MM posted this amazing debate on the Freedom Flotilla massacre between Ahmed Bedier and the Israel consul general in Florida. I can't put into words how impressed I am by Ahmed Bedier.
Azra put up a flashy ad by a SA telecom in support of the World Cup. As I commented on her blog, these types of ads truly disgust me. They deify sports and athletes as objects of worship. The world stops when the game begins. It was done with Jordan many years ago and it's being done today.
Judge for yourself:
File this under 'News to me' - it's illegal to send money to the Taliban. Not just for American citizens, but for Emiratis.
Seems that these folks sent money to the Afghan Taliban and in return got beat up by UAE police, who also threatened to sexually abuse them or a family member, and eventually were sentenced for three years for financing a terrorist organization.
The arm of the American legal system is very long indeed.
Links of Interest
Friday, June 4, 2010
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3 comments:
Brother Naeem, salaams, I left this comment at Azra's but seeing here you repeated the ad, I think I will just comment here.
I don't understand your comment at all. The world does indeed stop when such games are on. However the viewers are not zombies, nor are the ads presenting them as such.
Friends do gather with friends to watch important games, and we do cheer when our team scores or takes a wicket, as the case may be. And sports instills a sense of pride in the country and generally is good for the nation.
A nation where kids are ingrained into sports have their energies channelled properly and away from crime, and health of the nation is much better. I don't understand what grouse you have against sports, really!
the problem with anything 'halal' is when it becomes the GOAL. not the means.
and sports is like a religion almost, people are insanely addicted.
for a true servant of Allah, their heart can only be seriously attached to Allah, nothing else.
Mezba..maybe my comment will seem weird to you but in all honesty this is simply a difference of which lense a person has on: the world lense or the hereafter lense.
If a person has a test coming up the next day, and they dont work on that as much as they should be, rather they get OBSESSED over sharpening their pencils, i would call such a person stupid. Other ppl who think the test is no big deal will think 'hey whats wrong with sharpening his pencils. he's enjoying it. its fun. we all love sharpening pencils'. the difference is yur perspective.
UmmBudiMary
AA- Mezba,
In addition to the argument presented by Umm B, my beef with sports entertainment is that the good is far outweighed by its evil, sorta like alcohol and gambling. (No, I'm not equating them, just pointing out a similarity.)
I believe sports can be extremely intoxicating. It can be emotionally consuming. It can be financially crippling (for the individual and society). It can be spiritually devastating.
You present it as an innocent game to watch, in the same way people may go to watch a movie. But it isn't that simple.
While a movie may consume a few hours, following a sport or a team becomes an obsession, lasting weeks or months or even years. Besides the few Hollywood groupies, most fans of movies don't buy paraphernalia in support of Hollywood. Most fans don't invest themselves emotionally into the financial performance of the movie or the lives of the actors. Most fans of movies don't call in radio shows talking about the movie. Most fans don't memorize the statistics of their favorite actor. And so on. You get my point.
21st century sports entertainment has become a sub-culture of sorts. It sees itself as more than just entertainment, more than just a few hours of downtime. And those two commercials embody this attitude of faux self-importance.
Does that at least begin to help you understand my issue with sports?
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