THE MYSTERIOUS COMMENTS SECTION [W, 6-16-21]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections On Faith & Life For the Years of Winter

THE MYSTERIOUS COMMENTS SECTION   [W, 6-16-21]

 

I see in the Comments section at the bottom of this column that my Arabic friends are back, after several months of no comments from them. Apparently, they are very concerned about reuniting families, because they always post under the column for T, 7-3-18, entitled “The Family Reuniting.” There will be several-to-many comments in Arabic for several days, and then no Arabic comments for anywhere from a few days to many months. I don’t think it’s a robot. I can’t read Arabic, but the comments are of different lengths with different words. So I assume it’s some terrorist organization, plotting mayhem, figuring it is secret and safe to do so in the comments section of CIW, since no one from CIA or FBI reads CIW.

Someone from FBI should read CIW, since I informed blogspot/Google and the FBI a long time ago, when the Arabic comments first started. Never heard anything from them. I know there are lots of folks who try to avoid reading my stuff, but that’s sort of extreme. I mean, if the Homeland Security people read this column, it might help people avoid disaster.

Or maybe not, because I appealed for Arabic readers in general to look at the comments and see what was being said. They all agreed that the comments had to do with trying to persuade people to buy large, used kitchen appliances, like refrigerators.

But, you know, they aren’t going to get much business that way. I don’t think there are many readers of CIW who understand Arabic and want old washing machines. So, I think I’ll stick with the terrorist theory, where, in Arabic code, “buying a used Whirlpool” means “blowing up Taco Bell.” It’s much more interesting than the idea of some twelve-old Arab boy trying secretly to sell appliances from his kitchen so he can buy an iPod, some kid who thinks CIW readers, and his parents, are that gullible.

But there’s another problem, isn’t there? With my assumptions. I’m automatically assuming that because the words are in Arabic, and I don’t know who the writers are, that they must be up to no good. Maybe instead of terrorists, these writers are refugees from the Taliban who are communicating in a place they are sure their tormenters won’t see, plotting ways to escape to the state of Indiana, which sounds so enlightened and inviting because of this blog. Maybe CIW is providing them a safe space to communicate, where “Do you want a pea-green Maytag?” means “Pick me up at the next full moon.” I have watched enough episodes of the “United States of Al” TV show to know that folks who speak Arabic or Farsi are not all of the same political approach. Maybe CIW is just in the middle of a real episode of “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

Anyway, be careful what you write in the comments section below. Somebody may come by your house the next day expecting a real deal on your freezer… or wanting to hide out in your basement.

John Robert McFarland