It reads like something out of Madness and Civilization by Michel Foucault. The traditional narrative history witnessed the nineteenth century medical treatment of what was considered madness or insanity as a kind of enlightened liberation of the mad from the ignorance and brutality of the Medieval world. At least based on the reforms proposed by the Tuke brothers in Britain and Pinel. The mad were not demonized, but seen to be living in a parallel world, close but yet so distant, even if always on the cusp. According to Foucault, a new idea emerged that the mad were mentally ill and live bait for medical treatment was not a clear cut quantum leap from earlier conceptions. If we go back to the Renaissance, the mad were closely tuned in to mysterious forces, albeit those with tragic overtones, or the Enlightenment view of madness as a denial and renunciation of reason.
The gist of Foucault’s thesis was that the ostensible scientific neutrality of what was posited as modern medical treatments of insanity, a word with ambiguous and flexible interpretations, was simply a convenient pretext for siphoning, controlling and cutting off at the pass challenges to a conventional bourgeois morality. The secular heresies. Foucault claimed that what was peddled as infallible public opinion, pseudo science as 100% pure unassailable scientific fact of madness being mental illness, was actually an artificially constructed reality that can be seen as the residue of bad faith and hypocritical ethical and social commitments in the name of progress and social assistance all state sanctioned… Our view of the Arab world is very much a transfer and projection of this of this modern view where the “other” is synonymous with insanity and madness aggravated by Western intervention and meddling…
—On Saturday, around 70 members of a far-right youth group, known as Generation Identity, stormed the site of a future mosque in the southwestern town of Poitiers to protest over what they regard as the growing influence of Islam in the country.
The fanatics climbed onto the roof and unfurled a banner daubed with the symbolic phrase “732 Generation Identity” – a reference to the year 732, when Charles Martel halted the advance of the invading Muslim army to the north of Poitiers.
Jean Francois Copé, who is campaigning to become leader of the centre-right UMP party, also sparked uproar recently when he used the quintessential French pastry, the pain au chocolat, to launch a thinly veiled attack on Islam and the feast of Ramadan—Read More:http://www.france24.com/en/20121025-france-muslim-opinion-poll-survey-exposes-french-anxieties-over-islam-mosque-far-right
(see link at end)…The role of Islam in France was once again under the spotlight on Thursday after right-wing daily Le Figaro published the results of an opinion poll that suggested 43 percent of French people believe the religion is a “threat” to national identity.
Six out of ten French people believe the influence of Islam in France is “too big” and 43 percent see the religion as a “threat” to national identity, according to the results of an opinion poll published on Thursday.
The sensitive poll, which will likely cause ripples in a country home to Europe’s largest Muslim population, was carried out by Ifop polling institute for right-wing daily Le Figaro, which published the results under the headline “The image of Islam worsens in France”….
—”This is the Libyan ship … which is basically carrying weapons that are found in Libya,” said Walid Phares, a Fox News Middle East and terrorism analyst. “So the ship came all the way up to Iskenderun in Turkey. Now from the information that is available, there was aid material, but there were also weapons, a lot of weapons.”
The cargo reportedly included surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles, RPG’s and Russian-designed shoulder-launched missiles known as MANPADS.
The ship’s Libyan captain told the Times of London that “I can only talk about the medicine and humanitarian aid” for the Syrian rebels. It was reported there was a fight about the weapons and who got what “between the free Syrian Army and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“The point is that both of these weapons systems are extremely accurate and very simple to use,” Fox News military analyst Col. David Hunt explained. He said the passage of weapons from Libya to Syria would escalate the conflict. “With a short amount of instruction, you’ve got somebody capable of taking down any, any aircraft. Anywhere in the world.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/25/was-syrian-weapons-shipment-factor-in-ambassadors-benghazi-visit/#ixzz2ASvtVMvo
Only 17 percent of respondents believed Islam “enriched” France’s culture and 40 percent said it was neither a threat to the country’s national identity nor of benefit to its culture.
“Our poll demonstrates a hardening of French views towards this religion and a strengthening of a negative perception of Islam,” said Ifop’s Jérôme Fourquet on Thursday.Read More:http://www.france24.com/en/20121025-france-muslim-opinion-poll-survey-exposes-french-anxieties-over-islam-mosque-far-right
—The chaotic, vengeful scenes demonstrated the weakness of the new government’s authority over former rebel militias which owe it allegiance but essentially do what they like.
A sign on a bank building that bore the Gaddafi-era name for Libya, “The Great Arab Socialist People’s Republic”, was scarred with bullet holes. The central streets were empty except for the fighters who filled them with their violent celebration.
“The Gaddafi fighters are out of Bani Walid, they have gone,” said Ali Mahmoud, a Misrata fighter in a pickup truck at a central Bani Walid roundabout, patriotic music blaring.
“Some people here still wanted Gaddafi, we have to show them that he is finished.”
After days of shelling that sent thousands of families fleeing from the hilltop town in scenes reminiscent of last year’s war, militias aligned with the defense ministry, a grouping known as Libya Shield, seized Bani Walid on Wedne
The latest fighting, in which dozens of people were killed and hundreds wounded, erupted over a government demand that Bani Walid hand over those who had kidnapped and tortured Omar Shaaban, the former rebel fighter who had caught Gaddafi hiding in a drain in his hometown of Sirte…Read More:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/26/us-libya-town-idUSBRE89P0HN20121026
ADDENDUM:
(see link at end) Glenn Greenwald:Last month, Vanity Fair featured a major profile of President Obama by Michael Lewis, who was given what the New York Times called “rare” and “extraordinary access”. Lewis “conducted multiple interviews with the president”; “rode in the official presidential limousine”; “was given a special lapel pin that identified him to the Secret Service as someone who was allowed to be in close proximity to the president”; and “flew with the president on several foreign and domestic trips” — “not with the rest of the press corps in the back of Air Force One, but near the front.” And, noted the Times, “the president even allowed Mr. Lewis to play on his basketball team.”
—The Flower Picker by Francois Alfred Delobbe—Read More:http://www.famous-artists.net/the-flower-picker/
But in exchange for such access, Lewis, unbeknownst to readers of his profile, had agreed to a journalistically corrupt practice – now banned by many large media outlets – whereby the only quotes he was permitted to use were ones the White House approved in advance. Unsurprisingly, the profile was pure hagiography that left Obama’s most devoted media fans gushing with ecstacy.
Though I would have thought it impossible, Rolling Stone somehow just managed to top that profile when it comes to sycophantic, power-worshiping “journalism”. This week, it features a cover story on Obama by its contributing editor, the historian Douglas Brinkley, largely based on a 45-minute interview in the Oval Office. The questions Brinkley posed are so vapid and reverent that it is hard to believe it’s not satire.
…”Halloween’s coming up. If you could have Mitt Romney dress in a costume, what should he be for Halloween?”
If nothing else, shouldn’t a concern for his own dignity lead Brinkley to have at least a pretense of adversarial substance? An interview of Obama by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney would have been more challenging. Had Brinkley had more time, next on his list of questions undoubtedly included: “Do you believe Romney is more like Hitler or Satan?”, and “Sir, do you mind that historians will likely see you as a mix of Gandhi and Jesus?”
Ample ink is spilled over debating whether the US media is biased in favor of Republicans or Democrats. It is neither. The overwhelming, driving bias of the US media is subservience to power, whoever happens to be wielding it.
…The central function, the religion, of the US establishment media is adulation of those who wield power, especially military power as personified by the inaptly referred to “commander-in-chief”. Brinkley conducted the interview in the Oval Office from his knees because – with some significant exceptions – that’s the posture which US media culture assumes in the presence of the royal court….
…If, as is obviously the case, Brinkley desperately craves Obama’s re-election, that’s fine. But as a journalist and historian, there are all sorts of dubious assertions and controversial actions on the part of the president that merit questioning and challenge. One would think that minimal intellectual curiosity, or at least base professional self-esteem, would prevent someone like Brinkley from completely squandering this opportunity by taking the time he was given to flatter and serve the president. Read More:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/26/journalism-vanity-fair-obama
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