oct 2, 2014: the diversity conference at suny brockport was most excellent! enjoyed the multicultural food tasting. my favorites: south african masala pineapple, caribbean meat patties and ethiopian lamb kebabs. the screening went v well. great audience and good intro by dr james spiller, who’s the dean of the graduate school. he asked me the last question during Q&A: “what does it feel like to see extremists commit acts of violence in the name of one’s religion? isn’t it the ultimate desecration?” i told him it was a good question but it doesn’t apply uniquely to muslims. after all, violence is being committed all over the world, by all kinds of people, in the name of all kinds of ideologies. does it make us feel better if we proclaim that the violence we’re committing is in the name of democracy? i talked about iraq: one million killed, 10-12 million people displaced, chemical weapons used extensively in fallujah with devastating results to this day. is it less of a desecration because it was done in the name of democracy? or capitalism (which is a religion in america, according to naomi klein), or oil, or some kind of ethno-religious ideology (such a zionism)? shouldn’t we start being objective, ignore all the window dressing and condemn violence for what it does – inflict pain and suffering on other human beings? dr spiller thought i was being “provocative” but i was just being sincere. more about the conference here.