So much attention on Afghanistan

Is Afghanistan suddenly everywhere in the news after about 4 years out of the news because Obama thinks it's important?

I'm beginning to wonder about the herd mentality of news organizations - a few years ago, everyone had a cover about avian flu, because everyone else did. It was sensational.

Now, everyone has a cover, or at least an article, on Afghanistan. It's been there all along. Was no one paying attention?

Obama Abroad

There have been a couple of articles lately talking about how Barack Obama is seen abroad, especially now that he is the nominee.

Last week, Thomas Friedman wrote a piece called Obama on the Nile, discussing how Egyptians see Obama. They're stunned that an outsider could "allowed" to win the nomination. In Egypt, a Copt or a Shi'ite could never expect to become president. They're also pleased that someone with familiarity with Islam might be running the US, unlike the present clueless crowd.

Today, an article in the International Herald Tribune describes how blacks and Africans in France are finding hope in Obama's success. France has never thought it had a race problem in the way the US knows that it does - until a few years ago when the black and Arab kids in the suburbs of Paris exploded into riots. If you're of African or Arab descent in France, the glass ceiling is very low and those who can leave for England or elsewhere.

Ultimately, I think it's really interesting that the rest of the world cares about our politics in a way that we don't care, or know about any one else's. I suppose Americans knew when Blair left and Browne came in, and we noticed the election that brought in Sarkozy, but we didn't think about it very deeply. The rest of the world notices and cares about our politics.

Star-struck

I've never been one, even as a teenager, to have a favorite movie star, but there's something about Angelina Jolie. Is the bod? the Brad? the boldness to adopt kids from here and there? the way she seems to be so sure?

Vanity Fair has an interview with her this month.

Thoughts in the Days of an Economist

A friend of mine, studying economics, has started a blog: http://somthum.blogspot.com/

She likes to refer to Thomas Friedman, as I do, but you'll also discover that she is in love with Ira Glass. (tee hee).

Iranian Underground Music

I saw a very interesting movie with my friend Nora last night. It was called Sounds of Silence and was presented by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, one of my favorite organizations. The film-maker is of Iranian background, but grew up in Europe and was covering the censorship and repression felt by non-traditional musicians in Iran. He interviewed hip-hop, rock and pop artists as well as a journalist who had organized an underground, on-line only music festival.

Because of the limitations placed on the lyrics, music, and appearance of the artists by Ershad, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the musicians told stories of shows cancelled and of not being able to record and publish their music. Many of them spoke of distributing their music via the web. Generally, they couldn't sell their music and make money from it, but at least it was being heard by audiences larger than what could fit in the living room.

Amir Hamz, the filmmaker, mentioned he'd been talking to CNN and also had a distributor signed on, so keep your eyes open for it.

Iran on the Web?

The two most common languages used on the Web will not surprise you: English and Mandarin. The third most common will surprise you: Farsi!

(I hear this during a talk by a guy from the Council on Foreign Relations, so I believe it.)

A Banner Day for Bigotry

Is Barack Hussein Obama really an Islamofascist, Osama bin Laden sympathizer in disguise? Is MN Representative Keith Ellison a threat to the American Way of Life? Give me a break!

CNN wonders out loud if Obama and Osama are connected. MSNBC guests say that his middle name is the same as the former Iraqi dictators and that he dresses like the President of Iran.

Virgil Good, a representative from Virginia, suggests that Keith Ellison, an American-born Muslim convert choosing to use the Quran for his swearing in, is a threat to the American way of life and evidence that we should close our borders to immigration.

Is the media pandering to the lowest common denominator, attracting the ignorant and bigoted? Has Virgil Goode, a representative from Virginia, forgotten that this country was founded on the principles of religious freedom? Yes on both counts.

I suppose it is human nature to create an us-and-them. In the US, vocal racism is no longer acceptable and we don't have Soviet or Communist bad guys anymore. So, apparently it's fashionable and acceptable to bash Muslims.

I am saddened and disappointed by the state of our public discourse.