7-16-16 Hodgepodge

CAIR Denounces ISIS for Misrepresenting Islam Gets a Cartoon Pulled

In the wake of yet another atrocity carried out by a barbarian shouting "Allahu Akbar," CAIR has shown where its priorities lie (HT: Issac Shroedinger):

Some Muslim leaders in the Chicago area are calling foul on an editorial cartoon published by the Chicago Tribune on Saturday. Titled "De-evolution," the image by Michael Ramirez parodied the iconic "March of Progress" illustration, which shows human evolution as a series of figures evolving from apelike ancestors to modern humans standing erect.

Ramirez's work reverses the order, starting with a modern human and ending with the most devolved figure: a man lying prostrate as if in prayer, labeled with the word "ISIS."

"It makes it as if ISIS is just your average, mainstream Muslim who's prostrating in prayer -- something we all do -- as opposed to what is unique and problematic about them," said Ahmed Rehab of the Council on American Islamic Relations. Rehab penned his concerns in a letter that ran in Tuesday's Chicago Tribune. [bold added]

No. The cartoonist clearly labeled the figure, rather than permitting us to assume an average Moslem. It speaks volumes that CAIR -- an organization that claims to want to "encourage dialogue" -- is more concerned with taking down a cartoon than clearly denouncing ISIS, or with persuading Americans that ISIS is atypical, and, more important, why. Better yet, CAIR could make an effort to dissuade Moslems from joining ISIS, rather than giving such recruits a free pass by blaming the reactions of some political leaders for "help[ing] the recruiting efforts of ISIS." As ridiculous, unconstitutional, and wrong as Newt Gingrich's proposal is, to say that even he is "blam[ing] all Muslims for the murders in France" is incorrect.

Weekend Reading

"Your partner may indeed benefit from your listening, but the main reason for being quiet and listening is so you can THINK." -- Michael Hurd, in "The Amazing Advantages of Listening" at The Delaware Wave

Text Is Dead? Sure It Is.

Some time back, someone at Facebook made the claim that text is "dead". With some marketing types, you never know where hyperbole ends and belief begins in their minds, but I enjoyed the following comment about the claim:

[T]he very best feature Facebook Video has, what's helping that platform eat the world -- is muted autoplay video with automatic text captions. Forget literature -- even the stupid viral videos people watch waiting for the train are better when they're made with text!) [link dropped]

And don't get me started on that emoji fad...

-- CAV