I am not looking forward to this discussion of Halloween and many people will not be either. So decided that it would be best to begin with humour. That way you shall be relaxed and your minds might be more open than if this blog began with anger, a rant or chastisement. Chastise in this instance means to rebuke or reprimand severely:
As usual, The New Yorker provides the humour and it is, hilarious. Its topic: Halloween costumes for couples who are having a rough time.. The link to the entire article is hereby provided: https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/halloween-costumes-for-couples-who-are-going-through-something
Here is the Introduction and a few examples. “It’s spooky season! Soon, Halloween parties will be filled with perfect couples, transformed into Dorothy and Toto, or Eleven and some other “Stranger Things” character. But what if you and your significant other legitimately might break up en route to the party? Here are some costume ideas for you!
The front and back of a horse, but the front part continually disrespects the back part’s time.
A scurvy-riddled pirate and a withholding bag of oranges.
Little Red Riding Hood and the Big, Always-Made-Out-to-Be-Bad Wolf.
Bluetooth earbuds that haven’t linked in weeks.
Bonnie and Clyde, two codependent murderers.
Homer and Marge Simpson, and her ex shows up dressed as Bart or something, since she insists on maintaining that friendship.
An avocado with a pit and an avocado without a pit . . . or empathy.
A vampire and a person who always plays the victim.
Ken, the handsome doll, and Barbie, the doll who doesn’t allow space for Ken’s feelings.
Britney Spears and a giant piece of paper that says “conservatorship.”
The Three Little Polyamorous Pigs, except one of them isn’t into it.
An extroverted magician and an introverted rabbit that refuses to come out of the hat. Even when the magician’s friends are there specifically to meet the rabbit.”
It is difficult to pick a favorite amongst these treasures, so I shall pick three – the front and back horse, the pirate with the withholding bag of oranges and, of course, the polyamorous pigs. But there are more, just link onto the entire offering.
But onto something totally serious; the celebration of Halloween. The simplest way to illustrate Muslim’s horror of this (so-called) holiday is to use two Instagram reels. The first is rather playful, the second deadly serious.
The link to the playful one: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkVyIDMpcn3/?igshid=MDlmYmQ2NmI=
The link to the other which is called the Devil is Being Worshipped in Saudi Arabia. The speaker is outraged and horrified. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkZIcWfBtDI/?igshid=MDlmYmQ2NmI=
Faithful readers will know that I am new to the faith and actually did come to Edmonton because of what I had read of the Al Rashid Mosque, the first mosque in Canada founded by a Lebanese woman. Then years later, after a new mosque had been built and the original building was facing demolition, a group of women actively campaigned to have it moved to Ft. Edmonton Park to be honored as a heritage structure. It was a difficult battle as it was post 9/11 but this group of women succeeded. I am on the emailing list of the El Rashid Mosque. Received notification that the mosque was hosting a Halloween party, this seems to be an annual event calling it Fun Factor. Thought of a rose is a rose by another name. Of course I Googled it to find: It’s from Romeo and Juliet and the full quote is: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.” Basically, what it means is that what matters is what something is, not what it is called.” The El Rashid mosque can call it a Fun Factor but it is a Halloween celebration.
My reaction? I was totally confused, totally amazed and rather horrified. The announcement of the “Fun Factor” shall be attached if my Computer Guru has the technical ability to do so. I know that I do not).
What shall I do? The Quran has the answer. If one finds oneself in a situation (a group of people, a country, an institution) where there is wrong doing or evil taking place, the believer should first speak out against it, if that is possible. If not possible, and if speaking out is fruitless, then one leaves the group, the country or the institution. I have spoken out through this blog, doubt that will do any good but I no longer attend, nor support the mosque because of a prior experience. The Prayer for Guidance, recited before obligatory prayers entreats Allah to lead one on a Straight Path, following those who are Blessed not those who have won displeasure from Allah or are astray. It seems that the mosque might be astray. The Islamic faith does not require women to attend Friday prayers so I can, with clear conscience, avoid attendance there. I have formed the intention to speak more of my reversion to the Islamic faith. This shall be preformed during hibernation (as I call it). Winter is here, so no excuse. Plans for hibernation are evolving – you shall be kept up to date.
But back to some humour which finds at its source as something evil. Andy Borowitz took aim at Elon Musk yet again. “SAN FRANCISCO (The Borowitz Report)—In a policy shift, Twitter announced that it will bestow blue checks only on users it called “verified conspiracy theorists.”Elon Musk, the platform’s new owner, said that the policy was designed to “curate a world-class collection of the most prominent paranoiacs working today.”
“We will be vetting conspiracy theorists to insure that they have an established track record of disseminating falsehoods,” he said. “For the benefit of our users, we want to make a clear distinction between the Dinesh D’Souzas of the world and some rookie crackpot hoping to become a major-league crackpot.”
Is not that precious? Elon wants readers to be sure that there are not following a mere rookie crackpot. Andy continues in fine fashion. “Musk’s announcement, however, drew howls of protests from the baseless-theory-spreading community, with some members complaining that Twitter was discriminating against no-name fabulists looking for their big break.
“I recently tweeted that John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln as part of a drug deal gone bad,” @OptimusTruthBeacon911 said. “If that doesn’t get me a blue check, what will?”
I am reminded of a saying. Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
This expression was coined by American poet Elia Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) in her poem “Solitude” (1883).
So one might as well laugh at all of this, but to end on a serious note. Elon Musk did not use all of his own money for the purchase of the purveyor of hate filled misinformation – he had investors, some of which were named and it was most surprising. JP Morgan Securities. Some of my investments were with them. I am trying to get my hands on my money as my investments must be moved to Canada. It has proven to be almost impossible, they claiming that they are merely following the rules of the SEC. Did not have any problem with other investments, so what does that say? Getting the money is one of the tasks for the day. But there were other investors. Some from the UAE (not surprising) but also Qatar Holdings. I would like to think that Qatar Holdings is in there just to balance out the others (UAE and JP Morgan) but who knows? I can do nothing about it. But I did stand up and spoke against Musk, using humour. Needless to say I do not read Twitter at all, much less believe what someone crackpot says. Therefore have avoided the cancer. Therefore I am laughing, and hopefully not alone.
