Virtual SOCIOLOGY

Consider the following examples: (1) in an interview for James Lipton's Inside the Actors Studio from a decade ago, the Jewish-Ashkenazi (of western origins) actress Natalie Portman was asked about her favourite curse word. Her response was ‘there's one in Hebrew, it's actually in Arabic, but we use it in Israel: kus emmek , it means “your mother's vagina”.’ (2) In 1978, the Jewish-Mizrahi (of eastern origins) singer Ofra Haza released a hit song in Hebrew, " Song of the freha ", of which the chorus was: Cuz' I wanna dance, and fool around I wanna laugh, and I don't want you I want in the days, and in the nights I wanna scream: "I'm a freha" The word farha in Arabic means 'joy'; it is clear from the above sexual insinuations that in Hebrew the distorted meaning (and word) is much closer to the negative pejorative 'slut', or in Arabic, sharmuta . It is indicative that these lyrics were written by Assi ...

To start with a confession: I did not read the recent book describing the inner workings of the Trump White House. Since the publication of Fire and Fury , the American and global reaction is that of a fiasco. We ask ourselves: “How can it be that such a man, with such characteristics, is the president of the United States, the leader of the free world, the commander in chief of the biggest, richest military on earth?" Many follow this supposed fiasco, and are bewildered by the disparity between the title and the flesh, the ideal and the real. Fire and Fury has provided a proof, or evidence to the suspicion that ‘everybody’ has held: Trump is incapable and incompetent of leading the United States and the world. This same ‘everybody’ is infatuated by this enigma called Trump, from his nomination through election and operation, the same 'everybody' that enjoys every dirty quote, misbehavior, misconduct, and wrong-doings reported in the book. The enjoyment is derived...