[Jandek] New cover

[Jonathan 23]

> I thought that, of the entire family of bin Ladins, there was just
> the one well-publicized extremist.  The rest are apparently innocents
> who are related to him by blood alone.  So, by making the conclusion
> that this was a "racial issue," could that be indicative of a form of
> racism and ignorance, as well?

you are missing the point.  whoever made the original comment thought that jandek's choice of 
headwear on the new album cover was reminiscent of the traditional caps that muslim men wear.  that's 
fair enough, it does sort of look like that.  what i objected to is the leap in logic to 'jandek bin laden'.  
don't give me that crap about the rest of the bin laden family; we all know who he was talking about.  
public enemy number one and the murderer of thousands.  this is the kind of bullshit that as an arab-
american i have to deal with every day, and it's not pleasant to have it carry over into the jandek list, 
which usually is pretty innocuous for the most part.  it's not only racist, it's also religionist.

> In the elucidatory spoken word albums, I had thought the man was
> talking to God.  Perhaps it was Allah. 

you are once again demonstrating your ignorance, unforatunately.  "allah" is simply the arabic word for 
"god".  whenever someone talks to "god", they are talking to "allah".  they are one and the same.  more 
specifically, "allah" implies "almighty", which is a term that christians use too.  the intolerance and 
pigheadedness of small-minded christians has somehow convinced the world that "allah" is a false god 
that christians need to be afraid of.  on the contrary, muslims recognize the same god as christians and 
jews, the supposed "one true god" of abraham and his sons.  look at the q'uran.  you will notice that it 
has many passages in common with the old testament that is also used by jews and christians.  muslims, 
christians and jews have a shared lineage and a shared history.  every time someone tries to draw a 
distinction between "god" and "allah", they are making a huge error that contributes to the abyss of 
ignorance and misunderstanding surrounding these issues.

if you don't believe me, spend a few minutes reading up about the issue.  i'm sure you'll find that i'm 
correct about what i've said.  and something tells me that if jandek can move so freely between christian 
theology and muslim spirituality, he's done the reading too.

{23}