After a long history of being treated like crap around the world, it is nice that Jews finally feel so comfortable in America. I can even write about Yom Kippur on Twitter and get knowledgeable responses about fasting from non-Jews in Oklahoma!
Because of this, it was sad to me to read in the newspaper that Muslims don’t feel at “home” in America, even those born in this country. After all, how can you feel safe when you have idiots like that pastor in Florida wanting to burn your holy book?
A little aside: I actually lean more conservative than most of my liberal friends in matters involving the “threat of Islamic extremism.” It’s probably one of the few areas where I disagree with my progressive friends, a few who would rather blame George W. Bush for 9/11 than religious extremists. I’m sure my commitment to Israel colors my view of the Muslim world. You don’t hear much support for Israel from the Muslim world, or even much of an outcry over the blatant Antisemitism in the Arab media. Have you ever seen some of the stuff printed in Arab newspapers? While most of us were furious over the Florida pastor, I hardly saw any of my friends make a mention the Seattle cartoonist, Molly Norris, who had to go into hiding over threats to her life after a cartoon of Mohammad.
I don’t trust extremism in any religion, including my own, and it is condescending to excuse it in other religions.
However, this is America, and I’d like to consider this a special place, a giant newer country where the old country hatreds fade into the background as we all become true Americans — which means sitting around at home watching American Idol on TV and getting fat on processed foods. We don’t burn holy books in America. That’s being an asshole. And there’s no reason a group shouldn’t be able to build a house of worship wherever they deem fit.
My grandparents came to this country to escape repression and to be part of a melting pot. And for the most part, that dream has come true. I think we should all work towards helping Muslims feel at home in America. Most foreign-born Muslims came here for the same reason anyone does — to escape repression in their own countries, or to make a better life for their families.
We frequently hear the term Judaeo–Christian tradition, but the concept of “monotheism” — the belief in one God in the Abrahamic religions – is a triad of religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Islam, one of the most important and powerful religions in the world, deserves the right to be included on this podium.
That said, I want to take a step towards religious unity here in America, doing it the only way I know how to — through laughter, song, and entertainment!
For the last four years, I have been the impresario of the Annual Blogger Christmahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert! During this December online concert, bloggers like you present videos, audio recordings, and photographs of holiday cheer — including Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs. It has been a fun way for Christian and Jewish (and atheist!) bloggers to end the year on a festive note.
Things are going to slightly change this year. The Fifth Annual concert will see a growth in concept, because I noticed on the calendar that on December 7, 2010 it is Al-Hijra, the Islamic New Year!
The Islamic New Year is a cultural event which Muslims observe on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar. Many Muslims use the day to remember the significance of this month, and the Hijra, or migration, Islamic prophet Muhammad made it to the city now known as Medina. Recently, in many areas of Muslim population, people have begun exchanging cards and gifts on this day.
Although it is a minor holiday in Islam, let’s be honest — so is Hanukkah in Judaism — but that never stopped American Jews from making it a bigger deal to offset the mega-holiday of Christmas. And just think how this will bring more money in to the Hallmark company with newly minted Al-Hijira cards!
So, this year, the fifth annual concert will be renamed – The 2010 Blogger Christmalhijrahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert.
I realize that there is a dearth of good Islamic Al-Hijra songs, but then again, how many good Hanukkah songs are there? All the smart Jewish songwriters wrote Christmas songs because that’s where the money is! Luckily, Faiqa is already on board and knows of at least one good Islamic song for the concert.
Now where else are you going to hear Islamic new year songs, the Driedel song, and Silent Night, Holy Night all in one place?
More information — and the sign up sheet — in November.
Note: My apologies to non-Monotheist religions. We still love you, but you will need to create your own concert.
Are Blog Commenters “Real” Writers?
A few weeks ago, there was a raucous argument online over the unimportant question of the day — are bloggers “real” writers?
I have my own thoughts about this, but I’m all about spreading the love, so for all practical purposes, I edge towards saying “yes.” If you write, you’re a “real” writer, whatever that means. A “professional” writer might be a better writer, but then again, there are a lot of shitty books published about cats.
The problem is the word “writing,” which like “blogging” is too broad and meaningless. A doctor is a doctor, but you don’t want a pediatrician doing your heart surgery. Blogging is a new art, and a singular discipline. A good blogger might write a boring book. On the other hand, I have read blogs written by novelists that bore me to tears. These professionals just don’t “get” the community aspect of blogging, or the soap opera-ish, episodic nature of a personal blog. No writer can write anything. Screenwriters are considered the low end of the writing totem pole, but both Hemingway and Fitzgerald took stabs at screenwriting, with awful results. Every art form is different. A play is performed live. A movie uses editing. Blogging is writing. But writing isn’t blogging. And really — who cares? The whole conversation reeks of insecurity. I’m not ashamed to say I am a blogger. I’m ashamed to say I make NO MONEY blogging. But I am proud to blog. I love it!
When we talk about “real” writers, I’m assuming we are all thinking about someone like Jonathan Franzen, a guy who writes BOOKS you can buy in a store. Of course, I only mention him because other bloggers are talking about him, which just proves that blogging is all about immediacy.
Yeah, I hear you. Blogging is exactly like writing. For every person who says that blogging is real writing, I wonder how many times you have gone into my archives to read my “writing,” as if my blog was a collection of short stories. Never! Gotcha!
In some ways, bloggers are not “real writers,” in that blogging is just plain different. Bloggers use links. Links are as revolutionary as editing in a movie, and completely unique to the online experience. You never see links in a traditional novel. Imagine a novelist describing Doctor Zhivago’s house, and then including a link to a photo in Flickr. Bloggers play off of one another, like improv players. Someone writes an angry post. Two hours later, someone writes another post responding. Blogging tends to be topical and immediate, like my name-dropping of Jonathan Franzen. “Real writers” write in isolation, their beards growing gray as they toil over their masterpiece for ten years in an abandoned cabin in the woods. And here is the real big difference, at least according to me: most bloggers allow COMMENTS! Not too many “real writers” allow comments on their novel, unless you are one of those crazy readers who scribble notes to the author on the side of the page.
“WTF?! Are you saying that his wife is his OWN SISTER?! You are a perv!”
If you want to feel like a “real” writer, shut down your comments and let your beard grow. If you want comments, and enjoy the adoration, you are a blogger. Be happy.
Of course, as times change, so will our ideas about “writing.” In ten years, all books might have “links” embedded, as we read them on our Kindles.
Which brings me to the real point of this post — blog comments. If you are one of those people who shook your fist and shouted “Bloggers can be REAL WRITERS!,” I have a another question for you. “Do you consider commenting to be real writing, and if no, why not?”
I do. I consider my comments an integral part of my post. The comments on one of my posts can be more interesting than my post. They are very important in humor blogging. Have you ever read the comments on The Bloggess? They are hilarious. Her blog would not be half as fun without her comments. Jenny and her commenters FEED off of each other. In fact, their relationship is so strong, I think she should SHARE all of her advertising dollars with her commenters.
I see many bloggers complaining about a lack of comments. They usually blame Twitter and Facebook. I say, it is your own fault. You don’t respect comments as “real” writing. You consider stupid one-liners on Twitter as “writing,” but the comments on your blog as an appendage to YOUR brilliant post. Is it any wonder that there has been a brain-drain from the comment section to the Twitter stream? There has already been a book on Twitter Wit? Can you imagine a book of blog comments? Can you imagine anyone getting a sitcom deal or book deal from a blog comment? Of course not. No one really respects the blog comment.
The first lesson I learned at film school is that the auteur theory of film-making was hogwash, created to fulfill the need for critics to analyze a movie in the same way that they would a book — written by one author.
We tend to view our blogs under this same “auteur” theory, dissing the community aspect of the medium. Of course, this doesn’t stop us from pimping our blog posts on Twitter, or constantly networking. Blogging is not only writing. It is part circus, part Borg.
I write my blog. It is my words. But during my five year writing journey, I have been guided by YOU as much as by my own life. YOU have been part of my experience. We all have been part of each other’s blogging life. This is what we mean when we talk about this “community.” If we all just want to write on our own and think of ourselves as “writers,” then let’s drop blogging and write our books. But if we are going to blog, we should embrace “blogging.”
I am not a good commenter. I am more comfortable talking about my own life, than reflecting on yours. I consider this a fault.
Commenting is a skill. It is real writing. I greatly appreciate smart comments. For the longest time, I have wanted to come up with some sort of blog award, solely for comments, something that would undercut the typical “Best Blog of All Time” idea, a concept that would embrace the community, not just the individual blogger making believe she writes in complete isolation. Perhaps by enobling the comment as an art form, as “real” writing, we can energize commenting again. Wouldn’t it be great to see a session at a conference where the speakers doesn’t suggest ways to “get MORE COMMENTS” but instead — “how to write more meaningful comments on the blogs of your friends?” — taught by some of the best commenters amongst us.
If I actually started a Commenting Award, my personal nominee would be Headbang8. When he comments on one of my posts, he takes my topic to another level. This is, despite the fact that I rarely comment on HIS blog, mostly because he lives in Europe and isn’t in my usual circle of friends. I can tell that this isn’t a reader who has zoomed though 100 blog posts in one morning. He has actually thought about the subject, and when he writes a comment, I consider him to be a collaborator on the post.
And just to show how much he means to me, I will now share all of my advertising dollars with him.
Here is one of his recent comments on my post about my “big ears.”
Now THAT is “real” writing. In a comment.