Thomas Friedman, tefafa 3ala raseef al sa7afa al dawleya
Tfoo tfoo tfoo. It really would blasé to write angrily about Thomas Freidman and to call more attention to his journalistic misdeeds. His racist, arrogant, incendiary writings do speak for themselves. But I just couldn't help it.
The other day I saw him on TV speaking at the National Governors Association, a big American thing. It really was hard to watch. He said so much shit. He spoke of India , the second largest Muslim country (he meant country with the second largest Muslim population) as being an anomaly in the Muslim and Arab world. Because, said Thomas, it was a place that lets Islam do its thing and flourish (he pointed to the fact that India's richest man is a Muslim) while still "providing a context, a political context, where a young person doesn't have to go and bribe the judge with a goat when he has a legal problem." Ya 2aleel el zo2 ya 7ayawan, el me3za di tla2eeha shafet 3adala w karama w adab aktar melle feek kollak 3ala ba3dak, enta wel orood elli byesma3o kalamak.*
He also gleefuly cited a nationally televised debate, also in India, between a senior Shaykh and a Muslim female film star on whether or not Indians should go stand by their brethren in Afghanistan in their resistance to the American invasion. With much vitriol, he wrapped up his mention of the debate saying that the flim star was "basically telling the Shaykh to shove it." And then a silence, as he drew back slowly from the microphone, leaving his elite audience to bob their heads, vindicated, likely reapeating the phrase "shove it" in their minds.
I'm not so good at expository writing, I really wish I was. I'm thankful that some people (Baheyya, Matt Taibbi, Greg Palast) are and that he has been criticised strongly in many instances. It would seem a worthwhile full-time job to counter all that he says and writes, on the spot. In the mean time I stand by my initial position: tfoo.
*You unrefined, tasteless beast of a man! That goat has probably known more justice, dignity and decency than is contained in your whole self and in the selves of all your monkey readers.
The other day I saw him on TV speaking at the National Governors Association, a big American thing. It really was hard to watch. He said so much shit. He spoke of India , the second largest Muslim country (he meant country with the second largest Muslim population) as being an anomaly in the Muslim and Arab world. Because, said Thomas, it was a place that lets Islam do its thing and flourish (he pointed to the fact that India's richest man is a Muslim) while still "providing a context, a political context, where a young person doesn't have to go and bribe the judge with a goat when he has a legal problem." Ya 2aleel el zo2 ya 7ayawan, el me3za di tla2eeha shafet 3adala w karama w adab aktar melle feek kollak 3ala ba3dak, enta wel orood elli byesma3o kalamak.*
He also gleefuly cited a nationally televised debate, also in India, between a senior Shaykh and a Muslim female film star on whether or not Indians should go stand by their brethren in Afghanistan in their resistance to the American invasion. With much vitriol, he wrapped up his mention of the debate saying that the flim star was "basically telling the Shaykh to shove it." And then a silence, as he drew back slowly from the microphone, leaving his elite audience to bob their heads, vindicated, likely reapeating the phrase "shove it" in their minds.
I'm not so good at expository writing, I really wish I was. I'm thankful that some people (Baheyya, Matt Taibbi, Greg Palast) are and that he has been criticised strongly in many instances. It would seem a worthwhile full-time job to counter all that he says and writes, on the spot. In the mean time I stand by my initial position: tfoo.
*You unrefined, tasteless beast of a man! That goat has probably known more justice, dignity and decency than is contained in your whole self and in the selves of all your monkey readers.
posted by Gayyash at
6:13 PM
2 Comments:
And I thought "tfoo-tfoo" was a Jewish expression.
By
YMedad, at Sat Mar 29, 11:48:00 PM GMT+2
I think tfoo relates to an ancient Egyptian deity called Tefnut who was produced through the cough/spit of another deity. Or at least that's the story for its place in the Egyptian lexicon.
By
Anonymous, at Sun Mar 30, 03:59:00 AM GMT+2
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