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A man of prodigious fortune, coming to add his opinion to some light discussion that was going on casually at his table, began precisely thus: "It can only be a liar or an ignoramus who will say otherwise than," and so on. Pursue that philosophical point, dagger in hand. --Michel de Montaigne, Of the art of discussion. Stab back: cmnewman99-at-yahoo.com Home
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Monday, February 03, 2003
Speaking of Oriana, here's a recent interview she did for the New York Observer if you haven't already seen it. Again, the piece contributes to my love/hate relationship with the woman. I mean, ya gotta love a septugenarian who says stuff like this: When she gets phone calls threatening her life, she said, she lets them talk. "Then I say, 'Do you know where it is your mother and your wife and your sister and your daughter are right in this moment? They are in a brothel of Beirut. And do you know what they're doing? They are giving away their'-I don't tell it to you, but I tell it to them-'and you know to whom? To an American. Fuck you!'" But on the other hand, the piece also contains this:
As I've said, I read the complaint she filed and even based on her selected quotes I think this is a distortion of what Smith actually wrote. (I've since heard from someone who read his whole book and agrees with me.) And I still have yet to see any acknowledgment from her that there are plenty of Muslim Americans who obviously have opened the doors of their religious faith to freedom and democracy and progress. Recognizing this wouldn't weaken her point with regard to the many other Muslims who haven't; it would strengthen it. It's too bad she won't sit down for a real interview--like the ones she used to conduct with others. I read that piece she did in Panorama following the Social Forum, and it was disappointing. It was so damn safe. The interviewer cleaned out her colon with his tongue before he even asked the first question. He wasn't challenging her, even in a friendly way. He was tossing her gift-wrapped softballs. What she did with Rabbia was valuable, but this tossing-thunderbolts-while-staying-above-the-fray pose is wearing thin. If she's not willing to subject herself to a serious conversation and refine her message, she should go back to writing her final novel.
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