A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a story then "breaking" about protests by some prominent Jews and Jewish organizations (like the ADF) protesting the display of the Star of David on a flying pig at a Roger Waters concert in Belgium. Some of his critics even went so far as to make the preposterous, laughable suggestion that Waters was himself an anti-Semitic Nazi sympathizer.
I wrote an entry refuting these allegations against Waters, and blasted those who automatically use the anti-Semitism card to deflect any and all criticism of Israel (at least here in the United States, in particular). Moreover, promised that, inside of a week, I would write an entry about what some have called apartheid inside of Israel.
When I wrote that entry, a little over one week ago (it was posted on Thursday, August 8th of this year), I tried to promise that I would write a similar one on practices of de facto apartheid inside of predominately Islamic nations. I intend to deliver on that promise, too.
But there is one problem: while I was researching this, it proved to be actually quite extensive. There was quite a bit of material on several nations, although there were some nations that seemed particularly to stand out: Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan - particularly during the days of Taliban rule there.
So, it is taking me longer to write this thing then I had anticipated, and I am now thinking of taking a different approach. Possibly, maybe, it is time to think about breaking it up by nation. The entries on Taliban Afghanistan (which ended late in 2001, but which there is evidence that it is now slowly but surely creeping back) and Saudi Arabia may be full blog entries on their own. It is amazing just how much material there is one some of these things, and one entry on this subject -even as a brief (and hardly extensive and detailed, admittedly), may actually have to be broken up into several entries, although I am not so sure yet. For now, it is still under one blog entry, although this is beginning to be a rather large entry, and mostly still just research articles and such.
Still, the entry is on the way. I hesitate now to promise any kind of a timeline, although I will try to get it out as soon as possible. It was shocking and disturbing to see how much material there was, and at some points, I was even appalled at the detailed accounts. In particular, I am referring to a new method of punishing people that has apparently been invented in Saudi Arabia, for the crime of studying a Bible.
I have found that the more I learn about these things (and the more I learn about Saudi Arabia in general), the less I want to know about it. There is a temptation to simply turn away, to forget it, and let it be someone else's problem. After all, when I see such news stories, or read such articles, or perhaps novels by Khaled Hosseini, these places seem so far away, and so distant from my own life and experiences. I have never even been to a predominately Muslim nation, and it seems like something that may seem like a reality to some people, but that you have to have been raised in such countries in order to understand them, or be subjected (or oppressed) by them.
But one thing that I have always, always, always wanted to do, all my life, is learn more. And this has indeed been a learning experience. So, I will continue to try and learn more about them, and when I can, I will write at least one blog entry, if not several of them, about this important, albeit tragic, issue. Apologies that it is not coming in as timely a manner as I had hoped it might, but it is on the way.
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