oh my life. sitting here noodling on the computer whilst the news is on in the background and mr. blair is blathering on, when suddenly my ears perk up and i hear him say “we must empower moderate muslims to fight against extremists.”

um, exsqueeze me? baking powder?

if i’m a “moderate muslim” sitting at home, minding my business, paying my taxes, and generally being a good person, why the hell is it *my* obligation to do something about a bunch of nutters who have sweet-fuck-all to do with my life or anything i belive in or stand for? no one tells “moderate christians” that they are somehow responsible for solving the problem of crazy anti-abortionists who shoot people. or that “moderate jews” need to address hard-line israelis who think pre-emptive assasinations of palestinians are okay.

what prejudicial bullshit. a bunch of crazy muslims do a bunch of crazy things that our thoroughly inept but elected and financed government is helpless to do anything about… and suddenly the whole stinking mess is thrown into the laps of the average decent muslim citizens, and told they have to sort it out themselves. wtf? i’d be absolutely irate.

another gem from the press conference: blair says the veil some muslim women wear is a mark of separation which makes others uncomfortable, therefore we must help them “integrate” into western society. a) duh. of course it’s a symbol of separation and differentiation – that’s the point. b) facial tattoos and piercings are done for the same effect and make people uncomfortable, but no one is all up in arms about *those* and c) people do not *have* to “integrate” into society if they don’t want to. i don’t think the fact that it makes *us* uncomfortable means *they* should change. society will just have to learn to deal… the same way it has dealt with other things which make people uncomfortable – like gays, interracial marriage, and other cultural clashes. maybe it is deliberately provocative – but so are a lot of other things. and it’s not going away just because we dislike it.

anyway, i’m back in london now, as you may have surmised. the world tour is officially over now, and lots to talk about since i’ve been away! so stay tuned…

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