Some have asked why I’m using an Arab girl holding up a purple finger as my profile picture.

In the Iraqi elections Iraqis dip their fingers in purple ink to show they voted and to make sure they didn’t vote more than once. In Iraq’s first election, Baghdad was an out of control war zone but Iraqis turn out to vote in numbers that would put the US elections to shame. The streets were crawling with Islamic extremist who threatened if they saw anybody going to the polls or with purple ink on their finger they would kill them but the Iraqi people showed up to vote anyways. The purple finger picture is a symbolic nod of respect to a brave people who dared to risk their life’s for the dream of democracy and freedom from tearany and genocide.