Friday, December 22, 2017

Shame: my country joined the anti-Semitic orgy

A UN resolution has just voted a resolution that condemns the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and calls for this decision to be renounced. The BBC has published a list of countries that voted against, abstained, and voted for the resolution, respectively. Nine countries voted against, 35 abstained, 128 voted in favor. Unfortunately, Bulgaria is among the latter. Shame!

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Europe should recognize Jerusalem as Israeli capital

Ever since the foundation of the State of Israel, its authorities and citizens consider Jerusalem as their capital, while other countries use Tel Aviv as interim capital so that not to anger Arabs, some of whom have claims on Jerusalem.

In the distant 1995, the US Congress voted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, recognizing Jerusalem as Israeli capital and ordering the US Embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Since then, three US Presidents have had their terms and none of them dared to implement the act. It needed to wait for Donald Trump to be implemented. He is widely regarded as crazy, and I dislike him, mostly because of his pro-Russian positions, but this act of him shows that even crazy rulers have their role in society.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu appealed to Europe to follow the American example, but European leaders refuse, at least for now. I think that they should absolutely support Israel and its right to name its capital. Especially after it was European countries that carried out the Holocaust. Unfortunately, it seems easier for the Europeans to shed crocodile tears for the Jews perished in the Holocaust than to support the surviving Jews and their state.

My prognosis is that Europeans will continue to make fools of themselves for some time, maybe several years, and then will quietly start to move their embassies to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the Palestinian opponents of Israel are rioting and have already produced some victims. It is notable that the most violent protests are in Gaza, where there seems to be no other industry. In contrast, Arab residents of East Jerusalem are peaceful. The quote below is from an Atlantic report by Emma Green:

"Jerusalem—the political and geographical center of the debate—stayed relatively quiet... Palestinians in East Jerusalem have integrated with Israelis to a significant extent; they depend on Israel and its tourists for their livelihoods, so there’s a lot at stake if they decide to protest or strike... For his part, Abu Madhi says he wishes the Israeli government would make East Jerusalem a little nicer. “You’ve been to Tel Aviv sometimes?” he asked me. “Clean country, high-speed world, green trees.” He pointed to the Damascus Gate area. “Why shouldn’t we have here a garden, and here a basketball court? This thing that I prefer, the government could do.”... Eventually, a man brought a tarp out to the area near the Damascus Gate for the next round of prayers. More than 60 men lined up before the Old City, facing a row of cameras, a line of Israeli soldiers just behind them. This was the most peaceful form of protest—and the most normal thing in the world.... “Just one hour, and you’re going to see everything’s okay,” Abu Madhi said. “You’re going to see an Arabic man and a Jewish man sitting here.”"

Maybe now, as a resident of a capital gaining international recognition, Mr. Madhi has a higher chance to see new gardens and sport facilities.

Thursday, December 07, 2017

The Guardian feeds anti-Muslim stereotypes

Browsing the Yahoo!News, I have just found a Guardian article titled Trump’s error on Jerusalem is a disaster for the Arab world … and the US too, by Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said professor of Arab studies at Columbia University. It is about the decision of US president Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli capital and to move the US embassy there. (The decision was actually made into a law by the Congress back in 1995, but three consecutive US presidents were too afraid to implement it. I do not like Trump, but I give him credit for this act.)

Briefly, Prof. Khalidi states that Trump's act was an error because it favored Israel and made Palestinians unhappy. He condemns the decision as a crushing blow to the peace process, while admitting that the peace process has been "at death's door" since 2014. He also states that "few [Palestinians] want a return to violence", though his entire text is a thinly veiled threat of long-lasting, "impossible to predict" violence. If you have time to waste, read it in entirety. Now, I'd prefer to discuss stereotyping.

All people stereotype and are stereotyped. This is how human brain works. And it works this way because stereotyping is, and has always been, a survival strategy. However, while it may be very useful for individuals and in the short run, stereotyping harms the long-term interests of whole societies. For example, here in Bulgaria we have a minority that performs more than its fair share of thefts. When members of said minority are on a bus or a tram, everybody, no matter how progressive, clutches their belongings. The stereotype in question, like most other stereotype, is concentrated experience and will die out only when the minority stops regarding other people's property as a free resource. In the meantime, however, I think it is counterproductive to talk too much publicly about thefts by this minority, because this will feed the stereotype to expand beyond its healthy degree and will hurt the employment of minority members, leaving them in a vicious circle with no subsistence other than thefts and welfare. (This is why I am reluctant even to name the minority; if you are European, you know perfectly well whom I mean, and if you are not, please consider my example hypothetical.) If you are a member of a stereotyped group, I think that, instead of attacking the stereotypers, you should address first those members of your own group who with their behavior have caused the stereotyping in the first place, and then those public forums that make a bad situation worse by needlessly feeding the stereotype.

Muslims are stereotyped as being anti-Semitic. Despite the presence of countless Muslims and whole Muslim communities (such as the Bulgarian Muslims) who do not harbor any anti-Semitism, this stereotype, like most others, is based on facts. It is so entrenched and normalized that even sophisticated people like Prof. Khalidi make no attempt to hide it. The big question is, why does the respectable Guardian, which claims (e.g. here) to stand against the "Islamophobia", publish a text that can only feed anti-Muslim stereotypes? I think that, if I were a Muslim, I'd be outraged by this. I would call Prof. Khalidi names and would write to the Guardian.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

How a student made my day

Two months ago, we at the Medical University of Sofia were carrying out our regular additional autumn exam session, known among students and teachers as the "liquidation" session. It can be best described as "just another last chance" for students who have skipped or failed some exam both at the regular session and at the September corrective session. Unfortunately, while many students had learned at least the minimum of required knowledge and passed, others had not. (The ribosome, already proven to be a Waterloo for some, remained so; this September, two students independently prepared for me depictions of it as a circle surrounded by smaller circles like petals of a flower. I even composed a ribosome haiku: Know thyself and thy ribosome / And remember that it is crazy / To draw it shaped like a daisy.)

After one of those very hard exam days was finally over, I went out in a rush. There was a parent meeting at the school of one of my sons, the first such meeting for this school year. I didn't want to be late. The only way to get there quickly was by a taxi. I saw a free taxi, jumped into it and started to explain the destination to the driver.

Suddenly, a young man - apparently a student at our Medical University - shouted in English: "Doctor! This is a false taxi!" He came closer and pointed at the list of prices displayed at the front window of the car. The numbers were indeed about twice higher than those offered by most taxi companies. I usually check them, but not when I am in a hurry. Expensive or not, this taxi was my chance that night. So I said to the student "Thank you!" but did not leave the car. With it, I reached the school just in time.

That student made my day. I always try to teach well and to examine justly. And while I say that "I do my job the best way I can, and I do not care what others say", I'd wish my efforts to be appreciated... sometimes. That young man showed goodwill to me in circumstances where he could simply pass by. I am sorry that, with my poor ability to recognize faces, I shall not know him if I see him again. But I will remember him.

(This post, stuck in the pipeline together with many others, was called to existence by one of my current 1st year students, who rightly remarked that I should write not just about the poor students but also about the good ones.)

France, we have a problem

Below, another quote from the Newsweek about the scary reality of today's life in Europe - Muslim Anti-Semitism Threatens France's Democracy, a today's report by Simone Rodan-Benzaquen.

"Paris—“In the Merah household, we were brought up with hating Jews, the hatred of everything that was not Muslim.”

These were the chilling words of Abdelghani Merah at the trial of his brother, Abdelkader Merah, who was accused of conspiring with a third brother, Mohamed, to murder three soldiers, three Jewish schoolchildren, and a teacher in Toulouse, France, in 2012.

Abdelghani also revealed, at the time, that “when the medical examiner brought [his] brother’s corpse home, people came over. They cried tears of joy. They said that he had brought France to its knees. That he did well. Their only regret was that he had not killed more Jewish children.”

These appalling remarks, which suggest the environment in which Mohamed Merah was immersed and his family’s way of thinking, have sparked a debate about the extent of hatred of Jews in the French Muslim community.

For years, it has been nearly impossible to speak about French Muslim anti-Semitism.

Many refused to take notice for reasons of ideology, discomfort, or lack of courage. Many feared being accused of “playing into the hands of the far right”... The Merah trial exposed a reality in France: anti-Semitic roots run deep within some elements of the French Muslim community...

French anti-Semitism is distinguished in Europe by its level of violence, ranging from attacks to abductions and even to murders...

Now, some French Muslim intellectuals are speaking out. The most recent example is film director Said Ben Said, who, writing in the French newspaper Le Monde , clearly and courageously criticized Arab Muslim anti-Semitism, after learning that he would not be allowed to sit on a film jury in Carthage because he had produced films in Israel.

The moral courage of such Muslim intellectuals should be commended because we know how difficult it is for them to make themselves heard. Journalists often prefer to invite more controversial figures such as Tariq Ramadan to their TV and radio shows.

And even when these intellectuals are invited, the simple act of denouncing anti-Semitism and extremism makes them susceptible to criticism, insults, and even threats of violence.

They are afraid. How could they not be, when they see that jihadists assassinate French Muslim soldiers and policemen because they are considered apostates, or that outspoken Muslims who denounce violence need police protection?..."

Terrorists should not brag online, hurts job hunt

The text below is from ISIS Members From Europe Can't Get Jobs When They Return Home, a several months-old report by Jack Moore



“I just want to forget everything,” Walad Yousef, a 27-year-old returning fighter, told the newspaper. “I apply for a lot of jobs, but I can’t get any because my pictures are out there.”

Yousef had posted images of himself in Syria on Facebook, posing at a training camp with a Kalashnikov, and encouraging friends to join him. He returned to Sweden and said he had only gone to Syria to help civilians in the eastern city of Raqqa, where ISIS has beheaded several western hostages...

Employers fear that returning fighters may commit attacks or help others to commit attacks and do not wish to be associated with them, said another returnee who has changed his name to Yousef.

"You in the media have scared them. I do not know why they are afraid," said a jihadi from the southern city of Malmo of the fears that employees and civilians had of returning foreign fighters...

Sweden is one the best countries for a foreign fighter to return if they want to reintegrate. It is trialling a rehabilitation programme that gives Swedish extremists housing, employment, education and financial support. Anna Sjöstrand, the municipal coordinator against violent extremism in the city of Lund, said in October 2016 that it is much cheaper to reintegrate someone than to abandon them...

 The country suffered only its second radical Islamist attack in April when an Uzbek national plowed a truck into civilians on a busy shopping street in central Stockholm. The attack left five people dead. Authorities arrested the driver and said he had sympathies with ISIS. ISIS did not claim the attack, but it generally does not take responsibility for attackers who are captured alive..."

The moral? If you really, really want to join ISIS or another similar bunch of good fellows, at least do not brag all over the Web about it. May cause problems if some day you change your career.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Does academic success matter

When my children have problems with their school grades, I try to put things in perspective. I tell myself that, ultimately, being alive and healthy is what matters. I also remind myself that academic success does not guarantee a successful later realization, let alone happiness, and I remember some who were nearest and dearest to me and had straight As at school, and were responsible, hard-working and compassionate, yet did not get the happy and long lives that they deserved.


But this thought gives no comfort.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Immigrants listen to leftists, lose jobs

From a yesterday's report by Macradee Aegerter at kdvr.com:

"Local workers fired after not going to work on ‘A Day Without Immigrants’

DENVER -- Dozens of people say they were fired for taking part in a protest in Denver. Thursday’s “A Day without Immigrants” movement closed restaurants, shops, and jobs sites across the United States.

The moment was an effort to show the Trump administration how much immigrants contribute to the country’s economy. Many skipped work and vowed not to spend any money that day.

Now dozens of local masonry workers say they are without a job...

Ray was the foreman of two crews working for JVS Masonry.

He said when he told his boss his crews would be missing work Thursday to support the cause of immigration, he was told, they would be fired.

“You stand for what you believe, make sure you stand for whatever consequences are going to come… He said whoever took the day off today can find another job tomorrow,” Ray read from the texts on his phone, sent by his boss, Jim Serowski, the owner of JVS Masonry.

All of them, he said, fired for standing up for families.

“The guys that we have out here that have families that are afraid to go out and get a gallon of milk, get gas, going to get groceries in case they get stopped and deported,” he said of why they wanted to take part in the movement.

But family is what the owner of JVS Masonry said he supports.

“If you want to go to work to support your family. I don’t care if you have antennas coming out of your head, I really don’t care. If you’re going to betray the company then I have a concern,” said Serowski.

For him, he said, it comes down to business.

“I have no view on immigration laws or anything going on with that. All I know is I have a business to run,” he said..."


Earth to protesters:

When a country accepts an immigrant, the idea is not to give him the good life he is dreaming of. The idea is to use his labor at the lowest cost possible. He will be expected to work hard, often under conditions that the locals find unacceptable, and to keep his mouth shut. A legal immigrant could in theory prosper by starting a successful business, but this is easier said than done.

The "Day Without Immigrants" protests were most likely organized by local well-to-do leftists who can take a day off whenever they feel like it, without any consequences. Actually, the economy would hardly suffer even if all those leftists who have overtaken the US academia quit work for good. But the poor immigrant workers should think well whether it pays to take advice from these people. Now, some immigrants who have listened to the the anti-Trump leftists have as a result lost their jobs. A good lesson maybe, but hard. I do not expect the leftists to be helpful in finding new jobs for the unemployed. They are far better at destroying jobs.

At least, Mr. Serowski has promised to take back those fired workers who reapply.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Vegetarian parents forcing their obsession on children

I have just read this on Dear Abby:

"Dear Abby: I have been a vegetarian for 12 years. My husband has been one on and off for five years. I thought our children, 7 and 3, had never had meat in their lives. I recently found out that my father-in-law has been feeding them chicken nuggets from fast food. I was, and still am, very upset about it. It has been six months, and I haven’t talked to him since and no longer let my kids go over there without my husband. He texted me an apology that seemed very sarcastic and made me even angrier. Everyone says I need to get over it, but no one has confronted him about it. This has put a strain on my relationship with my husband. Can you please advise me on what to do next?
Furious in the South

Dear Furious: Text messages are, by definition, terse. Accept the apology you were given and move forward. That said, however, continue to insist that your children be under their father’s supervision when they visit their grandfather because his judgment is questionable, and he has already shown that when they are with him, your wishes will not be enforced.
"

Humans have evolved to be omnivores. However, many individuals, families and whole cultures decide to reject human nature and be vegetarians or vegans. There are some legitimate health reasons, e.g. kidney problems. Also, some people just do not like meat. However, the overwhelming majority of vegetarians are such due to crazy religious taboos on animal food or even crazier concern with welfare of non-human animals at the expense of humans.

Of course, everyone can make his food choices. The problem is that vegetarians and other food-restricted and food-obsessed individuals typically are big-time bullies and force the entire family to follow their diet. Of course, the spouse is likely to have been a vegetarian from the beginning, because vegetarians tend to intermarry (other people consider them weird and prefer to keep a distance). But even if the partner has initially had normal food habits, as in this case, he will be forced to submit, as is the rule when a non-fanatic marries a fanatic. Then, the happy couple will make their children vegetarians from the day of their conception, though a developing fetus and child has much higher nutritional needs than an adult. A friend of mine knows a vegan child whose tooth eruption was delayed for many months. That boy's teeth grew only after the grandmothers conspired to give him cheese secretly. Some children have suffered much more. There are reports of babies brought to death or brain damage by their vegan parents.

The "Furious" mother from the above letter has been a vegetarian for 12 years. She has a 7-yr-old child, which means she is unlikely to be younger than 25. She has enjoyed growing on a normal diet containing animal food, but now it seems to her a good idea to raise her children on crappy food. Doesn't she see how disgusting it is to force on your children something that most people hate and that has not been forced on you when you were a child? No, she doesn't. She feeds her children as if they are cattle, and nobody can do anything about it. Her husband is a spineless creature. He doesn't have the will to leave her,  doesn't have the will to resist her attempts to make him vegetarian, doesn't have the will even to keep the diet she is imposing on him (therefore he is "on and off"). Of course he doesn't have the will to fight for his children and guarantee their normal nutrition. The grandfather tried to do something, but was caught.

I am disappointed by Abby's reply, but some commenters had more to say:

"If you don't like what the kids eat on grandpa's watch, then stop using him as free childcare and hire a sitter who will do exactly as you instruct. You probably won't be happy even then because you sound like the sort of person who can't let anything go, who enjoys being livid over some first world problem, and who has a litany of woes that you love to go over with whomever will listen."

"Furious sounds like a control freak. An occasional McNugget isn't going to harm her children. It seems she found religion as an adult, and that's fine, but it takes a very carefully planned diet to raise a healthy child without meat. Maybe Granddad doesn't know how to do that. There is a reason we are omnivores."

"Maybe your kids want meat. Have you bothered to ask them?"

And a comment on the report about the damaged babies: "All you vegan adults, go for it. Everyone needs a religion/hobby. All you would-be vegan parents, consider that your strongly-held beliefs about meat should extend into strongly-held beliefs about not having children. A childless life actually fits very nicely into the stated vegan goal of a sustainable world where animals are completely free of human exploitation."

I just hope that Furious' children against all odds grow up normal.

Friday, January 27, 2017

My little Gilgamesh

At a certain age, children are tormented by existential problems.

Last summer, traveling back from our Black Sea vacation, we visited the city of Ruse at the Danube. We were there for first time. It is a beautiful city, full of culture and history. We especially liked the museum of history, arranged impressively by enthusiastic experts supported by EU funds. For example, one could see a prehistoric sickle from an antler horn with inserted sharp flint pieces as blades; and above, a video showed a woman harvesting with such a sickle. She was in a crude dress, as if it was woven also using Stone Age technology.

Another item was the skeleton of a woman killed during the Indo-European invasion. It was exposed as it had been found, only cleared from above for easy observation. The sight shocked my 12-yr-old son. He apparently realized his own mortality, fell in a whiny mood and kept talking about bones, graves and dying for days. After we returned home, my mother in-law told me that we shouldn't have scared the child like this. I said, in a serious voice, that I realized my mistake and would never again bring the kids to a museum (a promise that I would not keep, of course). I also gave my son Astrid Lindgren's Brothers Lionheart to read. I liked how he, by the end of the book, sensed the sad mood even before it was revealed that Jonatan was paralyzed and both brothers would die.

Half a year later, he had a history lesson about ancient Mesopotamia. It mentioned the epic of Gilgamesh. My son said about the hero:

"He went to seek immortality like me, as I intended!"

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Austrian convicted for exposing inconvenient facts about Prophet Muhammad

 From the ECLJ site:

"The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is called upon to decide on the scope of the right to criticise Islam in the case of ES v. Austria, (No. 38450/12) in which a speaker was convicted of blasphemy: for criticising the sexuality of Muhammad.

The speaker who filed the case before the Strasbourg Court was convicted of publicly “disparaging a person who is an object of veneration”, namely “Muhammad” the "prophet of Islam", in a way likely to arouse justified indignation, in violation of section 188 of the Austrian Criminal Code.

The contentious statements were made during a series of lectures entitled “Basic Information on Islam” at the Institute of Education of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), given in front of about thirty participants.

The speaker is alleged in substance to have said that Mohammad had pedophile tendencies (he “liked to do it with children”) because he married a girl of six (Aisha) and consummated that marriage when she was only nine. The speaker noted that this was problematic since “the highest commandment for a male Muslim is to imitate Muhammad”, adding more generally that “Muslims get into conflict with democracy and our value system.”

Following a complaint made by some journalists, the speaker was ordered to pay a 480 euro fine or serve sixty days in prison in default of payment. The Austrian courts gave this ruling in order to protect the "religious feelings" of Muslims and the “religious peace” in Austria.

The speaker brought the case before the European Court of Human Rights who will decide on whether freedom of expression prevailed over the respect for Muhammad and the “religious feelings” of Muslims."

(Reported by Gregor Puppinck, hattip Coel.)