High IQ link to being vegetarian. Yeah, baby! :-p

i hate Word.

I think I might die in September. If I do, maybe psychic powers/premonition abilities are true. If I come back alive, I’m an idiot and nevermind. Just had to document this. :-) (Update: I’m not dead - yet!)

The September edition of National Geographic Magazine has a great article about the sad and interesting situation in Pakistan.

You can read it online here: Struggle for the Soul of Pakistan.

It highlights all of the terrible things happening there, the usual “so-called Muslim” idiocy: gang rapes, corruption, injustice, murder… Interestingly, these “so-called Muslims” are the ones the Quran speaks of in 2:11-12. They are troublemakers and criminals of the highest degree, yet they are oblivious to that fact. Instead, they see themselves as doing God’s work. I’d like one of those idiots to explain how making death threats against a man like Edhi is anywhere near “Islamic”.

“I’m a Muslim,” says Edhi, “but my true religion is human rights.”

Yet it shows an optimistic angle, too. Pakistanis are not mindless terrorists or hopelessly backward morons. (Surprise!)

“Yes, there are extremists here,” says Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid. “But they are a small minority in a nation of 165 million people. Most of us want nothing to do with violence.”

I love Pakistan and miss it a lot This article brought back good (and bad) memories and reminds me of how much we have yet to accomplish as a species.

Suggested Reading: Social Justice: The first pillar of Islam

I originally wrote this as a comment on Just Another Angry Black Muslim Woman?’s post: Stop Trying To ‘Save’ Africa, but it ran a bit too long, so…

I think it’s interesting how he sees every (white) activist as having an agenda of some sort, either they’re just “jumping onto fashionable social causes”, “wracked with guilt” about the Middle East or only for “affirming one’s cultural superiority”. I find it quite arrogant of him to think that the majority of white people who support “African causes” are so shallow.

What about the people who were supportive of the causes decades ago? Whose “cultural superiority” is being affirmed by, say, Iman, one of the celebrities from the “I Am African” campaign? I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate being told that, by participating in yet another ’save Africa’ campaign, she’s actually promoting white/Western superiority and confirming the stereotype of Africa as a black hole of disease and death.

He finishes up the article with: “I hope people will realize Africa doesn’t want to be saved. Africa wants the world to acknowledge that through fair partnerships with other members of the global community, we ourselves are capable of unprecedented growth.”

Does he REALLY think that all those activists are suggesting we just throw money at Africa (and adopt all their babies) and hope they get their act together, regardless of their political condition and with a blind eye to the negative affect of our own nations/govts? From my conversations with many activists and interested people, I’ve not met any who have such a naïve view.

Reading closely, it seems he only wants more attention to be given to the native African efforts to help Africa. Although, wouldn’t it have been a better use of time to write an article about an African effort, rather than a “white people are not genuine in their concern for Africa” criticism? His article seems tainted with the same bias he is railing against.

Should white people be banned from Africa, since they might be there only to affirm their superiority and get a dancing villager story? Is there a test that can be done to see who sincerely cares about Africa? Should only black people be involved in African affairs? Does Africa even need outside help? Ehh…

It might be that he’s looking in the wrong place for news about Africa. I’d suggest ignoring the mainstream media (like all thinking folks) and turning to the independent media who is free to highlight any native African efforts and news and not mention Brangelina once. You can get plenty of good news — and bad news — from alternative sources, don’t depend on the “Big Three” for accurate reports about anything.

written by a white girl who does not endorse the superiority of any culture and is ticked-off that her concern for all human beings might be construed as racist or condescending. To anyone Mr. Iweala has deemed insincere: don’t stop caring about any good cause. But if you really ARE a racist and in it for your own ego, go jump off a cliff.

I turned 24 on Sunday. ;( Ahhhh! (Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday messages!)

Niqabi apparently kills her polygynous husband. She ‘accepted’ the second marriage “as required by her religion” — really?

Briton marries bin Laden’s son. That’s weird enough.

Like everywhere else in the online Muslim world, hijab is a big topic. MuslimSpace (like Myspace but for Muslims) has, since its creation, had a rule forbidding women from posting pictures of themselves without “hijab” (in this case meaning headcovering). Although I disagreed with this rule, I joined anyway, hoping that one day they would realize the error of excluding a large number of their Muslim sisters from having pictures that reflect their true selves.

It seems that day has come, thank God. The founder/admin Mohamed has stated that: “till further notice, modest pics even if non-hijabbed are allowed on the site.” A wonderful event, indeed, but somehow he manages to turn the allowance into an insult. Keep Reading …

There’s no such thing as a ‘responsible breeder’.