communication breakdown

Miscellaneous Musings on Mindless Matters (Redux)

Continuing my thoughts from my previous rant, here are some of the other things on my mind...

House Shopping

The above heading is probably a little misleading, since I haven't actually been out looking for houses. But I have, ever so slightly, begun the house search process. At this point, it's really just been a matter of finances - seeing what range I can likely afford, what kind of loan I might be able to qualify for, brushing up on some terminology, etc.

I also did a little peeking at some real estate offerings just to get a feel for what I could reasonably look to expect within a given price range based on different areas of town, and realized just how much of a premium is placed on location. I've been hearing it for a while, but I guess I couldn't really understand how true it was until I started looking at figures. It costs a lot to live in a nice, centrally-located area like Dunwoody, unless you stumble upon the right deal at the right time. Given the fact that I'm working off of a single income, with some significant debt already on my plate, it looks like a lot of my options are going to be limited.

But that brings me to my next point: I'm still seriously considering just waiting. While I guess it would be nice to have a place of my own, both for comfort, privacy, and investment reasons, if I'm really honest with myself, I have to admit that I am perfectly happy in the rental realm at the moment. By sharing a place with a roommate I'm avoiding paying exorbitant amounts in rent, and I'm just not at a point in my life where I really want to put up with the maintenance and care of a home. I think my grand plan is to keep an eye out for opportunities, but unless something great presents itself, I'll probably wait a couple years, retire some of my debt, gather some more savings, and start looking in earnest then. But, then again, plans are made to be broken, right? So who knows.

Dog Shopping

Same song, different verse - not really shopping per se, just considering. If the conditions were right I would have a dog right now, but it's not really feasible to get an active dog (which is what I would want) while in an apartment. But I have starting researching breeds to see what I might be interested in. Based on my preliminary searching, three breeds really stick out as dogs that I think I would enjoy owning: Beagle, Jack Russell, and Dalmatian. Each of these, however, has a major flaw: beagles love to howl and dig, Jack Russells can be super-hyper, and dalmatians often suffer from health problems like blindness.

I haven't really researched thoroughly, and haven't really examined deeply what my wants/needs are in a dog, but I do know that I would want a playful, active dog that loves people and would be OK with children and strangers. I wouldn't mind so much if they like to explore/chew/dig, because I think I could take care of that with proper training. But the one thing that would really get on my nerves would be any dog which would seriously disrupt my sleep schedule, because I need my beauty rest. This is the one thing that really worries me about a Beagle - they have a tendency to bay quite loudly, and if done during sleep hours, it would really strain our relationship. If you have any breed suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Emmy Nominations

Well after a year of what I would consider to be some good TV, the Emmy nominations have been released. Here are the noteworthy headlines:

• Scrubs nominated for Best Comedy - I consider this to be a no-brainer, but you never know with these awards types. I'm glad to see one of the few good comedies on TV getting recognition, but I'm sure it will lose to one of the powerhouses like Arrested Development or Desperate Housewives.
• 24 and Lost nominated for Best Drama - Again, I'm just happy to see these two phenomenal shows getting the recognition they deserve. However, these kind of shows tend not to win; I would expect an underdog win here like Six Feet Under or The West Wing.
• The Office: Christmas Special nominated for Best Made-for-TV Movie - not really a movie, but I'm happy the finale to one of the best comedies of all time received some kind of nod. If you haven't seen the UK version of The Office, you're really missing out.
• Kiefer Sutherland nominated for Best Actor, Drama (24) - Kiefer is the man, period. This guy can do it all - movies, TV, probably theatre for all I know. His portrayal of Jack Bauer is so true to form, and was so perfectly executed this year, that for him not to win this category would be a shame.
• Glenn Close nominated for Best Actress, Drama (The Shield) - This was my favorite entry of all the nominations. Close took so much crap from many Shield fans, many of whom are immature, below-average intelligence males who don't understand good acting when they see it. She was absolutely phenomenal from start to finish and really made Season 4. I doubt she'll win here, but I can't imagine anyone being more deserving.
• Terry O'Quinn and Naveen Andrews both nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Drama (Lost) - I was happy to see anyone nominated from this show, just to represent the phenomenal top-to-bottom acting that made Lost so great. I fully expected O'Quinn (who plays Locke) to be nominated, because he was phenomenal, but Andrews (Sayid) was a surprise. I would have actually chosen Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) instead, but whatever. I think this is a weak category that O'Quinn has a great chance to win.

Getting to the Bottom of Islam

OK, I know I went on a rant about Islam a couple of weeks ago when I saw that episode of 30 Days, but I found this article that I just have to talk about somewhere. The article basically discusses a recent poll conducted in heavily-Muslim countries, gauging support for Osama bin Laden and related terrorist activity. The article mainly focused on how support for such things has decreased recently, but if you read close enough, you'll find something very disturbing in the details. Consider this excerpt:

In Lebanon, the number of people who think the use of bombings and other forms of violence is justified in defense of Islam has dropped from 73 percent in the summer of 2002 to 39 percent now. A decrease in this number also was seen in Morocco, which fell from 40 percent a year ago to 13 percent now, and in Pakistan and Indonesia. In Jordan, the number of people who feel such violence is justified has grown slightly; the number in Turkey remains very low.

Since March 2004, the sentiment for bombings against Americans and their allies in Iraq dropped from 70 percent to 49 percent in Jordan, which neighbors Iraq, and dropped by smaller margins in Pakistan, Turkey and Morocco.

and this one:

Public confidence in bin Laden has dipped sharply since May 2003 in Indonesia, Morocco, Lebanon and Turkey — all countries that have experienced recent terrorist bombings. In Pakistan and Jordan, a majority of people continue to say they have at least some confidence in bin Laden, the Saudi who leads Al Qaeda.

"Support for Usama bin Laden is waning, but there are still people who admire him and view him as a hero".

I think these numbers are actually pretty shocking. Sure, the number of people in Lebanon who support bombing in defense of Islam has dropped 30 percent, but it's still at 40 percent! And the number actually grew over the same time in Jordan! Almost half of Lebanese people feel that suicide and terror bombings are acceptable tactics against allied troops in Iraq. And the bin Laden topic - again, favor has dropped sharply, but over half of the people in Pakistan and Jordan still support a man who is arguably the greatest terrorist in the world? Am I the only one disturbed by this?

If there's one thing that Muslims have attempted to beat into American consciousness since 9/11, it's that the bombings are the work of terrorists, not Muslims. They have argued vehemently and repeatedly that the Muslim religion is explicit in denouncing violence and that the people undertaking these acts are not true Muslims. And, to be honest, I did my best to take their word for it - I certainly did not have the facts to disagree, though I must say that my first instinct was to scoff at this claim.

However, when 40% of a predominantly-Muslim country believes it is justified to bomb in defense of the religion, how can you say that the violence is separate from the religion? Though it might be true in a theoretical sense, it sure seems that many, many Muslims believe and support the wave of terror striking across the globe. So, when a well-meaning man or woman tells me that these acts are deplored and are inconsistent with the Muslim faith, even though I might want to believe them, how can I, when the real world suggests otherwise?

Whoa, got serious there for awhile. I promise to keep it light next time...

Posted by sdishman at July 21, 2005 11:33 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.shaundishman.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/7

Posted to General