Meanwhile - "there's a war going on"

As I said in the cafe-philo on Monday, now there is the internet and you can, from the comfort of your home in Nice, for example, read blogs of Iraqis living through the war. You can also, thanks to www.YouTube.com, listen to an American-Iraqi rapper, TIMZ. I don't usually like rap, with its often absurd glorification of violence and misogynistic attitudes, but this one is different, a serious criticism of the attack on Iraq. Well worth a play:

"Iraqi-American rapper TIMZ has released a politically charged music
video that is getting international attention since its debut on
YouTube.com.

"Iraq" is destined to be a true rallying cry during these difficult
political times. TIMZ's background allows him to give a unique
perspective of the war. "My parents are from Iraq but I was born in
the United States. I feel like I'm able to connect to both sides of
this war a little more than the average person. That's why I wrote
the song the way I did; the first verse is written from the
perspective of an Iraqi while the second verse is written from the
perspective of an American. The third verse is a history lesson!"

"Dear Mr. George Bush," TIMZ raps. "Why do you insist to make a fool
of us? For over 200 years... we stood for what's good, now we
despised by our peers; And what do you...but add fuel to the fire and
send in more troops. Oh the troops God save the troops; it wasn't
their war their lies their fault. America the beautiful what did they
do to you, they used you its so indisputable!"

On his fiery and autobiographical debut CD, TIMZ—aka Tommy Hanna, an
American born rapper of Chaldean and Iraqi descent--gets right up in
our faces, mixing explosive, Middle Eastern tinged beats with
incendiary rhymes in an effort to shatter those ugly stereotypes that
have plagued people who look like him since 9/11 and the start of the
Iraq war.

Make no mistake, the title of TIMZ powerful, outspoken and heavy
grooving 14- track collection—a nominee for Best Hip-Hop Album at the
2006 San Diego Annual Music Awards—says it all: the San Diego born
and bred artist is Open For Business."

"Iraq" was directed by Ron Najor at TheBuzzLA.com

Then an unexpectedly respectful interview with him on - FOX TV !
(including Chuck Norris, ex-karate champ and actor in Kung Fu films). If Fox is treating
opponents of the war this well you know the war is lost.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IpCuucaZBI&NR

You can also easily share such things with others. An ex-student of mine commented:

"Thanks for that Ted, I've sent it to all of my friends.
It's a great song and the interviews with the singer are realy good.
It's also great to see the hiphop genre used for serious comment, other
than Rage Against the Machine not too many people have used it
hiphop/rap so effectively."