Entries from July 2007 ↓

Two opinion pieces in each of Sydney’s two daily newspapers deserve special mention today.

Firstly, a Sydney Morning Herald journalist writes a 709 word piece revealing — perhaps for the first time ever in the opinion and analysis pages of a major newspaper — that some Muslims don’t shake the hands of members of the opposite sex. This is explosive enough but the same article goes on to report that some Muslims even choose to have separate wedding parties for men and women. Let’s prepare for the backlash.

And the Daily Telegraph has an opinion piece from Hizb ut-Tahrir that argues, amongst other things that, their “courageous stance in mobilising public opinion in the Muslim world has earned it the universal support of Muslim masses and caused widespread consternation among its opponents”; and they are being targeted by governments because their group, “continues to courageously expose the crimes of Western governments to a global audience; it unrelentingly challenges the West’s neo-liberal interventionist policies in the Muslim world and it works to present Islam as an ideological alternative to Western secular capitalism as a model of governance in the Muslim world. “

Back in March, we published a link to a really good article from the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA)’s Review magazine on Islam and the free market. It wasn’t what one might call pro-Islam but was, however, a dispassionate and balanced attempt by some non-Muslim economists to explore whether there existed a free market tradition within Islam that might resonate or, at least, be of interest to the magazine’s mostly classical liberal and libertarian readership.

It never occurred to me, whilst reading the piece, that it might provoke any kind of controversy or ‘backlash’ for the authors. Certainly, I have found that non-Muslim libertarian/classical liberal types are often more willing to accept the idea of a pro-commerce and pro-market tradition within Islam than some Muslims. However, as this post by author Chris Berg explains, some people ostensibly on the same side of the intellectual barricades as the IPA were really not impressed at all that Islam had been given what they saw as a favourable treatment in the magazine. One such complaint reads:

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Cato’s Brink Lindsey has a piece in the Wall Street Journal arguing that growing economic inequalities are, to a large extent, a function of cultural differences.

Which brings us back to the real issue: the human capital gap, and the culture gap that impedes its closure. The most obvious and heartrending cultural deficits are those that produce and perpetuate the inner-city underclass. Consider this arresting fact: While the poverty rate nationwide is 13%, only 3% of adults with full-time, year-round jobs fall below the poverty line. Poverty in America today is thus largely about failing to get and hold a job, any job.

The problem is not lack of opportunity. If it were, the country wouldn’t be a magnet for illegal immigrants. The problem is a lack of elementary self-discipline: failing to stay in school, failing to live within the law, failing to get and stay married to the mother or father of your children. The prevalence of all these pathologies reflects a dysfunctional culture that fails to invest in human capital.

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ABC Radio National’s The Health Report with Dr Norman Swan is an excellent resource.  Yesterday, he had a superb interview with a paediatric endocrinologist Dr Robert Lustig from UCSF’s Center for Obesity.

Lustig argues that fructose in food (which is biochemically a carbohydrate) but acts biologically like a fat and a hepato-toxin worsening childhood obesity. Food companies like it because it they can market food that is high in fructose as “low sugar” and “low fat” when biologically it is high in both and stimulates appetite. High fructose (and sucrose) foods increase appetite and overall food consumption.

In 1976, a British journalist wrote an admiring piece on Saddam Hussain:

An Arab country with the second largest proven oil reserves, a fierce revolutionary ideology, a large and recently-blooded army, and a leadership composed almost entirely of men in their thirties is obviously a force to be reckoned with. Iraq, which has this dynamic combination and much else besides, has not until recently been very much regarded as a power. But with the new discussions in Opec, the ending of the Kurdistan war and the new round of fighting in Lebanon, its political voice is being heard more and more. The Baghdad regime is the first oil-producing government to opt for 100-per-cent nationalisation, a process completed with the acquisition of foreign assets in Basrah last December. It was the first to call for the use of oil as a political weapon against Israel and her backers. It gives strong economic and political support to the ‘Rejection Front’ Palestinians who oppose Arafat’s conciliation and are currently trying to outface the Syrians in Beirut. And it has a leader — Saddam Hussain — who has sprung from being an underground revolutionary gunman to perhaps the first visionary Arab statesman since Nasser.

Who was it? Answer over the fold.

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The sectarian strife in Iraq is a manifestation of the contest between Sunni Islam and the Shia that has its origins in the decades after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Here is Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad on the issue:

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Yesterday, The Independent had an interesting article on the growth of the ‘Muslim market’ in the United Kingdom and the emerging recognition amongst marketers of the value of the ‘Muslim pound’.

Marian Salzman is one of the world’s foremost trend-spotters, a woman who can see something coming before others have even raised their heads above the parapet. And the next big thing in marketing, she reckons, is the Muslim pound.

They are the equivalent to Latinos in America – a huge ethnic group with its own special needs and interests. According to Mintel, a market research company, the estimated spending power of Muslims in the UK is £20.5bn. There are more than 5,000 Muslim millionaires in the UK, with combined assets worth more than £3.6bn.

“It’s a unique market with a unique set of needs, for example in the banking area,” says Salzman, the executive vice president and chief marketing officer of consultancy JWT. “Under sharia law, different kinds of mortgages need to be written in order for someone who is Muslim to acquire a home. There is banking law which impacts financial transactions. There is Islamic law which impacts investment portfolios. And there’s halal law which impacts consumption of food, beauty and healthcare products.”

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Although “think different” was Apple’s advertising slogan for many years, it seems some Apple Stores have their own ideas about what should constitute the limits of acceptable thought. British blogger Yusuf Smith describes what happened to him after checking his blog comments at a local Apple Store:

Kingston has an Apple Store, which like other such shops, has a room full of Macs which offer free internet access. When I’m near an Apple Store, I always go in to check my email and my blog, so as to approve any legitimate comments and delete any spam. Others go in for similar email-related purposes and to engage in long chats over various chat systems in various languages. The staff must know me: I go in there often, visit the same websites, stay about 15 minutes (less than I do in Regent Street, because Kingston is near my home and I’ve no need to stay an hour) and go.

Today, as I was closing up (and leaving my blog open, to drum up a bit of publicity), two policemen came up to me and asked me if I’d come out for a chat. They told me that someone had raised concerns about me, that they were there for anti-terrorism purposes, that there was concern about people accessing extremist websites which they were sure I could understand in the current climate. They asked for ID, which I duly provided, and asked me if they knew me, to which I replied that they might, as a few years ago I had complained (to the local MP, who I believe also raised it with the local Safer Neighbourhood scheme) about idiots on mopeds using a nearby subway as a cut-through and about youths loitering in there which does not really give much of a sense of assurance. We had a bit of a talk about what I do on my website, what a blog is (he had never heard of them) and the fact that I used their machines to approve legitimate comments, so as not to hold up discussion, and get rid of spam. The other cop talked to his colleagues over his radio and gathered that I was not under any suspicion, and eventually I was let go.

Abu Eesa has another outstanding post that should be required reading for anyone wishing to understand the situation in the UK as well as the intellectual pedigree of some of these ‘repentant’ Islamists who are appearing in the media. I am tempted to quote slabs of it here but I think it’s more important that people read it from beginning to end.

Two doctors were taken in for questioning: one was held under anti-terrorism powers and has still not been charged; and the other was released without charge. Overseas doctors, particularly doctors from Muslim countries are understandably worried about how all this publicity about the two doctors will affect them and their families. So rather than show some sort of restraint, Greens Senator Bob Brown is in the media arguing that the arrest ‘proves’ highly-skilled immigrants, such as overseas doctors, are not being vetted appropriately and therefore pose a security risk.

Mr Brown says all immigrants should be screened just as thoroughly as asylum seekers.

“Maybe there’s a wake-up here to the Government, which has been very keen to bring in people who have more than a quarter of a million dollars,” he said.

“That will buy you a way straight into Australia, if you’ve got that in your back pocket, or with high skills, but they need to be no less vetted than the poorest person.”

Firstly, there isn’t any public evidence (yet) that the doctor who was arrested is a terrorist, was planning a terrorist attack in Australia or was even involved in the London bombings, let alone evidence that terrorists are buying their way in this country for $250,000. Secondly, there is yet to be any evidence presented that the screening process for foreign workers in this country is insufficient. And, anyway, if you were a terrorist who wanted to harm Australians, would you pay $250,000 and jump through all the immigration hoops, or would you just get a tourist visa?