European Tribune

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Hah, so the summary of eight points is too many? ;-)
(Ok so I didn't title it clearly as a summary.)

Lesson Number One, don't write long diaries when bob is around, he'll front page them.

This feels awfully exposed out here at the top of the page, can't you put something else up on top?

More seriously, we are not living a "clash-of-civilisations" with a monolithic Islamic entity. Islam is a diverse body which is undergoing an internal struggle over its direction between moderates and extremists. We are affected by this in a globalised world, but we will not influence things to moderation by attacking Islam as inimical to democracy. Instead we have to recognise the importance of making our own societies good representatives for the virtues of democracy.

That's it for the short spiel.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 09:27:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Front-page it? I'm going to bump it on Monday so the week-day people see it. And I'd strongly recommend you to cross-post it other places it might be welcome, or at least a pointer to it. Excellent work - thought I need to read through it properly when I have a little more time. I think I'll have to dig up that book.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 09:47:57 AM EST
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Any places you'd recommend x-posting?

My instinct was that I write for ET, if I wanted to write somewhere else, I would be doing so. But, if x-posting will help with the promotion of the site, I guess I ought to do it.

I thought about the big orange, but there's a small core of self-styled experts who rather put me off discussing Islam over there.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 10:22:43 AM EST
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I wouldn't bother on dKos: Booman maybe, My Left Wing maybe? I'll try and think a bit more later.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 10:25:25 AM EST
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Done, in case anyone wants to hit the recommend button.

Diary at MLW

Diary at Booman

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 11:07:17 AM EST
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How about Street Prophets?
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 05:46:11 PM EST
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I'll give it a try.

What did you think of the piece? Anything you would like to correct from your viewpoint?

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 05:56:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 06:03:49 PM EST
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I hadn't joined up to now, so it looks like I will have to wait a week before posting this there. Are you a member there?
by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 05:57:22 PM EST
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I am.  I'll post a link to this in the open thread, if that's OK with you.  It deserves attention.
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 06:03:24 PM EST
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OK, there's no current open thread there now, and I started to link to this diary as a comment in a book-related thread, but I decided (a) the comment was too long and (b) it would probably get missed by a lot of folks, so I did a diary summarizing your summary & linking back here.  I hope that's OK.

You've done a really excellent job with this.  Thanks again for it.

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 06:54:47 PM EST
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That is perfectly fine. Thankyou very much for the link and the praise.
by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sun Jan 22nd, 2006 at 03:00:47 AM EST
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Hey, a first comment!

And you're in Egypt? Wow!

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 08:19:16 PM EST
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I could've sworn I'd commented here before, but maybe not.  Mainly I lurk, been doing it for a while.

Yep.  Egypt.  Where it's after 3 a.m., and I should be getting to bed!  Yikes.

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 08:27:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Did I do the tags thing right? If I did, does that mean this post should show up on the list at Technorati if I click on the grey link "Reza Aslan"?
by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 12:36:41 PM EST
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Yup, that's fine ... it takes a little while to pick it up.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 01:17:12 PM EST
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You write so that people will read surely? That's a good piece of work.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 10:26:01 AM EST
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Well, writing is an attempt to communicate, but it feels very devoid of context sometimes. Writing in a community where you comment a fair bit seems more like actual communication.

I guess we can see that:

a) I'll never write the Great UKian novel

and

b) I'm not cut out for journalism either.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 11:10:52 AM EST
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I think you are underestimating yourself. As we say in German: "Übung macht den Meister" or practice, practice, practice :-)
by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 11:13:00 AM EST
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Hehe, it is a psychological block more than anything!
by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 11:20:32 AM EST
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Haha, there are ways to overcome psychological blocks!!!!!
by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 11:22:57 AM EST
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I should deal with next is the rewriting of my CV and jumpstarting my job search again...
by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 11:29:48 AM EST
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Whoooowwww!!! good diary. I only had the time to skim over it, but it is good. Will reread it later on.

I second Colman's recommendation that you cross-post it. It should be read by many people.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 10:33:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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