Month / April 2007

by crmayes

Judging Books by Their Titles

Today while shelving books at the library, two titles caught my attention for opposite reasons.

The first, How to Get Your Dream Job Using the Internet: The Only Book That Takes You Straight to Thousands of Jobs Worldwide!, made me laugh and think of Homer Simpson. This book is 350 pages long, surely someone who wants to make money off/through the internet isn’t going to have the attention span to read such a long book. Incidentally it is selling for $0.01 on Amazon if anyone is interested.

The second book however, The Anthropologists’ Cookbook, sounded so interesting that I borrowed it. It is an edited work comprised of leading anthropologists detailing recipes from the regions where they have worked. The only problem is that most of the recipes take a very long time to prepare and with ingredients that aren’t readily available at Coles. Although “corrupted” versions of the recipes are given. There are even instructions on how to make Earth Ovens for roasting dogs. This is selling for $50.00 on Amazon.

by crmayes

Lest We Forget?

Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?
– Adolf Hitler

Tomorrow, 24th April, marks the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. A genocide that the Turkish government continues to deny. It was in response the Armenian genocide that familiar phrases such as “crimes against humanity” and “holocaust” were first coined.

Tom Frame, writes in the most recent issue of Quardant that Turkey, and nations generally, do not need to apologise for past wrongs. But it seems that Frame confuses acknowledgment/recognition for apology. While Turkey may not have to apologise or compensate victims, it cannot be allowed to continue to actively deny the past. Would Europe tolerate a Germany that denied the Jewish Holocaust?

It has been proposed that Turkey will enter the European Union in 2015, if this is to go ahead, sadly it will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in which more than 1.5 million Armenian Christians were butchered. But if Turkey has its way, which it has so far, the Armenian genocide will remain unacknowledged and denied. And those who choose to acknowledge it in Turkey will do so at their own peril.

Info: Armenian National Institute or The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response