Last week, I was in a little car incident.

I thought I didn’t have to worry about anything. It was most likely going to be 50-50 so I didn’t dwell on it too much, especially since there wasn’t a disagreement between the other lady and me on how things played out.

However, it turned out that this lady made up a story for her insurance company that put all the blame on me. The story itself was ludicrous. Seriously, it was so out there that it would have made more sense for her to say a sudden flash of blinding light from an alien spacecraft blinded her for a split second, causing the accident.

Upon hearing this ‘dispute’ from the claim adjuster from this lady’s insurance company, I was so overwhelmed with anger that I surprised myself. I think I’ve only been that livid one other time in my life (In October of 2003, in case you’re wondering).

A friend said that everyone tends to lie about car accidents and a coworker said the same thing. It made me wonder: how can one consciously lie about something like this in the slim chance one can save a few bucks while causing the other person a great deal of distress? I mean, the only damage was to the rear bumpers on both cars. It really wasn’t a big deal. However, this lady was perfectly willing to craft a ridiculous lie for a freakin’ *bumper*.

On Twitter, I mentioned that the worst part was that the lady is Pakistani and Muslim. I understand her behavior would have been deplorable regardless of her race or religion but for me, this fact made the whole ordeal just a bit more incredulous. When I was little, I used to think Muslims were all good. They never drank, did drugs, stole, or did anything else remotely illegal or uncouth because they weren’t supposed to (ok, ok, you can quit laughing now). I was really little when I had this thought and I realized how naive I was a long time ago but it still shocks me when a fellow Muslim acts in a manner contrary to what the religion dictates.

If this person, whose name, phone number, and address I have and so wish to plaster all over the internet, pulled this stunt with a non-Muslim, then the non-Muslim person would have come away from it thinking bad of all Muslims. Not the right way to go, but a reality nonetheless.

I then realized that my natural inclination to trust everyone and to always see the good in people isn’t always a viable attitude when dealing with reality.

Sorry, I don’t mean to sound bitter (I’m not) and this doesn’t mean that I’ll automatically think the worst of everyone. I won’t, really. I’ll just be a bit more on guard from now on. This may also mean that I may document every aspect of my life, taking pictures wherever I go and of people I meet so there won’t ever be a doubt as to what happens in my life. This can also help me at work as I can then have pictures that prove that yes, I did iron this shirt this morning thankyouverymuch

I talked to my own claims adjuster about the lie that the lady told and he was even a bit surprised himself when he had initially taken her statement. However, while he can deny her story on my behalf and her insurance can deny my story, neither story can really be proved. So in the end? 50-50.

That’s right lady. You told a lie and it didn’t change the outcome. How does it feel to sacrifice your soul for nothing? HUH?!

(I’m fine, I swear )

In New Muslim Cool, filmmaker Jennifer Maytorena Taylor presents a look at the life of Puerto Rican American Hamza Perez over a period of a few years in Pittsburgh as he and other members of the community work to establish a Muslim community.

Born Jason, Hamza used to be a drug dealer in Massachusetts before he found Islam and turned his life around at the age of 21. Although only 83 minutes, New Muslim Cool covers many aspects of Hamza’s life: how he fits in with his (mostly) non-Muslim relatives, his marriage, his work as an activist, his hip hop career, even how he and the rest of the Muslim community deal with an uncalled for FBI raid on their mosque.

Taylor and editor Kenji Yamamoto worked well to make the film as cohesive as possible. Despite the fact that one is watching scenes that have been filmed over a few years, the documentary has an underlying theme. It’s about Hamza maturing, becoming a better person, understanding who he is, and embracing the responsibilities he feels are incumbent on him.

The great thing about New Muslim Cool is that you don’t have to be a Muslim or a convert to appreciate this film. The message given is universal and Hamza is entirely relatable. Check it out if you can. There’s one more screening in San Francisco at the Sundance Kabuki Theater on May 4 and other screenings in other parts of the country. Also, New Muslim Cool has the distinction of airing on June 23 on PBS to start off the new season of POV.

BBC America recently televised a British miniseries called Britz, a drama serial that follows a Muslim brother and sister as their paths in life take decidedly different turns. Sohail, a law student in London joins the Mi5 while his sister Nasima, a med student in Leeds, takes company with extremists.

Britz is made up of two parts, each part devoted to each sibling. Part 1 is Sohail’s story as we see him going from just a law student to joining and learning the ropes at Mi5. Over the few months, Sohail finds himself immersed in the investigation of the 7/7 London bombers. Eventually, this leads him to come to terms with spying on people he grew up with in order to deal with possible threats.

Sohail

Part 2 is “Nasima’s story” and takes place during the same timeline as Part 1 but is instead from Nasima’s viewpoint. Part 2 skips over details that we know from Part 1 and then goes into more detail with the turmoil caused in Nasima’s life due to the arrest of her best friend on trumped up terrorism charges. Nasima goes from trying to change the system by being only politically engaged to turning towards more drastic measures.

I thought the series was interesting but wanted to touch on a couple of things. Britz depicted some of the issues that Pakistanis/Muslims have to deal with in England. For instance, there is the blatant racism. I was trying to figure out why that is. I mean, I know that things are not perfect here in the States and that there are plenty of people that will happily tell you to “go back to your country” but it seems to be a bit more so in England. So here’s my theory (that may very well be stated in a bunch of other places too but oh well): The U.S. is a land of immigrants. Unless you are Native American, you are originally from somewhere else. Maybe some people who have been here for generations don’t see it that way, but that is the way it is. If someone tells you to go back to your country over here, you can always respond with a “you first”, have a laugh, and move on with your life. In general though, there is a great deal of tolerance here because this country is meant to be a place for everyone.

But it’s not like that in England. The English may be looking at immigrants, Pakistani or otherwise, as taking over their country. Not that I’m saying that the racist behavio(u)r is warranted but being racist could merely be a defense mechanism as some try to deal with their country being home to so many other types of people.

There’s something you notice about the immigrant population in England which was depicted in Britz- there are some places that in which people live completely within their own ethnic community. For instance, Sohail and Nasima are originally from Bradford, a city that has a lot of desi Muslim people. Dewsbury, which isn’t too far from there, is also like that. Once when I was in England to visit my cousin, she took me to Green Street in London, another area that is completely saturated with desi people. I believe other ethnic groups may have similar types of areas as well.

In the U.S., we really don’t have that. Granted you can say that there are a lot of Pakistanis in the Bay Area but we don’t all live clustered together in one specific area with nary a non-Pakistani soul to be seen. Pakistanis and Muslims in general are pretty well integrated in American society. A lot of us still try to retain the culture of where our parents or ancestors came from but in the end our identity is just as American if not more American than the identity of any other country.

Having said all of that, there are plenty of integrated Muslims in England, like my relatives for one, and I’m not saying that all the ones that are not integrated are more prone to turn to extremism.

Ok, ok, I don’t completely see the point of this post but I guess I just wanted to relay some of my thoughts on a couple of aspects of the series.

And while I have you here, check out Guy Lawson’s article in Rolling Stone titled The Fear Factory about the U.S. government actually manufacturing fear for its citizens with fabricated threats. I blogged about it back in February back when the article came out but figured this would be a good place to bring it back up

Oh, so I realize that I didn’t actually review Britz with the above babble so here’s a short review: I liked it and I thought the acting was really well done. Although I have to admit, my initial reason for watching it was because I realized that the guy who played Sohail, Riz Ahmed, is the son of an old friend of my dad’s and I met him in England back in 1995. We went over to their place with my aunt’s family and his mom made fried chicken the first time we went over. That’s a really random thing to remember, you say, but there’s a very good reason I remember that particular detail: One of my cousins ate a bunch of chicken wings and put all of the bones in my plate when I wasn’t looking. With a “Hey everyone, look at how much chicken Bushra ate,” I didn’t hear the end of it from my family for the rest of the trip.

And with that, I’ll end.

A lot of people have already said what there is to say about Obama vehemently denying that he’s Muslim.

Fine, he’s not Muslim but the way he is going about it is leaving a bit of a bad taste to those of us who are Muslim.

Naomi Klein, of No Logo and Shock Doctrine fame, has an article up on The Nation with her two cents regarding this topic:

Obama, Being Called a Muslim Is Not a Smear

“Of course Obama must correct the record, but he doesn’t have to stop there. What is disturbing about the campaign’s response is that it leaves unchallenged the disgraceful and racist premise behind the entire “Muslim smear”: that being Muslim is de facto a source of shame. Obama’s supporters often say they are being “Swiftboated,” casually accepting the idea that being accused of Muslimhood is tantamount to being accused of treason.”

It’s a good article. Check it out.

Muslims prefer a democracy? They condemn the acts of 9/11?? Get out!

The Gallup polling agency released the results of a survey that began soon after the events of 9/11 to determine what the heck it is that those crazy Moslems think.

They surveyed about 50,000 Muslims from 35 countries and found that the religion of Islam did not actually fuel terrorism:

“Religion is an important part of life for the overwhelming majority of Muslims, and if it were indeed the driver for radicalisation, this would be a serious issue.”

But the study, which Gallup says surveyed a sample equivalent to 90 percent of the world’s Muslims, showed that widespread religiosity “does not translate into widespread support for terrorism,” said Mogahed, director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.

Not only that, but Gallup found that the majority of Muslims favored a democracy. . . just as long as it wasn’t imposed on them by an outside force.

Article here - Major survey challenges Western perceptions of Islam