On vacation

I'm going away to Turkey for 8 days, but when I come back I will be fully revved up and ready to bombard you with nonsense on a daily basis. So, don't you go away!

Where to blog from here

I've somewhat noticed a lack of direction (not in my life generally, as some of my readers may like to think, naming no names), but in this blog. I know what I want to blog about, and that's everything, but more specifically race and religion, as two issues I'm directly embroiled in.

But do I follow the model of news blogging, where I act as an unwanted commentator on current affairs and topical issues, or do I write about issues at random, following no obvious sequence or order, except that which exists in my own head?

I think this raises interesting questions about new media, I really do. Blogging, as wonderfully democratic as it is, can't help but follow the news industry model, tailored for a global readership with severe attention deficit disorder. So, suppose I do bombard you with stuff on a daily basis, will that stuff have any meaning for you if it is not in key with a global news agenda, which despite being completely random, subsumes all other trains of thought? What, am I dreaming?

Okay, so I don't bombard you with stuff on a daily basis, but give you thoughtful, well researched pieces that follow no agenda but serve to edify, nonetheless. Perhaps even a novel, given to you in blog post instalments over the course of a year. Okay, I know what you're thinking now, and that's exactly what I'm thinking, which is, what the hell am I thinking?

Apostasy

I've been following the story of one of my old teachers at Islamia School, London, who has courted the highest controversy by leaving Islam. If he had been a crack smoking teenager, a marijuana smoking hippie in his 20s, a money obsessed city worker in his 30s, a Golf playing Spain goer in his 40s, or a brandy drinking professor in his 50s, then maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. But this man had obtained degrees in Islamic studies, had taught at an Islamic school for 15 years and had written Islamic books for children. He was a popular and likeable teacher.

He made youtube videos explaining his story and repeating the thought processes that brought him to question the religious label he had carried for 50 odd years. He did this, rationally, calmly and with politeness and respect.

The videos generated the full gamut of responses. He got his usual haters, as well as old pupils displaying childish bile, which probably perturbed him for making his teaching skills seem questionable. I was forwarded an e-mail by an old schoolmate, which was written by another schoolmate, raising the alarm about this teacher and calling his actions "sick". Then he took his videos off because they were causing too much conflict.

I for one see him as an inspiring figure for his bravery, not because I'm an evil heretic myself, but because standing up to such an angry mob is brave by any standard. I wish him the best of luck, and I am proud to call him my teacher.

Femininity and the Divine

Homophobia and misogyny, two very closely linked bigotries, are charted as the chief evils of some religions today. Both stem essentially from patriarchal attitudes to the feminine, which is a reality irrespective of religion, and is only associated with religion because a particular form of medieval patriarchy has become crystalised in today's surviving medieval religions.

The partriarchal abuse of women and gays is essentially an abuse of the more compassionate, the more loving, the weaker. Shame that it has become so assoicated with a religion which originally sought to destroy masculinity, pride, anger and violence, to seek the favour of the feminine, compassionate, loving, Divine.

A den of iniquity

Well, Glastonbury has come and gone, again, but this time I haven't fantasised about being in a deluge of mud, music and iniquity, but seriously thought about it. For something to go from being an unspeakable fantasy to a viable reality in the space of ten years isn't too bad. If only people would understand that it isn't about mindless hedonism, but solely about the music...and maybe the mud. I think I'll go wellington shopping from now.