing.