Yusuf Toropov's Blog: Literary Striver, page 3

On the Remote Possibility I Started All This

Eight years ago, I began work on JIHADI: A LOVE STORY, a novel about, among other things, an Islamophobe with outsized political ambitions -- and an extremist “caliphate” movement in the Middle East that appears to materialize out of thin air. Both of those notions were sheer fiction when I began working on the book in 2008. They are chilling reality now. I sometimes feel as though I have somehow managed, without meaning to, to summon up something evil, by daring life to imitate art. Please a...

No Direction Home

Several prominent figures, including the comedian and talk show host Stephen Colbert, have, with what I am sure is good intent, gently ridiculed those American citizens who have chosen to remain outside the borders of the United States following the 2016 presidential election. As one of those citizens, I want to offer a respectful dissenting voice.

Shortly after the election, Colbert compared staying in the US following the Republican victory to enduring a Thanksgiving dinner with a racist rel...

On Protecting America by Leaving It

Several prominent figures, including the comedian and talk show host Stephen Colbert, have, with what I am sure is good intent, gently ridiculed those American citizens who have chosen to remain outside the borders of the United States following the 2016 presidential election. As one of those citizens, I want to offer a respectful dissenting voice.

Shortly after the election, Colbert compared staying in the US following the Republican victory to enduring a Thanksgiving dinner with a racist rel...

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of Anti-Defamation League, Pushes Back on American Fascism

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said that a registry for Muslims would almost certainly be unconstitutional. “The day they create a Muslim registry is the day I register as a Muslim,” he added.

(From the Washington Post.)

Eighteen US Elections Where the Electoral College Vote Did Not Go According to Plan

I was always under the impression that irregularities in the US Electoral College system were quite rare. In fact, I have been repeating this line, with deep sadness, to the many people here in Ireland who've raised the possibility that some kind of shift in the Electoral College could change the outcome of the recent presidential election. I didn't want to get their hopes up, and I still don't.

It turns out, though, there have been many more shifts and challenges and second thoughts in the El...

A few thoughts on SETTLED HISTORY with NO BEARING on current events

Looks like Hitler didn't MEAN anything he said in order to gain power, according to this contemporary New York Times article.

I guess he must have been a harmless loudmouth who made a successful adjustment to a leadership role.

Notes from a Republic In Exile

Thoughts from Ireland, at the moment a saner, safer nation than my own, and a haven for which I am grateful to God:

The prevailing post-election wisdom from various beloved tribal elders is that Americans should now find a way to unite behind Feckface Von Clownstick. Respect him. Praise him. Follow him. I am sorry. No matter how many times I hear that kind of speech, no matter how earnestly it is delivered, I still feel this wave of visceral disgust rising from the pit of my stomach.

After what...

Protect the Future: Abolish the Electoral College

Yes. It's over. Those of us who voted to support values of tolerance and inclusion in 2016 lost. We are entitled to our grief and our anger about that. But now that we are on Day Two of whatever new era this is going to be, let's channel that grief and anger into something constructive that will protect people. Let's notice that the reason we lost was that the rules under which we were operating are antiquated and unworkable.

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the election. That fac...

Abolish the Electoral College

Yes. It's over. Those of us who voted to support values of tolerance and inclusion in 2016 lost. We are entitled to our grief and our anger about that. But now that we are on Day Two of whatever new era this is going to be, let's channel that grief and anger into something constructive. Let's notice that the reason we lost was that the rules under which we were operating are antiquated and unworkable.

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the election. That fact needs discussion.

The US...

If You Are an American ...

 "If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own." -- Kurt Vonnegut