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Sep 2nd, 2009 by ravi
Black firefighters, political correctness and facts
Back in the aftermath of 9/11, plans for a memorial statue in honour of firefighters was abandoned after it turned into a political controversy that drew protest signatures from more than a thousand firefighters. The reason? The statue depicted three firemen, with white, black and Hispanic features respectively. This was found to be an act of “political correctness” misrepresenting the “reality”, since the statue drew upon a photographs of three firefighters, all white, raising an American flag in the rubble of the twin towers.
Tony Marden, a firefighter opined that the change was “an insult to those three guys to put imaginary faces on that statue. It’s not a racial thing. That shouldn’t even be an issue”. Carlo Casoria, father of one of the many firefighters who died on 9/11, observed that “they’re rewriting history in order to achieve political correctness”.
These arguments are premised on the notion that a memorial statue should be (and typically is) of particular individuals (in this case, the statue is derived from a photograph of actual firemen), not symbolic. But apart from statues specifically celebrating an individual (such as a political or military leader), statues, especially memorials, are symbolic and for understandable reasons should be. After all, the men and women who perished on the day are more deserving of memorialisation than the actual three individuals who erected the flag. Why then the insistence that a symbol duplicate the real event from which it draws inspiration?
A more troubling aspect is the facts behind the arguments surrounding the depiction of non-white firefighters in a 9/11 memorial. Two bits of fact stand out: One, black firefighters did lose their lives in the events of 9/11. Twelve of the 343 firemen who died on that day were black. Or about 3.5%. The second fact is the unsurprising correspondence of this number to the percentage of black persons in the New York Fire Department: 3%.
But it is another fact makes the real history of the issue apparent: 27% of the city’s population is black (or approximately 13% are black men, ignoring for the moment the equally difficult matter of the representation of women in the fire service). What the token symbolism of the statue cannot change, or redress, is in fact not so much the reality seen in the photograph it is modelled on, but discriminatory hiring within the FDNY — a finding of a federal judge (in a recent lawsuit against the city of New York) who held that the city used tests that discriminated against black and Hispanic applicants, and thus “unfairly excluded hundreds of qualified people of color from the opportunity to serve as New York City firefighters”.
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Sep 2nd, 2009 by ravi
The al-Megrahi “Hero’s welcome in Libya” meme
CONTRARY to reports in the Western press, there was no “hero’s welcome” for Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi when he returned to Libya earlier this month.
There was not in fact any official reception for the return of Mr. Megrahi, who had been convicted and imprisoned in Scotland for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The strong reactions to these misperceptions must not be allowed to impair the improvements in a mutually beneficial relationship between Libya and the West.
When I arrived at the airport with Mr. Megrahi, there was not a single government official present. State and foreign news media were also barred from the event. If you were watching Al Jazeera, the Arabic news network, at the time the plane landed, you would have heard its correspondent complain that he was not allowed by Libyan authorities to go to the airport to cover Mr. Megrahi’s arrival.
The above is from an Op-Ed piece (following up one in the International Herald Tribune a few days ago) written by Saif Al-Islam El-Qaddafi.
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Sep 2nd, 2009 by ravi
Reminder: Science Fair at the Creation Museum
Science Fair FAQ
Only experimental projects will be considered, so your project will fall into the category of operational science, not origins science (see “Science or the Bible?”). As such, it might have little to do with origins, except that the Creator established and upholds the natural laws that make operational science possible. You will need to relate your project to a Bible verse—read the guidelines for more information.
(via Science Fair FAQ)
Time is running out for submissions to the Science Fair at the Creation Museum (last date for applications is Sep 27, 2009. A helpful FAQ is provided, with information on “operational science” vs “origins science”, requirements (no demonstration of principles, mandatory allusion to biblical verse and accceptance of the Answers in Genesis Statement in Faith), and understandably, a promise to keep your name anonymous should you be selected!
Bet you didn’t know about operational vs origins science, did you?
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Sep 1st, 2009 by ravi
Israeli academic on the boycott campaign
Not surprisingly, many Israelis — even peaceniks — aren’t signing on. A global boycott can’t help but contain echoes of anti-Semitism. It also brings up questions of a double standard (why not boycott China for its egregious violations of human rights?) and the seemingly contradictory position of approving a boycott of one’s own nation.
It is indeed not a simple matter for me as an Israeli citizen to call on foreign governments, regional authorities, international social movements, faith-based organizations, unions and citizens to suspend cooperation with Israel. But today, as I watch my two boys playing in the yard, I am convinced that it is the only way that Israel can be saved from itself.
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