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WHY THEY HATE US

Following is an interesting excerpt from a recent book review:

The designation of the US by the Iranian religious establishment as the Great Satan is something much more specific than a mere description of the US as extremely evil. Rather, the metaphor is used in the sense that Satan's role, in Islam and Christianity, is primarily to offer temptation. Satan is the great seducer, offering material and carnal delights to the faithful to tempt them away from righteous living.

Thus the roots of fundamentalist hatred of the US are not its support for Israel or any of the other litany of specific allegations levelled against it but that its material success offers Muslims, and Muslim societies, a great temptation to abandon the stringent practice of religion.

A more extensive excerpt from the review is to be found here.

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WILLIAM BLAKE

I mentioned recently the powerful effect that William Blake's great "Jerusalem" hymn has on me. An Indian correspondent comments:

"You may be aware that the Academy Award winning movie CHARIOTS OF FIRE is based on the poem by William Blake which you mentioned in your blog. It's about about an English Jew and a Scottish missionary in training competing in the Olympics (1924) and how their idealism at times impedes and obstructs their game but they stick to it no matter what. Incredibly inspiring -- considering today's narcissistic and dog eat dog culture. I absolutely love this movie and the movie gets me choked up as well: quite incredible considering the movie celebrates British victory at the Olympic games in the 1920's.

I mentioned this to some girls and they said that they didn't get what could be so emotional about the film. I hope they are satisfied with some retarded Meg Ryan chick flick. So apparently one doesn't have to be British to appreciate the visual translation of William Blakes poetry."

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