Random pickings:

David Cronenberg "Without making a big deal" :

"So in that short film, it was interesting to think for all these people who would like there to be no Jews. Let’s propose we’re down to the last Jew. What does America think, and what does popular media culture think? I have one of my younger TV commentators saying, “I’m much younger than you so, no, I have no memories whatsoever.” So will this yearning for extermination of Jews really make much of an impression? Or will it be a moment of dancing in the streets in certain cities of the world, and then what? I was alluding to all that without making a big deal of it. I don’t think this is something new for me to be thinking about. I was also thinking of all those nice beheadings you can get on the Internet. ..

The current biggest provider of snuff pornography is the Muslim extremist movement. Remember when Al Goldstein from Screw magazine offered $50,000 if someone could bring him a real snuff film, and no one could? Now they’re everywhere, and most involve beheadings and throat slitting, and once again, as in Eastern Promises, it’s very sexual, very intimate. And needless to say, very disturbing. " (H/T: Solomonia)

More from Abu El-Haj:

Abu El Haj appears to be attempting to deconstruct Jewish ancestry in much the way she attempted to deconstruct the archaeology of ancient Israel in Facts on the Ground, and for similar reasons. She is committed to the proposition that Israel has no right to exist because it is a “settler-colonial” state. And she appears to believe that if she can deny that Jews are descended from a Near Eastern ancestral stock, she can delegitimize the Israeli state.

(H/T: Anti-racist blog)


One Voice: Israelis and Palestinians for peace (H/T: GNblog)

Unislamic dogs:

Now it is being enforced as part of a sweeping crackdown on "un-Islamic behaviour", aimed at curbing "Westoxification" - the supposedly corrupting influence of western popular culture.
Keeping dogs as pets is seen by hardliners as a western affectation and denounced as "morally depraved". One ayatollah in the holy city of Qom denounced "short-legged dogs" in particular a few years ago. (H/T: The Iconoclast)