General Thoughts

Did you guys notice something about the recently announced sanctions on Sudan? There are numerous rebel leaders playing their part in running the Darfur show, but only one got singled out.

The companies named by the Treasury Department yesterday include a sugar producer, an automobile company and a vegetable oil producer. The administration also singled out two senior officials — Ahmad Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and Awad ibn Auf, the country’s director of military intelligence — and Khalil Ibrahim, leader of a rebel group called the Justice and Equality Movement.

Why only Khalil Ibrahim? What makes him different from other rebel leaders? Maybe this ought to explain it.

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Turabi often referred to Osama bin Laden as a hero. More recently, the United Nations and human rights experts have accused Turabi of backing one of Darfur’s key rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement, in which some of his top former students are leaders.

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Dr Khalil Ibrahim, a protege of Islamist hardliner Dr Hasan al-Turabi. Formed in November 2002, JEM is increasingly recognised as being part and parcel of Dr Turabi’s Popular Congress.

So the one with ties to Turabi got targeted and those with no ties weren’t even mentioned. Is that it? Hmmmm…

If the blog starts looking weird and messed up, don’t worry. I’m testing out a new and better looking theme that will include extra functionalities. It’s time for the blog to evolve. I’m also playing around with different plugins. Thanks to my ongoing internship, I managed to improve my programming skills a lot. Not only that but I got to know a bunch of very friendly and smart techies who taught me some really cool new stuff. It’s time for some application.

I just got back from a superb business seminar. The main speaker was a successful millionaire entrepreneur from Canada who talked about a lot of useful and interesting stuff. One primary thing that truly stuck with me was what he called “the power of the dream”. I could really relate to it.

The dream is everything. It’s all you’ve got when you get started new, fresh and inexperienced. That dream better be mighty and powerful. You better be able to feel it deep down inside your gut and you better be able to clearly visualize it. Either the obstacles and barriers will win you, or you’ll win them but to do so you need to have a powerful dream. The dream will keep you “alive”.
A lot of people set out to achieve their dreams, most fail. Or to be more precise, as time passes by and the dream slowly dies, most settle for being mediocre. I never will.

I enjoy the struggle. It shapes you up. It transforms you and it keeps pushing you to the limit. Only when you’re pushed to the limit, you do realize what you’re made of.

I’ve tried 3 times and failed but those failures were the good kind, the kind that you learn from only to get up once again and start walking a stronger, wiser person. I’ve made progress and I’ll continue my journey.

Why? Because I’m a Drima.

I thought the following quote from this article was hilarious:

“Don’t let assholes rent space in your head.”

I love it! So true. LOL.

Money? Knowledge? Dick Cheney as your best friend? Marble balls? A Nuclear arsenal? What do you need most to become very powerful? This question had me thinking a lot and I believe I finally found the answer:

The ability to persuade and convince!

The following are some cool posts I read recently:

Obama speaks out on “acting white”.

Desi Nationalism, Hanafi Purists & the Ouster of an American-Muslim Pioneer.

Lookism. (this one is so damn good. I loved it. Field-negro is a new favorite)

On Fate & Faith 

Enjoy! Busy with work, album and entrepreneurial stuff. While it’s physically very tiring, it’s also fun. So much to say and write, so little time. More later as soon as I’m a bit more free.

I was about to turn off my computer and go to bed but I just wanted to share this with everyone. I LOVE Def Jam. America - (Hollywood + MTV) = something a lot less. Nuclear silos are powerful but I find things like this more powerful. They’re a bigger asset. That’s why I know so many people who hate America, the government and the supposed immorality but would love to live there or go for a visit. How would things be if Israel had its own Hollywood and MTV? I believe the situation might have been better. Anyways… Me need to sleep. Ignore my ranting and just check this out. It’s only 2 minutes and it’s lovely. You won’t regret it.

“They’re using the divide and control strategy.” That’s what many say. Assuming that it’s true, wouldn’t that imply that we’re dividable and if we are then isn’t that our fault? Of course that assumption itself is built on another assumption, a ridiculous one that assumes we were already united to begin with before the dividing and controlling started. I believe this applies not only to us but also to all people. Point a finger at someone, and three will point back at you. Take responsibility for your own actions. When you do that, you, you, you… will be in control. Knowledge is power. Control is power. Drima is just being Drima.

I’m talking about this one. The comments were interesting to read. I especially liked this one by Rihab:

We regard things as normal depending on how accustomed we have become to them, for example, in a Muslim country the notion of a man having more than one wife is regarded as normal, whereas in a non-Muslim country it is regarded as abnormal. Straight men holding hands is normal in many Arab countries, in many non-Arab countries it would be odd if they aren’t gay. So “normality” is simply whatever you got used to over time in which case “normal” is a very relative term.

This one by Jina at Mideast Youth was also interesting to read:

Normal is when majority agree on one thing. Being black in white man’s land was abnormal, being white in black man’s land was abnormal. Cowboys dueling with each other was normal at one time, it’s not now. Blacks taking the back of the bus in the States were normal at one time, it’s not today. A noble killing a commoner was treated as nothing but a commoner killing a nobel was a crime.

I read my post again and I now realize how crazy it must have seemed to many readers. I’d say that a lot of what I wrote was emotional. I guess I don’t need to provide reasons for that. I’m sure most of you can tell where I’m coming from. I can pretend to be a wise ass and give you some fake opinion to seem all smart and intellectual but at the end of the day, it won’t benefit me. After one year of blogging, I have noticed that it’s mostly the seemingly “loony” posts such as this one, that trigger the most thought provoking comments. So yes, it’s pretty much worth it, even if it results in the following:

Sudanese Thinker goes on yet another anti-gay rant with the proviso that “he doesn’t mean to offend anyone”. Of course ST is entitled to his own opinion but the whole piece is full of misinformation and plain bigotry. He ends up telling us of an encounter with “2 gay dues and a transsexual” and concludes that you cant judge people on the basis of their sexuality. And he even has some friends who are atheist as well! God what a relief on both counts.

Oh no, the dreaded ‘B’ word. Cool! I’m now officially a bigot! Yaaaay! Oh well, at least Nominally Challenged (who’s gay) is cool with my post me. I’ve exchanged some private emails with him. Thanks man! Whether we agree or not is something, but the fact that we can have a decent, calm and honest cyber conversation is another different thing that I greatly value. More food for thought.

This website is so daring and sooooo hilarious. What a wicked way of making an extra buck.

Check out the “interesting” Bush comments. They even have Bin Laden, Ann Coulter and David Beckham rolls

Which one are you interested in buying? I’m not buying any. Four Canadian dollars for freaking toilet tissue paper?! Hell no, that’s too expensive for me. Hehehehe! On a serious note though, imagine the potential amount of money I could make selling Bush toilet paper rolls in Arab countries. Or even better, how about one of “beloved” Sharon or Olmert? One truly wicked idea. Frankly speaking, when I look at this, I get shocked at the amount of freedom of expression available in Western countries like Canada. It’s almost crazy!

NOTE: Contained here within this post are my personal thoughts and opinions. I honestly don’t mean to offend anybody with what I’m about to say. I don’t have the intention to. This is Drima just being Drima. Enjoy! Your comments are welcome.

Sudanese Culture, Homosexuality & My Personal Opinion

In Sudanese culture, homosexuality is a big gigantic red no and is regarded as a pretty huge crime. It is not tolerated at all. If any man dared to walk down the streets of Khartoum advertising the fact that he’s gay or even slightly feminine, he would most certainly get beaten up. Yeah, I mean like literally beaten up, as in smacked in the face, punched in the nose, kicked in the stomach and thrown with a few bricks. He’ll probably get killed! (Hell, even the simple act of shaving your moustache in Sudan is considered something totally unmanly)!

I don’t regard homosexuality as something normal and I don’t think it should be “normalized”. As offensive as that statement may sound to some people, I don’t intend for it to be so. I really don’t. Vagina + Penis = Baby. That’s how it’s intended to be. The norm is attraction between male and female. Penis and penis aren’t the norm and while the naughty guy in me may fantasize about the idea of vagina and vagina, I also believe that it’s not the norm. The 2 purposes of sex are procreation and enjoyment. Homosexual sex can result in enjoyment but it won’t result in procreation. Maybe that’s why homosexuality is regarded as a major sin in many religions. If today we all turned homosexual, the existence of the human race will eventually come to an end.

Now I understand that some of you have trouble reading the above. It might seem too simplistic to you but it isn’t to me. Sure, homosexuality is something that exists in the animal kingdom but so what? We’re different from animals. We’re different because we were blessed with conscience, the freedom to do right or wrong and the freedom to think freely. I’m sure Darwin and Richard Dawkins would super disagree with me though.

There might be another reason some of you have trouble with my opinion. If I’m saying that homosexuality isn’t the norm, then wouldn’t that imply I think gays are abnormal? The answer is yes. Allow me to elaborate but before I do please keep in mind that I’m not using the word “abnormal” in a derogatory sense (at least not in most cases).

The Causes of Homosexuality: Nature, Nurture or Both?

There doesn’t seem to be a clear answer. Some researchers point towards nurture, some towards nature and others point towards both. Personally I don’t know. I’m not a scientist but I am open to arguments from the nature perspective. My stance is lenient towards people who have an odd sexuality that occured as a result of nature.

You can’t really blame them for being that way can you? I can’t. If they were born that way then it’s not their fault now is it? Some gay men claim that since they were little kids, they’ve always known that they didn’t like girls. Others claim that they’re women stuck inside men’s bodies. How can you explain that? Does it have to do with some kind of hormonal unbalance? I don’t really know and that’s why I remain very open to scientific arguments from the nature perspective. Not so long ago hermaphrodites were treated like outcasts in society. They were looked down upon and were considered abnormal (in a derogatory sense). I’m absolutely against that. Sure, their condition is an abnormality. A baby is supposed to be born with 10 fingers and 10 toes but it is simply wrong to outcast a baby born with 9 fingers and 23 toes. The analogy might not be completely accurate but I hope you get the idea.

According to research from the nurture perspective, some people turn gay due to unfortunate childhood experiences which include sexual abuse. I am quite open to such ideas but not as open as I am to arguments from the nature perspective. Sure, getting sexually harassed during childhood is a very nasty experience but it doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to turn gay. Not all men who get locked up in jail for many years turn gay. Only some do.

There are some cases however whereby nurture “arguments” will do nothing to change my mind. Example? I know a guy who turned gay about a year and a half ago. The reason? He got dumped for the third time in a row by a girl he was deeply and madly in love with. What a pathetic reason, absolutely pathetic. Now that’s what I’ll refer to as abnormal in a derogatory sense.

Some Essential Background

Amongst my close friends, making fun or being hateful towards other people’s religions is something unacceptable (Scientology is an exception). Racism is also something generally unacceptable although a minority of close friends could be classified as mild racists and a few others (2 actually) as unfortunately super racists (you know, the kind who believe that a good Jew, or at least a “media shaped” good Jew is a dead Jew). However there’s one thing that’s generally quite “acceptable” and that’s making fun of gay people and using terms like “faggots” to describe them. Yup, you read that right.

All of us haven’t really had any “pleasant” encounters with gay people or transsexuals. In fact the only gay/transsexual people we bumped into, or that bumped into us, have always been the really loud obnoxious annoying type, that love to make freaky comments such as pointing at me or one of my friends and shouting in their “feminine wannabe” voices “oh my God, you’re so cute”. My immediate reaction would always be “yuck! Damn you, stop harassing us, you freaky abnormal weirdoes”. What’s worse is when the transsexuals try to approach. Good thing they back off. Oh thank the Lord they always do, otherwise I swear I’ll end up beating one of them in these coming days and I might actually break his (her?) neck. Okay maybe I won’t but you get the idea.

As you can imagine, we developed a wonderful hostility towards gay and transsexual people. Or to be more accurate, most of us didn’t develop any hostility at all, we simply enhanced it further (way further), given the fact that we came from cultural backgrounds which regard homosexuality as something absolutely unacceptable and forbidden.

The Incident

Last week’s Sunday night was pretty unique for one main reason. (No, I didn’t get drunk and find myself in the morning in bed with a gay dude. Oh no, thanks but no thanks. Drima is straight, very straight. In fact he’s as straight as an arrow. He also doesn’t drink). Here’s what happened. Last week’s Sunday night K, a new friend of mine brought me along to his friend’s party where I ended up having an interesting conversation with 2 gay dudes and one transsexual. All three are fashion designers.

I was extremely uncomfortable in the beginning and felt like cursing my friend but I convinced myself to remain respectful since I was a guest. At first, I conversed with everyone except the transsexual. After a while, the party got going when the host started blasting some really good old school hip hop music. Eventually we all conversed, laughed and joked around until I completely forgot the fact that 2 of the guys were gay and one was a transsexual. It didn’t bother me much anymore. Unlike previous cases, they didn’t try to hit on me and they didn’t make any flirtatious moves which was obviously a very good thing. As a result, I learned three new fashion words. Cetour, retro and bohemian (did I spell them right?). Moreover I started thinking and I gained a new perspective.

You’ve got 2 persons:

a) A guy who’s straight but steals money from friends, doesn’t give to charity and is racist.

And

b) A guy who’s gay, is loyal to his friends, gives to a lot to charity and vehemently opposes racism.

As much as you may disagree with it, you can’t simply discredit (b) as immoral simply based on his homosexuality.

Having spent some of my childhood in conservative Qatar, I never one day thought I would have atheist friends. Some of the coolest and nicest people I’ve gotten to know since then are atheists. I remain in contact with most of them.

Having been exposed to only crazy annoying gays and transsexuals, I never thought that one day I’d actually have a decent and enjoyable conversation with any of them.

PS: Which public toilets do transsexuals use? I’ve always wondered. Women’s or men’s? Oh ya and strangely I have 2 friends who are bisexual. They’re both girls!

This is a letter that I have written to the Save Darfur Coalition. I’m sharing it here on this blog with everyone. If you have something you would like to add, then please do so in the comments section.

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To whom it may highly concern:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I’m writing you this letter to express to you my thoughts and feelings regarding your campaign.

Your coalition, the Save Darfur coalition, is the most powerful organization in the United States at the moment calling for an end to the horrific crisis and ethnic cleansing currently occuring in the western region of my country. You have been extremely active in bringing Darfur to the attention of the American masses and indirectly to the world, through the media. Moreover you have organized successful donation drives for the Darfur cause. For that, I sincerely thank you.

I am however gravely concerned. I am concerned by your calls for immediate UN intervention in Darfur. I am concerned by the fact that you don’t realize what the major consequences of such an intervention will be.

Many people (both within Sudan and outside) oppose UN troops coming into Darfur. Many unfortunately view UN troops as colonizing forces that are part of a conspiracy. They include Sudanese Islamist organizations, Darfurian tribal leaders, a minority of the Darfurians themselves, some Chadian rebels, al-Qaeda and of course the Sudanese Armed Forces headed by Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir. All of them have vowed to wage war and jihad against any UN troops that set foot on Darfur.

UN troops setting foot in Darfur without the consent of Sudan’s government will sadly cause the conflict to worsen. The war will only get bigger and more people will suffer. I’m sure that won’t make the situation more “humanitarian” than it already is. Still though, let’s assume that UN troops did in fact intervene in Darfur. Are you really confident they’ll stick around and actually help given the UN’s “wonderful” record in places like Rwanda? What about the story on UN soldiers molesting Sudanese children which surfaced quite recently?

Unlike many others, I believe that your heart is in the right place, but I don’t agree with the strategy that you’re pursuing. I believe we should focus our efforts primarily at pressuring both the Sudanese government and the rebels to sit down for serious peace talks. Moreover we should also encourage the increasingly divided rebel factions to reconcile and agree on common goals. The Darfur crisis needs a political solution. Moreover, long term peace will only be achieved by addressing the root causes of this conflict, the main one being water shortage.

Western pressure led by the United States played a major role in ending the long and bloody South-North conflict. Personally, I’m very grateful for it. If it wasn’t for it I believe the war would still be continuing until this day. The UN is sadly unreliable and I frankly don’t understand why your coalition is spending valuable time and resources trying to pressure them. The Save Darfur Coalition could defintely benefit from a revision of the current strategy.

I’m kindly asking you to take this humble letter of mine into high consideration.

Awaiting your reply,
Sincerely,

Drima

One word. SANITY! Oh such amazing sanity, it almost makes me want to cry. I’m loving this guy. You simply have to watch this video. Please watch it, pretty please with a cherry on top. I’m in complete agreement! If only we had more of him around and in the right positions.

Sorry, I accidently deleted 4 or 5 actual comments while cleaning my comments section from the filthy perverted spam that has been hitting this blog like crazy during the past month. The spammers responsible are sick horny animals. I’m officially declaring a “War on Spam”. Who wants to be part of Drima’s Coalition of the Willing? Anybody interested? Grrrrr!!!