Letters to a friend: Convicted terrorist's former friends asked, "what would you say to him now?"

Bassam Tariq of the "30 Mosques" project tells Boing Boing, "I gave a Livescribe Smartpen to the friends of someone who was convicted as a terrorist, and asked them what they would say to him now if they could." Here is the resulting story, with images.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QN6WUG7WMBDAGUPFVSJ6HJAS2A Darth

I’d say: “Caldonia ! Caldonia ! What makes your big head so hard?”
http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai

Sidebar: this just reminds me of the time the media interviewed Marilyn Manson in the wake of the Columbine shootings & asked him what he’d say to the shooters & he replied “I wouldn’t say anything, I’d LISTEN to them, which is what no one else was doing.” Which I thought was a pretty great reply.
http://twitter.com/martchand Martain Chandler

Just leaving this here for others whom are curious:
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/11/28/fbi

I’m confused and amazed the “Letters” article didn’t tell the whole story.
http://twitter.com/calpernia Calpernia Addams

Who is the “monster” referred to in “The biggest fear when fighting a monster, is becoming a monster yourself” ?
- RHK
  
  I can’t speak for what he means in particular but I can imagine that growing up as a Muslim in the US, you might come up against a little bit of prejudice.
http://narrowstreetsla.blogspot.com David Yoon

“We all know that one crazy guy in the mosque, but we don’t think he’d ever do anything.”

“We all know that one crazy guy in the mosque”? We do?
danb

I don’t believe that Mohamud has yet been convicted of any crime. I could be mistaken.
http://twitter.com/Deglr6328 Deglr6328

I’m curious as to why the previous couple comments on this post were deleted. Was it deemed offensive in some way? It seemed benign enough to me. Could a moderator say something about this?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I’m curious as to why the previous couple comments on this post were deleted.
  
  You mean the offensive comment that came from the same IP as yours, but under a different identity?
  - http://twitter.com/Deglr6328 Deglr6328
    
    That’s the one. Precisely what was offensive enough about it to warrant blocking from further comment? It’s rather surprising to me that the comment in question, which was as measured and reasonable as any other commentary on this issue, was deleted and the username blocked as if it were that of a racist screed by a neo-nazi.
    
    I am genuinely curious as to your reasoning. If comments like the one in question are considered so out of line as to be ban worthy, I am quite literally baffled as to what kind of comments discussing topics of Islam (or for that matter any religion) and terrorism cases would be permissible. Is any linkage between these subjects permissible at all? My interest in moderation policy here is entirely earnest, and in so far as I can see, not at all clearly delineated in the policy stated on this website.
http://twitter.com/Deglr6328 Deglr6328

I’m still waiting for some kind of reply on the policy here…