Stupid American Pig-Dog

I'm sure I'm way behind the curve on this one (as with so many other matters of coolness and culture) but my recent addiction to blogs has become more specific; namely, Iranian/Iraqi blogs. Sure, I'd heard the news about Raed's blog back when we (the US) started dropping bombs on Baghdad. But I had never read any until this week. Now, I can't fucking stop! Fascinating tidbits of daily life such as this one from Baghdad Burning:

The annual ritual around Christmas for many Christians in Baghdad used to be generally hanging out with family and friends on Christmas Eve, exchanging gifts and food (always food- if you're Iraqi, it's going to be food) and receiving guests and well-wishers. At 12 am, many would attend a Christmas service at their local church and light candles to greet the Christmas spirit. Christmas day would be like our first day of Eid- eating and drinking, receiving family, friends and neighbors and preparing for the inevitable Christmas party in the evening at either a friend's house or in one of the various recreational clubs in Baghdad. The most famous for their Christmas parties were the Hindiya club and the Armenian club.

At the risk of sounding like a typically ignorant American, I knew of the significant Christian population in Iraq, but I never knew that people celebrated Christmas openly there. This ignorance came as a surprise to me, because I recently watched a PBS special on this very topic, and immediately considered myself an expert on all things Iraqi.

The tragedy in Iran recently brought me the Eyeranian. This guy has posted some very thoughtful and heart-breaking stuff about the earthquake. Go there now and get yer learnin' on.

Of course, I'm always amazed at the English fluency of foreign folk, particularly those whose native language is other than Latin-based. I took 4 years of Spanish and have lived in California all of my life, but can barely order a fucking Dos Equis en Espanol. More evidence of my stupid American lazy pig-dog lifestyle, I guess.

I could go on about how THIS is what the internet is meant to be; that this vast communication network is bringing folks all around the world just a little closer to understanding one another; that an information revolution is taking place right before our eyes and it���s being driven by THE PEOPLE���. But what the internet is really about, what it���s been about for thousands of years, is porn, of course.

Anyway, I���ll probably add some of these sites to my ever growing, enlarging, engorging links section. And seriously, go visit these sites and become more informed.