Some Thoughts on Equality, Truth, and the Car Bombs in Britain

Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois devoted his entire life to establishing one notion: the notion of Truth. Only once the Truth is laid bare for all to see, can there be equality and any hope of freedom. The ignorant may still try and tarnish the truth through their continuing believing in old and dated lies, but the truth will still be set free.

Here follows some truth. Persons arrested regarding the two unexploded bombs in London, found this time last week (June 29, 2007), and the flaming jeep sat in the doors of Glasgow's terminal 1 building the day after, were of Asian origin. [Former] friends gave details of their lives to news agencies, and it became clear they were Muslims. This is all Truth.

But this is all Truth as well: these people were extremist believers in the Muslim faith.Their beliefs are not typical of every Muslim. The Muslim Council of Great Britain knows this, rational thinking people of all faiths and creeds realise this, and yet there is animosity towards Muslims in British communities.

In 1897, Dr. Du Bois established that, in Philadelphia, the African-American community around Philadelphia's Seventh Ward, was, indeed, in no way monolithic. He determined that, within the black community, there was racialised stratification. Why is it that, now, in 2007, many Caucasian people are unable to realise that the same is certainly true of the modern Muslim community in Britain. What will it take for such a Truth to be realised? How long before such a Truth is universally accepted in what would a momentous forward step? For too long, decent respectable Muslims have been tarred with the same brush as those who plot to blow up trains and cause mass panic.


Yours, wherever you may be,
Daniel C. Wright

My Week

This week feels though it has almost been a wasted week. But no entire week can ever be entirely wasted. I remember Ross once saying that sometimes it is good to completely burn out. Whilst I won't disagree, it is also good to take a step back. Since Good Friday, I have reverted back to old habits. I haven't really done anything. I haven't been anywhere or seen anything. I haven't acquired first hand experience of our transport system and haven't seen anything to suggest I have made a journey of any significance. All I have done is enjoyed the sunshine. I re-read James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time and am once again part-way through Claude Brown's Manchild In The Promised Land. As a first chapter, the opening section really is a baptism of fire into a world quite alien to me.

For two solid days I did very little but mess around on Facebook. This I consider to be a useless endeavour. Friends added me as a 'friend' and I added people as 'friends'. People who I haven't seen since High School (and who I truthfully hope never to see again) have listed me as 'friend'. I have pages of these 'friends' who I never even used to speak to at all at High School -- people who I am never in a million years going to actively make the effort to communicate with through Facebook.

But I spend most of the time searching the groups. I try and find humorous ones with a satirically important point: Petition To Revoke The Independence Of The United States Of America, for instance, or Virgin Media -- I Want My Sky Channels Back! or Belichick For President in 2008. Some of the groups I have joined are ridiculous: Everyone Loves A Guinness, for example. It sounds quite normal. It is, though, in the category Extreme Sports. Right, ok then.

I went up to the Church Wednesday evening and had a few drinks with the old crew. The few people from High School I actually get on quite well with. That night highlighted the false community created by Facebook. According to this 'social utility', everyone is friends. Sadly the real world does not work in such a harmonious Utopian manner. Our group was all sat together round two tables (there was not that many of us, the tables are small), talking and enjoying each other's company. I talked less than everyone else because..... I'm shy. Anyway, at the table next to us there sat another group of friends from my same year at school. At least one of them (possibly two) is/are listed as my friend(s) on Facebook. They did not bat an eyelid when I walked out there. And neither did I. I did not acknowledge there presence, and they did not acknowledge mine. The unspoken understanding of the clique was in full force Wednesday night. On the table next to them, there sat someone with whom I had a similar relationship. He was listed as a friend on Facebook, but we did not speak. The term 'friend' seems to have been redefined: friend, v. anyone from way back when who's name you vaguely remember and who you recall to be alright, though you not necessarily spoke to them way back when. Act of friendship no longer necessary. That would be a seemingly correct understanding of today's situation. Thanks, Facebook. In fact, I have just had a scary thought: if Facebook ran the world. If this was the case, we would have all been sat with each other round one large table Wednesday night. Ugh, a scary thought.

Yours, wherever you may be,
Daniel C. Wright