Bollywood Comes to St. Louis During An Eventful Weekend
+ Beterbiev, Football, and a Quran Burning
My Saturday began with boxing. For those of you unfamiliar with the sport, Artur Beterbiev is an undefeated light-heavyweight champion from Chechnya, now based out of Montreal. Due to the wonders of ESPN, I was able to watch Beterbiev defend his titles in London against Anthony Yarde from the comfort of my couch. Beterbiev is just one of a slew of devout Muslims from the north Caucusas region of the Russian Federation to rise to prominence in combat sports in recent years.
After his opponents trainer threw in the towel to stop the fight Beterbiev prostated in the ring in gratitude to Allah. A scene that is now not only common in combat sports; but in soccer as evidenced by the recent World Cup in Qatar.
I was perfectly content to spend the weekend at home watching boxing, college wrestling, and football; but in order to head off a minor insurrection I suggested going to see a movie. I was specifically interested in the Indian spy thriller Pathaan. The movie is breaking box office numbers globally and peaked my curiosity.
Pathaan
In order to see Pathaan I had to drive to Chesterfield Mall in the western suburbs. I don't care for shopping malls and this is only the second time I've actually been inside this particular mall. While there are a handful of exceptions, such as Tysons Corner in Northern Virginia, malls are in decline. The malls of my childhood in north St. Louis County (Jamestown, Northland, Riverroads, and smaller ones such as Cross Keys and Village Square) are all closed. Yet, the picture is complex, as Alexandra Lange points out in her book Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall. Some malls have become community centers of sorts, some cater to immigrant communities, and some have been taken over by small businesses. Chesterfield Mall, as an example, has pickleball courts inside.
When we arrived at the theater we were greeted by two teenagers wearing “I Love Pathaan” shirts. I talked to them and found out they were teenagers from the Illinois portion of the St. Louis metro and had driven over because they were big fans of Indian film and operating a t-shirt business. We briefly chatted about Indian film and I gave my opinion I liked the ones without all the singing and dancing or the ones about rich girls falling in love with poor boys. I suggested perhaps making an Indian film about a rich girl who marries a poor boy who turns out to be abusive and they live a life of squalor in the slums while her siblings ride the tiger of modern Indian prosperity and do just fine with their arranged marriages. Or a comedic spy thriller in which the Pakistani ISS brings in American pimps and pick-up artists to help Muslim men seduce Hindu women for “Love Jihad”.
While in line we found out Pathaan had sold out. If the film is selling that well in St. Louis, with our relatively small South Asian population, imagine the numbers it’s doing in places like New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, LA, and the Bay Area?
The announcement upset the Indian film enthusiasts in line and perplexed several white people. In the universe of Twitter, or that of adherents to the holy scriptures of Coates, Kendi, and DiAngelo, this is a moment when white film goers become angry and say racist things, and a white woman who has read their books emerges as the hero by challenging them on their racism. Of course, this didn't happen. Their curiosity just prompted questions and some interesting conversations (Interestingly enough some of the white people were there to see the newest “Left Behind” movie which is part of a series of Evangelical Christian films based on their understanding of the End Times).
We chose Avatar II as the backup. Here is some advice- don’t watch it. The story is incomprehensible and it’s over three hours long. We don't even get the thicc blue alien women anymore. They’re all thin with a slight bone structure- perhaps thers’s been a famine on Pandora? A public health crisis of anorexia and bulimia?
Tye Nichols
As I was driving home a friend called me and asked if I’d be attending any protests over the murder or Tye Nichols by Memphis police. I informed him that I wouldn't be attending any protests and that I believe by the 2020 George Floyd protests the movement had been completely taken over by the White Left, and those non-whites in political, financial, and romantic relationships with them, and America was no longer in the mood for street protests. I was right. 50 people showed up in St. Louis with similar numbers around the country- despite the horrific and gruesome nature of this murder. There is a time for street protests and a time when people invest their faith in the political process for change- this is a moment when politics is winning out. Of course, for even more, resignation or indifference has set in long ago.
A Quran Burning Gets The Intended Reaction
Sometimes we move with emotions and sometimes with logic. This past week a Swedish anti-Muslim figure burned the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy under the protection of police. Many Muslims, who appear to be extremely easy to provoke, responded with anger and emotion. A rational response is no man can take from the majesty of the Noble Quran and the actions of one bigot only are reflective of his ignorance. Instead, not only did Muslims on the street respond with anger, but the populist quasi-Islamist (when it’s needed) autocrat President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey announced there would be severe diplomatic consequences over this incident. He has a great foundation for logical foreign policy decisions!
A Phone Call and Football
The weekend ended with a phone call in which I discussed religious extremism and its harmful effects with a friend whose young daughter recently died. I expressed my support for Saudi Vision 2030, the leadership of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman and Muslim World League General Secretary Muhammad al-Issa, and something similar in the United States.
Watching the Eagles punch their ticket to the Super Bowl by winning fair and square and watching the refs give the game to the Kansas City Thiefs capped off the weekend as the dangerous icy conditions kept me off the road.
Thanks for sharing.
Thicc!? Lol. I enjoyed reading your take on recent events. It was interesting how there was scant protest over the murder of our brother Tyree. What's also weird, without any attempt on my part to blame the victim, is the absolute lack of information on what transpired prior to the cops just going totally nuts. I get it, the point is some people have such anger they don't need any, or much provocation. Some sisters on Facebook said that the way they beat him was so intense, it seemed personal, and were speculating that he had come from one of the cop's lady friend's house. ( I hope I punctuated that correctly) I know that is a crass thing to say, but it shows that people really felt a need to kind of fill in the beginning part of the story, a story that ended so tragically. Again, really spot on commentary about all of the events you brought up, and funny too.