February 14, 2006

FOR CHRISTS SAKE GIVE UP. DO SOMETHING ELSE

A friend of mine told me today about a book someone wrote about not meeting J.D. Salinger. I sort of realise this is a blog about not making a film.

In "activist" circles, when people think they are right they want to tell people. To make media about it. These people don't want to tell people, with the notable exception of Abu Abdullah who seems to consistently trust me at the moment. I can see that British society has made them isolated and entrenched, and they've made themselves like this as well.

I sort of wonder now- If the Islam Hamza was talking about to the non-Muslim jury is truly what he believes, and Rabbi Goldstein and Rev Coles are telling the truth about Hamza's contact with them, (which I can't honestly believe that they aren't) why Hamza stood in the street shouting surrounded by masked kids rather than touring church coffee mornings talking as he did to jury, rabbi and reverend.

Personally I sort of coasted along thinking I was having fun talking to people with controversial opinions but the trial has driven a train through that. I suppose in some ways I was trying to make an opinion which was "sellable". Seeing blanket coverage of this story must have swayed me. I think my films are biased because I want to see the good in people. Am I blinding myself to the bad?

It all seems like the tower of babel to me. We are all speaking diferent languages, even when we speak the same language. For example Barry said that Hamza and co were like the "BNP" of Islam, and just as representative of Islam as the BNP were of British mainstream society. Although I don't want to think this I know Abdullah has a temper and believes "strong arm tactics" are justified by the Koran and so I can see what he means.

Indigo pointed out that tiny terror groups circulated within the justified anti-racist movements in America in the sixties. I can see that it is possible that all these people the media says are connected to Finsbury park could easily have passed through Finsbury park mosque and been inspired by Hamza's words on the tapes even if he actually didn't believe terrorism of innocents to be justified.

I had to point out myself to a Muslim recently starting on about the fact that the British people had re-elected Blair and so were responsible for Iraq Hamza own words from my tapes:

"Islamically... it is immoral to target people who have no say in the war. In fact they were against the war in Iraq…If it was not for this Zionist media the people of this country would have informed themselves…so it is not fair to target them. It is not Islamic…We’ve got to distinguish between the evil politicians and the normal people who go about there business every day.”

I fear for these people lumping "kuffar" into one alien group they are against which was one of my main reasons for rocking up to Finsbury park in the first place- to tell these people that we weren't all up for killing Muslims. That a lot of people cared. It doesn't suprise me how events shaped the minds of these kids who did 7/7 especially as they came from outside London where the benefits of harmony between races are less obvious.

I don't know what I think about "guerilla tactics". How can people critisize violent overthrow of dictators by freelance groups when the US and UK military have done the same in Iraq- with probably an equivalent scale of innocent deaths along the way. Both groups justify themselves. Hamza with blood curdling speeches about "cutting peoples meat and leaving it to the flies" and Blair and Bush with sensible sounding words about "collateral".

I can see that I don't want to talk about any of this. I want to talk about peace. Positive ways forward. Understanding.

And that is not "sellable".

I really don't know what I am driven by or where I am going.

10 comments:

Indigobusiness said...

Lately, it has been rolling through my frustrated thinking that the babel reference pegs it.

While ostensibly speaking one language, concepts vary so wildly...to such an extreme degree as to render the concept of dialog and communication virtually meaningless.

Indigobusiness said...

It also occurred to me today - while watching clips of the White House press secretary tap-dance around the truth of why the press corps was not informed sooner about the veep bagging a comrade while bird hunting - that where language was once used to artfully articulate and illuminate, the art is now in obfuscation.

Truth has yielded to lie, in the
contemporary language game.

Anonymous said...

Sure you do Dave. You're driven by a desire to show the truth, and yes, realistically you're not immune to the environment that surrounds us all. You can't give up though.
x

DAVE BONES said...

cheers guys. If the guys don't want their side of the story on a kaffirs film what else can I do?

I'm going to edit a bit of venezuela with Jo and come back to this.

DAVE BONES said...

cheers Gloria. Driven to show the truth. Nice one, that is true, but it looks like it is filtered through my "end" of the tower of babel no?

Anonymous said...

Yes Dave, its filtered. Even the truth cannot be pure if it is an observed one. Doesn't mean it's not valid. Does it?

DAVE BONES said...

absloutely not. I've always wanted people to consider my stuff alongside all the other news around this subject. Lots of people have watched my films this month already.

boudica of suburbia said...

I think you probably do 'blind yourself to the bad'. We all do, its a human coping strategy. You can't see the truth or empathise with everything ... you would simply explode.

xxB

Indigobusiness said...

There's a HUGE difference between expressing an opinion, and surveying the spectrum of opinion.

It's a noble effort that seeks to clarify an important issue.

DAVE BONES said...

Its OK Boo! (and for any authorities keeping up) I'm not going to explode!