floored? not so fast!

Been very happy these days. Somewhat. What a refreshing feeling! Perhaps something new in my life suddenly came about. Just like the time when something just sweeps you off your feet (how long ago have I have not had that?)...

Yesterday was a full day of events. First off, I attended a conference on "the Media and Islam" where one of the speakers was a western journalist with BBC who also helped produce radio news programmes. He was the BBC Islamic Affairs and Middle East Analyst, and there were reporters and cameramen (tv) covering the event for a while too. He first explained the position of news reporters, without making any allusions to the perceived objectivity of the reports or otherwise. He touched on 3 main points: tight deadlines; the power of the image; and the basis for simplification. His point on not arguing with them on the idea of simplification hit home as it was their job to simplify, to label, and they took great pride in structuring their words to reflect the truth, in a nutshell. No doubt we could criticise when there was a lack of objectivity (which is a different matter), but he also backed it up with a strong emphasis on the need to specify a context. In many arguments people often neglect the need for context and end up not understanding the issues or not presenting them clearly.

The next speaker was the director of the Al-Khoei Foundation (London) and he was rather scathing in his views towards the media's portrayal of Islam and Islamicism in today's world. A number of Muslims on the floor also held some string views regarding the issues and he probably struck a chord with them. I felt the last speaker, part of the Muslim Parliament, realy stimulated the audience with his speech. The first two men were argumentative. They were competent with their arguments, and brought across their points vividly and convincingly. However, this guy's demenanour was slightly different. While the first two's salvos came out in quick bursts with rapid succession, he started out very slowly. The fact that he was the oldest among them probably complemented his style, and he spoke comfortably and took his time. His arguments were wise words. Unhurried, he touched on some history that we didn't expect to be included in this discussion. He was adept in analysis of the past events and the standing of Islam and Muslims in the world, and traced some of the salient points in development of the nbew world order and the subsequent role of Muslims. And he made a particular point which may rile some of the people of his own faith, but which I had great respect for. He said that Muslims had to first question the role they played in the media's negative protrayal of Islam and Muslims and the sort of impression they were giving out. I was nodding in my heart. How could you start slaloming others when you had not fully grasped your own situation? Too often we criticise or comment without regard to the contribution of ourselves in the degenerative state of affairs. He was of this opinion: We say we have been portrayed negatively. But the fact is that we haven't engaged in discussion with them enough. There is a severe shortage of Muslim reporters. Lots of Islamic scholars only ever want to meet adn debate in Muslim-only settings. They do not go out to foster understanding with others. He mentioned a very relevant example in which a multi-faith discussion was represented by leaders of lots of religions except Islam. The lack of proaction of Muslims only serve to contribute to the negative thinking being developed by some towards them, and this effect continues to grow as long as they do not engage the world. He was more wholistic, like a statesman, and did not mix emotion with logic, which is very important in credible argument. He spoke about development. Inclusiveness. A participatory generation. Raising theirselves intellectually and collectively, and to stop quibbling among themselves. Wise words, though there was some discomfort in the room, esp with the hot-headed youngsters I guess. Reminds me of Mahathir.

I watched Hitch that night and it was fantastic. Some of the cheesy jokes came expected but they were so well-executed. Perhaps it's also the long gap of time between this movie and the previous one that I've caught that makes it so refreshingly watchable. And Will Smith is just irresistible as the charming foil against the icy-cool (and deliciously hot too) Eva Mendes. If only life was so easy? Haha.

The night concluded with an outing to Students Union for Varsity Day (the annual sports day where Leicester competes with DeMontfortU.) Badminton lost on a tie-breaker, which was quite a heartbreak. But I had a relatively good time last night, though it didn't start terribly well as I was too late to use my free pass and had to pay for entry. Ugh. Some other things also turned out good in the end. The night enabled me to know some people better, through our chilling out at Elements and the subsequent dancing. The night sort of ended too early. Pity.

犹豫?