some guy in lebanon

This picture popped up on Reddit yesterday, with the comment “This takes guts.”

The picture immediately moved me for a number of reasons, and so I posted it to my Facebook Profile.

“if you can understand that 95% of americans look at this picture and feel more terrified of the man with the flag than the man with the assault rifle, then you will understand the root of the problem, the conceptual basis of racism (and its implicit self-justification), and the reason behind american acquiescence to apartheid”

This started a spirited discussion, with a commenter remarking:

“My understanding of the “root of the problem” (let me know if you agree with this interpretation): for those Americans who are not Arab or Muslim, an Israeli soldier has never and will never pose any threat to them or their identity. A small subset of Palestinian nationalists are associated with groups who preach hatred toward Americans and wish to do harm to Americans. Many of the people who fear the nationalist more probably are racist, but as a white, Christian American, you could ask yourself, “Who out of these two people is more likely to dislike me on the basis of my superficial identity?” if they know nothing of your personal opinions. Similarly, who would you be more afraid of in Compton, an armed white police officer or an African-American man with black nationalist paraphernalia? The issue is that people are evaluated collectively rather than as individuals, but this is so deeply ingrained in our psyche that it’s hard to avoid.

So how do you move forward?”

I was not satisfied with that, and so responded.

Almost 8 months in Beirut now – Eight long months. As I sit back and think – go over my current situation, I can’t help but notice the totality, and the still insignificance, of what I’ve accomplished so far… and all the people who have trusted me, who have had faith in me, and who have stood by me.

I will never be able to repay the debt I owe to those who’ve made this possible – even here, I see that truly it takes a village to raise Will Donovan. Perhaps more here than anywhere.

Who has arrived in Lebanon without family, with limited finances, with no contacts, and with a degree in Religion, and built a business from nothing? To those of you who have done so, you know how hard it is. To those who have not, perhaps you can imagine.

To those who have treated me like a brother, God Bless you. You will always have a place in my heart. I could not have done this without you.

To those in particular who have opened your homes and your hearts to me, thank you. There are no words to express my gratitude.

I swear it! Things are moving along – So since you know that I am still alive, allow me instead to switch topics.

I am going to post a long email I wrote to Ned recently. Some back story (from Ned):

An Ithaca alum went to Palestine last summer and wrote a piece about her work with the palestinian civilians who are affected by the war. She wrote an editorial supporting the civilians who usually get lumped together with Hamas and blamed for the conflict.

By Your’s Truly with the Very Much Needed Help of Florence Thireau – Original Article Can be Read Here
Many say they skip demonstrations out of opposition to organizers
BEIRUT: Protests continued in Lebanon and around the world this week, calling for an end to Israeli hostilities and global action to stop what the UN Human Rights [...]

Dear Israel,
Congratulations. Since you’re so good at starving a caged population of almost a million and a half people to death and then, to add insult to injury, kill more people in one day than they’ve killed with their toy rockets in a year, only to be asked politely by the Bush Administration to “take [...]

Waiting waiting waiting – Patience patience patience. This is my new mantra, and I’m not very good at it. Waiting to see what will happen at the Daily Star with my proposal, waiting for other people to make decisions about various other business ventures, waiting waiting waiting.
This weekend I spent Saturday morning finishing Robert Fisk’s [...]

From the Daily Star, November 25th, 2008, by Yours Truly:
Click here for the Original Article from the Daily Star, Published November 26th, 2008
BEIRUT: Agreements, not controversy, dominated a discussion at the American University of Beirut (AUB) on Tuesday between Rami Khouri and Michael Young, the former a regular contributor to The Daily Star’s Opinion section [...]

I was the second person to arrive at the Captain’s Cabin at 7:30 PM yesterday, a bar here in Hamra where I’m staying in Beirut. I had been assured by several people that this particular bar had sworn to stay open until an American President was selected, many thousands of miles away…
And so it did. [...]

I know this is a story that is about 48 hours late, but I’m saddened at how quickly its left the airways, so I’m publishing it anyways.
The story amazes me. A Texan woman, campaigning for McCain in Pittsburgh, went to the police late last week, claiming that while being mugged by a 6′4” black man, [...]

If every American could watch this video, this would be a very different country. A very different country indeed. Thank you Dr. Brzezinski for talking some bloody sense into those idiots on the television. Why can’t we vote for HIM for President?
If you cannot see the video, (like if you’re receiving this in an e-mail), [...]

In this little clip, morons (the kind that REALLY give conservatives a bad name) give away bumper-stickers with the words “Obama for Change.” The “C” in change is an Islamic Crescent. The “g” in Change is a Soviet Hammer and Sickle.
Fun.
Ok, I get the socialist thing. Obviously Obama’s plan to tax richer people so that [...]

“In this economy, racism is officially a luxury. How is John McCain going to win if he can’t win those voters? -

FiveThirtyEight.com has an amazing story out of Western Pennsylvania. A polster, traveling block by block attempting to learn more about working-class America’s election leanings reports:
“A canvasser goes to a woman’s door in Washington, Pennsylvania. [...]

Tomorrow I will be writing part 3 of a series I am writing, “The American Diaspora.” So far:

The Coming American Diaspora
The American Diaspora, Part 2: The Economic Consequences of the Bailout

In the meantime, the always informed Christopher Sheeron recently shared this interesting article from the Wall Street Journal (it seems the youth are the only [...]

From the Associated Press today, an article chronicling Alaskan Governor and Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s ethics violations:
Some examples:
She attacked political opponents for giving oil companies and other businesses too much control of state government, while simultaneously appointing the founder of an engineering firm that received $6.8 million in state business as head of [...]

Update: Please note that this is a follow-up article to a previous post, “The Coming American Diaspora.”
To begin what is really an extended diatribe, consider this quote from Nathan Gardels’ interview with George Soros on Friday:

U.S. influence will wane. It has already declined. For the past 25 years, we have been running a constant current [...]

David Talbot reports on this wonderful little story about a certain Vice Presidential candidate and a certain candidate’s husband who belonged for quite some time to a rabidly anti-American secessionist party in a certain backwater state known as Alaska.
The Alaskan Independence Party’s famous founder, who apparently was killed in a plastic-explosive incident, stated that:
“My government [...]

If you are planning on voting this November, and you suspect that you will be voting with an electronic voting machine, you must download and read this report on their vulnerabilities. It’s 86 pages long, so if youd like an overview, read this is from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office:
STUDY: VOTING SYSTEMS VULNERABLE
COLUMBUS, Ohio [...]

Given that our government is in the process of radically socializing the American economy, and also given my increased interest in Libertarian Socialism, I am of the impression that we are about to witness a market-driven rapid growth of communes here in the United States. My general assumptions for such a communal movement include,

Prior to [...]

Update: Also read “Part 2 of the American Diaspora – Economic Consequences of the Bailout” which is currently a top-ranked article on Google for the keywords “American Diaspora”! I can’t believe I wrote this in early October… guess I had a little foresight, eh?
People ask me why I’m leaving the country – why I’m going [...]

I think that this entire thing could have been avoided if the McCain campaign had resisted attacking Barack Obama for his ties to former Fannie Mae executives,
which prompted the media to take a second look at Rick Davis. Now that the news is out, I can’t imagine this won’t be another nail in the swing-vote [...]