Links Roundup 1.17.13
But this Sunday, the characters of the Turkish series were nowhere to be found. One of Iran’s most popular satellite channels, GEM TV, operating from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and broadcasting illegally into the country, was taken offline without explanation. Its Web site was also down, adding to the mystery.
“These soaps open my heart. Who is taking them from me?” asked Shahnaz, 52, a homemaker who did not want her last name used. “Dirt on their heads,” her 84-year-old mother cursed in Persian, to no one in particular.
On Monday, with the Iranian news media silent, wild rumors flew about the causes of the blackout, with some describing a technically complicated government crackdown and others a shrewd plot to get people to subscribe online for a monthly fee.
“First, they made us addicted, and now, they are trying to get money out of us,” said the doorman of a building in West Tehran.
- “Islamically Dressed” Sex Workers In A Christian Nation (Muslimah Media Watch)
I was personally not aware that Malawi had a somewhat significant Muslim population when I read this report by Nyasa Times discussing the trend of sex workers wearing the hijab in certain cities in Malawi. This is because I was aware that Malawi identifies itself as a Christian nation “with no religious conflict”, with the religion being followed by 83% of the Malawian population. Yet as I discovered, a minority of Malawians, 13%, are Muslim.
According to the report, sex workers are wearing hijab in order to attract clients from the expatriate Asian Muslim community. Hijabed sex workers are also popular among Malawian Muslims who as the article puts it “feel ashamed at dating bareheaded ladies” and those non-Muslims who want to know what it feels like to have sex with a Muslim woman.
Narratives about slavery seemed to be the winning formula for white writers, directors & actors. Daniel Day Lewis was enthralled by his win for best actor in a film, portraying President Abraham Lincoln in the historical film “Lincoln.” “I am so proud to be part of a Civil War film that centered around the issue of black emancipation yet was somehow miraculously able to not have any principal black characters in it,” he exclaimed, “Quite a feat. Quite a feat.”
Incredibly, both Christoph Waltz, one of the white leads in Django Unchained, and Quentin Tarantino, the white writer & director, were winners as well for a movie about a black slave getting revenge on slave masters across the American south. “Two white men winning awards for a movie about slavery — amazing,” cried Tarantino, “America has come a long way in terms of racism.”
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