Opinions That Matter and Those That Harm

Over the past few weeks especially, I’ve struggled with the intrusiveness that social media can bring. I wrote an Arabic language Facebook status several weeks ago that went viral, bringing in some 15,000 new Arab (mainly Egyptian as far as I can tell) followers in one day. Today, I have more than 22,000 people following me on Facebook. It has completely destabilized the way I use the medium.

I have many more followers on Twitter. My tweets during and after the Egyptian revolution followed by other tweets about Egypt and later about travel have resulted in almost 80,000 people following me on Twitter. But my relationship with Twitter thawed long ago. People I followed on Twitter (mainly Egyptians) had become very “loud” and whiny. “Conversations” seemed more like personal attacks. The small space available for words made me feel points weren’t getting across or were getting across in the wrong “tone”. I now rarely use Twitter. I mainly use it to tell people when I’ve published a new blog post.

But I was enjoying my relationship with Facebook. I was voicing opinions, telling stories and getting mainly what I would call reasonable and balanced comments in return. Mean people were few and far between and easy to deal with. Usually I didn’t have to deal with them at all. Friends or followers would respond on my behalf and the meany would feel outnumbered and eventually go away.

Now things have changed. And my experience of the past few weeks has caused me to think more and more about how some people’s opinions can be beneficial and thought-provoking while other people’s words can be very personal and hurtful. My experience has caused me to wonder whether I really want to know what everyone thinks about a particular topic or if I’d rather personally choose who I want to hear from. It’s also caused me to think more about the consequences of sharing information. If I share relatively personal information or opinions through social media, does that automatically give others the right to voice their opinions about me as a person?

I’m a Social Media Addict: Not

On January 6 this year, I suddenly woke up to the conclusion that I was addicted to social media. I wrote a blog post about this and decided I needed to cut down on my social media use. The following day I posted an update on my progress. This is my third and last update of my social media abstinence experiment.

I’m a Social Media Addict: End of Day 1

Today I decided to decrease my social media use. I’ve tried this before but it has never lasted for very long. A friend of mine was visiting yesterday and he told me how much better – and less stressful – his life had become ever since he stopped using Facebook six months ago. He also said that that he read lots of books since then. That’s when I decided: that’s it. I’m doing this. I’ve been wondering if I was missing out on life because of my over-use of social media. Now is the time to see if that is the case.

Today I went onto Facebook and Twitter twice. The first time this morning I probably spent about 30 minutes on it. This evening I found myself less interested in going through all my friends’ feeds. I scrolled down just a little bit and then stopped. I didn’t feel like I needed more.

During the day, I did feel a bit of tension every time a thought went through my head that I would normally immediately share on social media. But that tension was balanced out by a general sense of relaxation. I felt more relaxed today than I have in awhile, actually. It is almost as if being constantly on social media gives me some sort of an adrenaline high. Or perhaps it is the constant state of engagement that I’m in while I’m on social media. I was also spared the negative news I frequently find on my feeds and the general negativity that my friends will frequently and understandably express.

My Name Is Nadia and I’m a Social Media Addict (I Think): The Start

For a while now I’ve wanted to decrease my current level of social media activity. I think I’ve become dependent on it: addicted to it in a way.  I’d like to tell myself that this is partly due to the fact that I do not currently work fulltime. But if I take my memories back to when I was working full time, I think it is safe to say that I was over-using social media back then as well.

I can’t help but wonder what I might be missing out on in life because my face is stuck to a screen for so long.

I’ve been feeling a bit of a failure for the past two or three years, you see. I am a person who sees the amazing potential that I have but who also has almost no idea whatsoever to do with it. My personal circumstances have meant that I have had those two or three years without fulltime employment. But during that time I have been racking my brains over what to do next. I have an internal need to be innovative and creative but then I don’t know what to innovate or create.

Would I find the answers to many of the great questions of life if I spent less time on social media?

Is Egypt Really Self-Destructing? Observations From My 1st Day Back

This post is directed to Egyptians using social media:

I am terribly disappointed in you.

I have only been away from Egypt for three months. In those three months I have followed my close friends on Facebook and a large number of Egyptians on Twitter who have yelled wolf, screamed, and waved their hands in the air as one drowning. Almost everything I read on Egypt’s social media over the past three months gave me the impression that Egypt was about to self-destruct. I was terrified to come home. What I read made me feel like I wouldn’t be safe in Egypt. What I read convinced me that there was no stability in Egypt. I had already started considering the possibility of immigrating with my children to another country.

It took me only one day back in Egypt running normal errands to see that the country is exactly the same country that it has been for more than 20 years. All the bad stuff is still here. But all the good stuff is still here too. I wasn’t raped or harassed. Bearded men and face-veiled women had nothing but smiles on their faces and kind words on their tongues. The supermarket and mall were full of people buying things, meaning there must still be money in the country. Egyptian men are not out to rape me. The Islamists are not out to eat me alive. And the economy is still chugging along.

What Egyptians are posting through social media will inevitably keep Egyptians abroad from feeling safe enough to come home and tourists from feeling safe enough to visit the country.

Egypt is the same that it has been for 20 years. Yes. We have had a revolution and very little has changed for the better. But we still have lots of hope that it will. For change to happen we need to work very hard. Real change does not happen in 18 days. Real change takes decades of hard work.

If you are an Egyptian using social media, take some time to consider what you post before you post it. By focusing only on the negative you make it appear much worse than it actually is. By refraining to mention the positive, you make it appear that Egypt is nothing but a pile of shit. For those of us who are not always in Egypt, we have come to depend on social media users to get a sense whether what is published in the media is representative of reality or if it’s an exaggeration of it. When we see Egyptians echoing what the media says, we believe it. So stop blaming the media for scaremongering. Most Egyptians using social media are doing it far better than the media is. What that means is that Egyptians living abroad and tourists will not want to come to Egypt. Our country needs them both if we are to develop and to prosper.

Before you write your next status or tweet your next tweet, consider what effect it will have on people outside of the country. You terrified me. I am sure you are terrifying others. Be honest. Be balanced. Write as much about the positive as you do about the negative. Build Egypt. Stop destroying it.

 

The Egyptian Revolution, from Nadia’s Eyes

Posted by butalidnl on 11 February 2011

Mubarak has stepped down! Egypt is Free! The Egyptian people have succeeded in bringing down Mubarak, and have conquered their fear. They now need to build a new Egypt.

During this revolution, I’ve been following a Tweeter in Egypt named Nadia El-Awady. Nadia is an Egyptian science journalist. Her tweets have given me an insight into that revolution which is much deeper (and even funnier) than what the news media can give.

To read the full post in Carlo’s Think Pieces: Reflections of a Filipino in the Netherlands http://butalidnl.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/the-egyptian-revolution-from-nadias-eyes/

I was deeply touched by this post. Thank you, whoever you are.

Racing Eyjajollyfollydolly Part VI: Help, and Lack Thereof, Electronic and Otherwise, Along the Way

It’s a great time to be stranded out there in the world. It’s almost impossible to be completely on your own in such a situation. Throughout my journey I was able to keep in touch with friends, family, and other stranded people, mainly through connecting to the Internet on my mobile phone. When I needed to make a quick phone call, I was always able to no matter where I was because I had my mobile phone on roaming.

My Twitter feed after arrival in Cairo

Twitter was a God-send to me. Bharat got to calling me “Twitterer”, he saw me using it so often. I used Twitter for a variety of things. Before I decided to take the leap and make my journey back to Cairo over the European continent, I used Twitter to follow the latest updates by Heathrow Airport, Eurocontrol, and fellow Twitterers. By doing this, I kept up-to-date on the latest developments on the volcano eruptions and the reactions of airports and governments to them.

An Ode to Egypt

Aswan Photo credits: Nadia El-Awady

On Sunday, January 24, 2010, Jordanian tweeps started the #Top50JO hashtag. I happened to catch them when they had just started. I was sitting in a bank waiting for my turn to come. My number was 394 and they were only at 320. I was bored and tweeting was a relief from watching the numbers slowly go by. So I started the #Top50EG hashtag that took off like wildfire!

#Top50EG got me remembering everything I love about Egypt. And here I share some of my own favorite #Top50EG tweets (plus a very few retweets…it would have been impossible to include everything I retweeted or everything I liked in the hashtag…there were so many!):

Zaranik Protectorate Photo credit: Nadia El-Awady

On top of Mt St Katherine, Sinai

• waking up to Um Kolthom on shop radios in the morning
• walking along the Nile corniche on a summer evening while eating tirmis
• joking around with the guy standing next to u at the bus stop as if he’s an old pal
• getting a punctured car tire, going to side of road and KNOWING some1 will stop to be your hero
• stuffed grape vine & cabbage leaves, basbosa and kunafa, macaroni with bachemel sauce
• the smile on an egyptian’s face & the joke on his tongue no matter how hard things get
• mountain climbing and sandbuggying in Sinai, sandboarding on dunes of Western desert
• taking a felucca for an hour down the nile with a loved one
• watching Michael Jackson’s This Is It in Cairo’s most expensive cinema with @arwasm being only ones dancin & clappin with ever song
• horseback riding behind the pyramids at sunset
• shay filkhamseena wi sandwich foul min awsakh wa7id bita3 foul filmanyal. Yah. Zaman wallah!
• Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant in Khan Elkhalili; best food ON EARTH!
• grown men & women singing old Egyptian songs whenever they’re together in other countries
• the typical Egyptian “give me your hand” whenever two ppl find something to be really hilarious
• hibiscus, tamarind, and licorice drinks. Mint tea, the smell of bun mi7awig
• Listening to BBC Arabic on the radio while going to work in the morning
• Laughing along with Safi on NileFM radio returning from work in the evening
• getting the latest rumors from friends @MohammedY @arwasm @marwame about our previous workplace 😉
• bumping into friends EVERY time u go out and no matter where u go in the city of 18 million. We’re all eachothers peeps
• Going crazy on the streets with complete strangers when Egypt wins an important football match
• Listening to parents and grandparents bitch about things friends and family did 50 yrs ago
• eating bread and salt with someone makes u blood brothers till the day u die
• making tons of new Egyptian friends on twitter and bitching with them about things we DONT like about Egypt!
• Being able to depend on the doorman to run errands for you at any hour of the day or night
• ALWAYS finding a shop open at 2am when u just HAVE TO buy eggs to bake a cake
• yelling at the car in front of me becuz he left 2 cm of space (a lot) between him & car infront in a traffic jam
• How Egyptians will never stop singing the jingles to old TV ads
• Memories of friends & families gathering around Tv set in ramadan to watch fawazeer Nelly (a christian actress)
• the almost completely empty streets of normally bustling Cairo after maghrib call in Ramadan
• driving in cairo on a friday morning
• the way everyone runs to the windows and balconies to watch a good street fight
• The way Egyptian women will take off their shoe/slipper to hit anyone who offends her with it. Egyptian women rock!
• going to sakiat elsawy to watch Wist Albalad with hundreds of crazy young people
• Egyptian hand signs for such things as “be patient” and “you just wait till i catch you”
• Fiteer mshaltit! A VERY fatty layered pastry made in the countryside that melts in ur mouth!
• The typical answer when you ask the shop guy how much something is: its on me!
• Young women in long flowing colorful dresses swaying along irrigation canals with water jugs on their heads. Sad but beautiful
• Knowing how to sustain a family of six on 2 gallons of water when it and the electricity r out a full day
• That Egyptians call Egypt the Mother of the World
• LOVE IT RT @drnemovet the only nation with hashtag #A7A on twitter …. non-egyptians can’t get what it means 😛
• RT @Molokhia_: Egypt: the only place where you can get your ironing done at midnight
• RT @YasserAhmad: #Top50EG homeless people makes money than most of other jobs!
• RT @YasserAhmad: #Top50EG we are the only nation on earth that calls the toilet “Relaxation Home”.
• RT @IbrahmAbdelghny: #Top50EG “the tea”,”the sweet” means give me a tip ,LOL
• When you tell someone you like what they’re wearing you’ll always get: “please take it”! It’s a lie, but an endearing one 🙂
• تحيا الشطافة! RT @MohammedY TOTALLY AGREED THERE! RT @EngyG: #Top50EG El SHATTAFA forever! ¬/
• only country where women have the right to their own “special” line even though we are a people who have no comprehension of lines!
• we still call Cairo the city of 1000 Minarets even after our population – and thus minaret – explosion
• listening to all the neighborhood mosques calling to prayer at once in

Algorna Algadeema, Luxor Photo credits: Nadia El-Awady

 different voices and tones
• RT @marwame: #Top50EG taxis with baby shoes hanging from the bottom of the car
• our agility in jumping from one rock to the other when sewage completely blocks the streets!
• we are absolutely convinced we r experts at anything we put our minds to – including other peoples’ business!
• vendors peddling produce on a cart in the neighborhood by calling out to residents in a completely incomprehensible language
• that we still wrap libb, termis and meat in torn out pages from old school books
• we laugh a hearty laugh ha3 ha3 ha333
• True! RT @2insana أيووون RT: @EmanHashim: #Top50EG any pair of sneakers is Cotshy, any cooking cubes is Magi, and any solvent is clor.
• Wives are called the government RT @2insana #Top50EG الزوجة اسمها الحكومة .. أيون .. انا الحكومة نيهاهاهاهاها
• RT @abdelrahman_gf: #Top50EG where u have ADSL internet connection and no water for a whole day!!
• RT @EmanHashim: #Top50EG girls get totally dressed up and put make up to go to the supermarket
• RT @EmanHashim: #Top50EG 5 guys standing around a car in front of a kosh is actually a real something to do!
• we pride ourselves as having the smartest kids in the world (until age 4 when lead poisoning starts to kick in)
• it’s not totally unacceptable to eat with your hands at some of our better restaurants
• our media will endlessly bitch about other countries but on the ground if we meet a foreigner on the street ur our brother/sister
• you’re only a “real” Egyptian if half your tea cup is filled with sugar
• we’ll bitch endlessly that cars slow down to watch an accident thus creating a bottleneck, but when we get there we slow down too
• within any 0.5km radius youll find a plumber, electrician, carpenter, tailor, curtain maker, a cotton mattress filler, shoe & suitcase fixer, butcher, poultry shop, fruit & veggie market
• RT @Molokhia_: where no one says: ‘I don’t know
• RT @EmanHashim: #Top50EG when saying about a lady she’s samra has to be followed by “bas 7elwa!”
• where green and yellow put together are moda
• RT @arwasm: Where your hospitality is measured by how much you shove food down your guest’s throat.
• watching Egyptian children laughing and singing ادي ظهرك للترعة while peeing directly into it
• feeling safe in knowing that Egyptians will NEVER forget the full lyrics to the Riri ad from 30 years ago
• the sound of running water in the late afternoon as shop owners hose down the streets
• the clink clank sound that signifies the gas cylinder guy is in the neighborhood
• I’ll say this again and again: Fawazeer Nelly, Fawazeer Nelly, Fawazeer Nelly!
• Sameer Ghanem’s Ibn fatouta; but second in line after Fawazeer Nelly
• being able to jump on a plane anytime to visit the awesome #Top50JO guys without needing a visa!!
• Egyptians can recite from memory every single line in plays that ran from the 60s – 80s.
• How the #Top50EG R all hilariously funny as would expect from Egyptians while the #Top50JO R actually songs in love of Jordan 🙂
• in the village you can leave the kids roam free because no matter where they go ppl will know whose kids they are
• RT @marwame: #Top50EG the stereotype of the govenment employees who read newspapers and shell peas in their in offices all day long.
• Busara, pickled eggplant, salty cheese with watermelon!
• What are your #Top50EG TV shows? Fawazeer Nelly comes to mind here!
• watching the late Mustafa Mahmoud’s show as a family and continuously saying Subhan Allah along with him
• RT @marwame: #Top50EG how some people pronounce the “t” as “ch”, ya ukhchi
• Molokhia_: @NadiaE 3ammo fouad! #top50EG tv shows
• on Egyptian women: huggable, tough, hard-headed, rulers of their household
• The question: would you like to drink your tea in a glass or a mug? LOOOOL!
• The general understanding between you and the police that you can park your car in the 2nd row as long as you give the police a tip
• women will tell you your baby is ugly so you don’t think they’re giving it the evil eye if they say something nice
• RT @AFakahany: #Top50EG The fact that all Egyptian store extra plastic bags under their bed mattress..
• RT @YasserAhmad: #Top50EG we don’t believe in the clock, our timing is always +13275498GMT
• arwasm: @NadiaE @rachidH and the bloody hand prints on walls
• How all Egyptian women I know have a crush on the whole male Lebanese population

Twitter, Facebook, polygamy, Irshad Manji and Islamic reform

During the past couple of days, I’ve had a couple of conversations on Twitter and Facebook that were related to Islam in one way or another. I thought I’d share.

Polygamy in Islam

The first was a short Facebook conversation that started when a FB friend posted an article by Nadine El-Bedayr, a Saudi television presenter. Nadine had written a previous rather provocative article in Egypt’s independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yowm titled “Me and My Four Husbands“. The article basically addressed the logic behind polygamy by saying that if men are allowed to marry four wives women should be allowed to as well. The article – and Nadine – created havoc and lots of denunciations of the woman. Nadine went on to write a second article “What’s Wrong With You? Why All the Anger?”. This was the post my Facebook friend made.

What I’d like to share is my comment to this post. I’m a bit concerned that all I’ll get in return is pretty much the same reaction Nadine got. But I’m willing to try my hand at freedom of speech and thought. My comment:

“I think this is a very brave woman. She has raised a sensitive issue in a provocative way; the only way it can truly be raised to illicit truthful answers. She was brave enough to raise it fully knowing that we live in a judgmental society that shows no mercy. I salute this woman.

“I remember growing up as a child and later on as a young woman always questioning in my mind the logic behind allowing polygamy for men. I was told things like: it’s to protect women who cannot find husbands; it’s to protect men who have a high sexual urge that cannot be met by one woman; it’s to protect men who fall in love with a second woman; it’s to allow men who have married infertile wives to have children while not having to leave their first wife, and on and on. Then I would ask, sometimes out loud, well what about the woman? What if the woman marries a man who cannot have children? What if the woman falls in love with another man? What if the woman has sexual urges that cannot be satisfied by one man? I was mostly hush-hushed, of course, but TOLD that women are different than men (of course I am told this mainly by men who seem to know everything about women). Women’s sexual urges, I’m TOLD, are much different and less than the fire of a man’s urges. Women can only love one man but men have the ability to love more than one woman. Besides, I was told, it is absolutely disgusting the concept of a woman having the “thing” of more than one man in her thing. And besides, I was also told, we need to protect our lineages. We know the father when the man has sex with more than one woman. We do not know the father if the mother has sex with more than one man. But I always had these two questions: well, if it’s disgusting for a woman to have more than one man’s thing in her, why isn’t it just as disgusting for the man to put his thing in more than one woman? And we now live in a day and age where it is very easy to find out who the father of a child is by DNA testing.

“I am also absolutely convinced that men have convinced themselves for hundreds of years that their sexual urges are much larger than women’s. Well, I’m sorry to break their bubble, but they are wrong.

“So I have been needing for years to find someone brave enough to go out in public and question this logic we’ve been faced with all our lives.

“Because I’m telling ya, it makes absolutely no sense to me. And I know my God would want me to use my head to find truth and not just sit back and have someone dictate truth to me.

“Nadine, my hat goes off to you.”

Twitter, Irshad Manji and Islamic Reform

On Twitter, @pakinamamer, a friend of mine, had mentioned a name I had not heard of before, Irshad Manji. I quickly checked out her website. Here is the conversation we had on Twitter with a couple of other fellow tweeps (and friends):

NadiaE: @pakinamamer who is irshad manji? I think I’m under the same rock

pakinamamer: @NadiaE A Muslim feminist (and a lesbian I was just told) who’s fighting for a more “moderate” inclusive Islam: http://www.irshadmanji.com/

NadiaE: @pakinamamer interesting…

TravellerW: @pakinamamer @nadiae I hate to break to u but Irshad Manji is a joke. No real arguments, plenty of daddy issues; “dad’s an ass=Muslims suck”

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamer I dont know the woman and only quickly looked at her blog. But she’s clearly a Pakistani Muslim brought up abroad…

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamer and there are countless Pakistani and Indian Muslim women in particular who have grown up abroad who have had it hard

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer theyr raised in 1 envt but expected to live the life of their ancestors. Theyr forced into marriages they dont want

NadiaE: @travellerw @pakinamer and a version of faith is forced on them; one they see no logic in. Not in defense of anyone particular,…

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer but there are REASONS some people have “daddy issues” and dad is an ass = Muslims are too

TravellerW: @nadiae @pakinamamer I can’t speak about all Pakistanis but I did read her book. And her conclusion is that if her father mistreated her,…

TravellerW: @nadiae @pakinamamer …. it’s because he’s a muslim. Hence, Islam sucks. That’s the summary of the book.

TravellerW: @nadiae @pakinamamer She seems harmless enough, but I put her in the same box as ayaan hirsi ali.

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamer well, perhaps her father told her he treated her that way BECAUSE of Islam – his version of course

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer her website says she’s calling for Islamic reform. There are so many perverted versions of Islam out there now…

TravellerW: @NadiaE @pakinamamer Even if. If she’s a ‘muslim reformer’ or ‘thinker’ she should’ve realised her dad doesn’t represent 1.25 billion, no?

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer that at least I’m sure we can agree we do need reform

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer Oooh…I’ll bet he represents a large enough number nonetheless

TravellerW: @NadiaE @pakinamamer Sure. But there are many people I’m willing to argue reform with. Manji isn’t one of them. Might as well ask Wilders!

Zeinobia: @TravellerW @Pakinamamer @NadiaE I agree most of these ladies base their personal views on whole religion

NadiaE: @TravellerW @pakinamamer again. I dont know the woman. But I can understand where women like her come from

pakinamamer: @Zeinobia @NadiaE @Zeinobia I can see where @TravellerW comes from. tbh, West glorifies Muslim female (unveiled) whiners a bit too much…

TravellerW: @NadiaE @pakinamamer Then it’s her dad who needs to be reformed, not my faith. I reject her primary premise.

Zeinobia: @NadiaE @pakinamamer She is a well known lesbian so her views so called “moderate” are like what you see

NadiaE: @Zeinobia @TravellerW @Pakinamamer I’ve always been against generalising our views of any religion or culture based on personal experience

pakinamamer: @Zeinobia @TravellerW @NadiaE that said, I agree with her (and w Nadia) on the urgent need for reform within Islam.

NadiaE: @Zeinobia @TravellerW @Pakinamamer still its important 2 give weight 2 personal experience: it represents partof thepicture if not the whole

pakinamamer: @Zeinobia @NadiaE @TravellerW I’m still starting to read hr book But the fact that her argument/method is wrong, doesn’t mean her premise is

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @TravellerW @Zeinobia I agree personal pains and experiences reflect existent, sometimes widespread, problems.

TravellerW: @nadiae @pakinamamer @zeinobia Hey, I’m sorry her father was a jerk, I truly am. But don’t blame it on my religion!

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW oh yes. the “west” do glorify them. I’m not talking “the west” now though. We’re all egyptians talking

pakinamamer: @TravellerW @Zeinobia @NadiaE But then again, how you conceptualize these experiences is what makes all the difference.

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW and im pretty sure we’re all aware of the issues and the need for change

TravellerW: @pakinamamer @zeinobia @nadiae do check the book. the english version’s for sale, the arabic is free on pdf

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW 1 point i want to emphasize is many muslim women raised abroad have faced REAL problems with families

Zeinobia: @pakinamamer @NadiaE @TravellerW we need reform and better understanding for the religion

TravellerW: @pakinamamer @nadiae @zeinobia Mashy, but if we allow her to generalize from her dad to all muslim men, then we’re doing Rumsfeld’s bid!

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW and families have always defended themselves saying theyr protecting their daughters in name of islam

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @TravellerW @Zeinobia right But her reax to being glorified as such and used as a tool against Islam affects reception of hr views

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW short story: there’s a lot of CRAP happening and we need to understand where these women r coming from

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @Zeinobia @TravellerW I understand that. we do face similar problems too It’s how we react to it that matters, that’s all I’m saying

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @Zeinobia @TravellerW agree. I don’t like shunning ideas or ppl’s experiences. I’m all for reading her books and even debating w her

NadiaE: @pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW anything ive said is in the abstract. I might be as angry as u if i read the book

pakinamamer: @NadiaE @Zeinobia @TravellerW I’m just not sure if on her side she’s contributing to a healthy discourse or just rubbishing Islam. Different

NadiaE: pakinamamer @Zeinobia @TravellerW you could be very right. Contributing to the discourse rather than rubbishing is important

TravellerW: @NadiaE I respect the female-muslim-abroad exp.I dont like randm ppl extrapolating 2 demonize. I leave that 2 FoxNews @zeinobia @pakinamamer

TravellerW: @nadiae @zeinobia @pakinamamer Hey, I’m an expat brat myself. But muslim-in-europe thinkers, men and women, I have met, and she’s not one

NadiaE: @TravellerW @zeinobia @pakinamamer she very well might not be. Only just heard her name now

Microblogging through Twitter and Facebook have become such interesting ways of communicating. My friends and I discuss many sensitive issues through these means. And here I share with you a couple of those discussions. My only point is to provoke my own and your thinking. I might be very wrong in some of my statements. So might my friends. But I believe one can only reach truth by questioning and questioning and…further questioning.