This Is What Saudi Arabia's First PSA For Violence Against Women Looks Like

[BainsBane]

132. I don't think people love war

I think people don't interrogate the extent to which ideas spread in our culture to justify war influence their views of the Muslim world. I think people look down on foreign others while refusing to consider their own role as taxpayers in funding human rights abuses perpetrated by our government abroad. I find troubling that many look at Islam and Muslims with such disdain while showing no awareness of the particular historical and political circumstances that gave rise to Islamist extremism--conditions in which our own nation was central.

I think cultural imperialism is ugly, whether expressed by the neocons or those who despise the neocons. Both share an assumption that Muslim peoples are not fit to make their own choices. It goes beyond Orientalism because it lacks the reverence for exoticism implied in that view. I see it as a more naked form of cultural imperialism. I see people imaging that we as Americans, and liberals in particular, are better than Muslims because we are not benighted by religion and we wear less clothing (for some freedom is directly measured in inverse proportion to the amount of clothing). Some have gone so far as to claim that higher death rates of women in this country don't count because the murders are not religiously based, as though death is less consequential if its justification is secular. The idea that some here feel so entitled to determine what they think is best for Muslim women is all about First World privilege, privilege made possible through war and exploitation abroad.

I, on the other hand, believe we do Muslim women no favors by disrespecting their religion--a core aspect of their identity-- or refusing to consider their views. Reading what Muslim feminists have to say is a staring point for addressing misogyny and oppression in that part of the world.

As for my ignore list, I recently cleared it out. I did not take you off for purposes of this thread or to respond to you in particular. Sorry to disappoint you there. Of course I will add people back if necessary. I know well enough your pattern. You are unlikely to risk a personal insult here. You're far more likely to gossip under cover of the clubhouse.

Your old excuse about Sophia Loren is demonstratively false. My frustration with you had to do with your following me around the web posting girly pics in response to virtually every post. If I recall correctly, none were nearly as lovely as Sophia Loren. They were typical, unimaginative cheesecake photos. The point was you did it because you knew it bothered me, and you took particular pleasure from that fact. I've told you this before but my views on my own feelings aren't important enough to register in your thought process.