From the NYTimes:
In many ways, it is Al Jazeera’s moment — not only because of the role it has played, but also because the channel has helped to shape a narrative of popular rage against oppressive American-backed Arab governments (and against Israel) ever since its founding 15 years ago. That narrative has long been implicit in the channel’s heavy emphasis on Arab suffering and political crisis, its screaming-match talk shows, even its sensational news banners and swelling orchestral accompaniments. “The notion that there is a common struggle across the Arab world is something Al Jazeera helped create,” said Marc Lynch, a professor of Middle East Studies at George Washington University who has written extensively on the Arab news media. “They did not cause these events, but it’s almost impossible to imagine all this happening without Al Jazeera.”
It bears noting that the reason Al Jazeera can create a “narrative” about oppressive pro-American Arab governments is precisely because we’ve consistently sold out democratic movements to back oppressive strongmen. The most obvious example was our long-standing political and military support of the Shah of Iran. It’s hard to imagine what Middle East politics would look like today if we had encouraged the student protesters in 1979.
"Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government?"
Recently, however, there has been an uncomfortable sense that God is calling us to make and advocate for changes more difficult and radical than adding solar panels or a green roof…. The willingness to confront both our own failings and the ways of the prevailing culture are among the qualities that have enabled Quakers to influence history out of proportion to our numbers.
Cookie Time: Francis has a snack break at a DC Starbucks. Trip to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington.
Landing Gear: Trip to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington.
Hanging there: Trip to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington. The place was really too big and warehouse-like for two small kids and even the potentially-interactive exhibits (like the tour of the airplane cockpit at the bottom of this page) were just plexiglassed-off looks inside.
Light crowd: The rain only stopped shortly before we got there and crowds were light. New Jersey State History Fair at Washington Crossing State Park.
Battle lines: New Jersey State History Fair at Washington Crossing State Park.
Marching orders: New Jersey State History Fair at Washington Crossing State Park.
The Delaware and Raritan Canal: New Jersey State History Fair at Washington Crossing State Park.
Bridge Views: Below the plank sidewalk: the river! New Jersey State History Fair at Washington Crossing State Park.
“I have a personal conviction against the violence in the city of Philadelphia,” said a manacled Phil Jones, director of Brethren Witness, a Washington-based group associated with the Church of the…
NYT Caption:”President-elect Barack Obama met with his top economic advisers for a second straight day in Washington.” So was weekend queer?
Pop culture mashups, many re-purposing images from the 1950s.
