Why Many Muslims Hate the West. (You probably won't read this post.)

[TygrBright]

30. One comment illuminates the major flaw in this essay:

Although I think it's well-written and very worth reading, I think this sums up why it's not really very helpful:

What’s missing, both from the initial essay and from the discussion thus far, is the hidden factor of history: Patriarchy. All of the “great monotheistic” (personally, I prefer “Abrahamic,” as I think the monotheism is disputed among the parties themselves,) religions are intensely patriarchal.

All of the cultures, states, and nations that have grown from these religious roots are also intensely patriarchal. Imperialism is patriarchy manifest. Without the subjugation of fully half of the human species to the control of the other half, these religions lose control of their populations and respond with brutal fundamentalist movements and ideologies.

It is no accident that all of the Abrahamic religions’ fundamentalist sects are predicated on the dehumanization and vicious exploitation of women as domestic chattel.

Ignoring the rise of feminism and the drive for human rights and civil rights for women makes this analysis very two dimensional at best, and militates toward a highly flawed understanding of both problem and solution.

diffidently,
Bright