today being the int'l day of action against israeli actions in lebanon, i figured we might try to do something here, in the sleepy town we call state college.
but no one i talked to really seemed into postering, and someone else said she'd be nervous trying anything like that. and so i'm ending up packing for philly instead, leaving in two hours.
past two nights have been long and fantastical discussions. jumping from kant hegel and derrida to dallaire bush and soldiers, how people are perceived / epistemologies of the other, and back again, with people following trains of thought together.
only two real problem situations so far, i was badmouthing simone de beauvoir at lunchtime and someone's hackles rose. but i did not back down.
later i said something about wanting to keep from oversimplification - i've said this before, to nearly everyone here, and most agree with me...but this person took it as a personal attack on all the feminazis of the world, at which point i went quiet.
the other time i think i conducted myself badly is walking back from a lecture, someone asked something about the role of religion in society, and i think i came across as apologetic. which i didn't intend.
seeing tahseen will be a good break, some male interaction to carry me through till friday.
and then our exile
Saturday, July 22, 2006 at 2:08 p.m.
said...
It is a Sufi tradition that all we say should first pass through four gates. The first, is it true? Second, is it necessary, third, is it beneficial, fourth, is it kind.
If what we are about to say cannot pass all four gates, then what we were about to say should be left unsaid.
Which is why Sufis value silence :)
Ya Haqq!
~
basit said...
re: the de beauvoir comments...it was true, and necessary, and beneficial. it was maybe not kind, but it wasn't unnecessarily unkind.
wasalam! (:
~
said...
what did you say about beauvoir, if i might ask?
~
basit said...
well.. this person was talking about an interview derrida gave, accusing him of sexism because he answered a question about women philosophers in a roundabout way, didn't really answer with one woman philosopher he respected. i said no you can't go around accusing people of sexism like that, i am not at this institute to hear that kind of argument. derrida answers /every/ argument with focus on language and its referrants, is often hard to pin down, it isn't because the question is about women. so she asked which woman philosopher /i'd/ choose. "well, not simone de beauvoir" (she'd previously been talking about her.) "oh. why not? she too radical for you?" "well.. ideas, but her personal life too." "like what?" and then it became an argument on what you could call the relationships between the multitude of young girls and de beauvoir & sartre. (i was saying it was blatantly and simply exploitation, and yes i know that is a charged and loaded term but i have little respect on a personal level for either sartre or de beauvoir, so there it is.) had ended up reading a long article on this months ago, but i don't recommend it unless you're really interested in all the sordid details.
~
NoHeadJoe said...
"feminazis" is not a particularly nice, beneficial or necessary term. Needless to say it lacks in kindness. I cannot believe that you would oppose all of feminism!
~
basit said...
...irony doesn't come across well. apologies on that. feminazi's a term we're throwing around here, in self-deprecation. i'll write something on feminism soon, perhaps. i do appreciate it.
i'm home for about a week and a half this august - still think we should meet.
~
SStudios said...
We should make a new movement/school of thought. Umm malinism? I dunno, what would be a good word? How come girls get to have all the fun?
~
basit said...
there are actually male studies departments springing up here and there. looking at ideas and practices related to masculinity etc. quite interesting, and needed, to give some balance between the ultra-radical feminist and the status quo.
~
morally © basit // Blogger via Blogger templates