The irony is that too often
liberals find that feminism ends where multiculturalism begins. They demand equality of opportunity for
Christian women, but when faced with an allegedly Islamic demand that a woman
cover her head, etc. they too often shrink into moral relativism. Which, by the way, is a discrimination
against Muslim women.
Cultural purity in all frankness
is too often preserving cultural silliness just to preserve it. For instance, once when I was around eight
years old my parents had a genuine Scottish bagpiper come to our house and play
a few tunes. I was brutally honest in my
assessment in the way only young kids can be.
Something to the effect of “this is giving me a headache.” And my parents were telling me that I should
listen to it and like it because it was my culture.
But I had made up my mind. The music sucked. I had no interest in it and prayed it would
be over soon. And I have only
voluntarily subjected myself to Scottish bagpipe music a few more times and my
assessment has never changed.
Years later I was watching a
History Channel special on the history of Scotland (you see, children, at one
time the History Channel actually had history related documentaries on it), and
they explained what Scottish pipes were really for. They explained that, Scottish bagpipes were
actually weapons of psychological warfare. That is, a guy would stand in the hills above
the enemies (read: the English) and play the pipes and it would so irritate
their enemies it would reduce their effectiveness on the battlefield. It was the medieval equivalent of, well...
this:
The noodles, and in this case a
very fat man showing off his belly, are all designed to screw up the player’s
game. Scottish bagpipes and the famous practice of mooning
their enemies served a similar purpose on in warfare.
Well, when I saw that about the
Scottish pipes, I just about fell over laughing. I pictured all of these Scottish types who
listen to this music intentionally, when in fact it was something we originally
concocted to inflict upon our enemies!
(And before you say “but Scottish
pipes are beautiful! Especially in Braveheart!”
bear in mind in Braveheart, the most
Scottishy Scottish movie ever, they
used Irish pipes, because they were more melodic. Which is Mel Gibson’s polite way of saying
that Scottish pipes sound too awful for even this.)
As for the head coverings, Mark
Steyn eviscerated this bit in his book America
Alone when dealing with the similar “tradition” of the jilbab:
Now the limits of any reasonable
theory of feminism is personal freedom. A
woman should be free to be a doctor,
lawyer, soldier, what-have-you, so long as she can do the job, but if she just
wants to stay home, raise the kids and bake cookies, that’s her business, too. Or more precisely, it’s in the give and take
of any family where finances are juggled with aspirations, responsibilities and
so on. And if a woman decides for
whatever reason that she must wear a veil, that’s her decision ultimately, too,
within some limits of reason (i.e. not if it makes it unsafe to drive).
But that doesn’t mean we can’t
encourage women to reject this kind of sexist tradition and cheer them on when
they do. Over in Egypt, women on state television
have been allowed to wear hijabs for the first time in years. Of course you have to suspect what is right
now a matter of personal preference will soon become de facto required, enforced by employment discrimination and even
potentially threats. Women are fighting
to be treated equally over there, and that resulted in this dustup:
Yep, that is pure
awesomeness. I especially like how she
pointed out that he could deal with veil-less women on the street but pretended
he couldn’t handle it in an interview. Hopefully
she is a sign of forces of secular democracy that will push back against the
Muslim Brotherhood. But in the meantime we
can admire the
special beauty of a woman who won’t take no crap from anyone.
---------------------------------------
My wife and I have lost our jobs
due to the harassment of convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin, including an
attempt to get us killed and to frame me for a crime carrying a sentence of up
to ten years. I know that claim sounds fantastic,
but if you read starting here, you will see absolute proof of these
claims using documentary and video evidence.
If you would like to help in the fight to hold Mr. Kimberlin
accountable, please hit the Blogger’s Defense Team button on the right. And thank you.
Follow me at Twitter @aaronworthing,
mostly for snark and site updates. And
you can purchase my book (or borrow it for free if you have Amazon Prime), Archangel: A Novel of Alternate, Recent
History here.
And you can read a little more about my novel, here.
---------------------------------------
Disclaimer:
I have accused some people,
particularly Brett Kimberlin, of
reprehensible conduct. In some cases, the conduct is even
criminal. In all cases, the only justice I want is through the
appropriate legal process—such as the criminal justice system. I do not want to see vigilante violence against
any person or any threat of such violence.
This kind of conduct is not only morally wrong, but it is
counter-productive.
In the particular case of Brett
Kimberlin, I do not want you to even contact him. Do not call him. Do not write him a letter. Do not write him an email. Do not text-message him. Do not engage in any kind of directed
communication. I say this in part
because under Maryland law, that can quickly become harassment and I don’t want
that to happen to him.
And for that matter, don’t go on
his property. Don’t sneak around and try
to photograph him. Frankly try not to
even be within his field of vision. Your
behavior could quickly cross the line into harassment in that way too (not to
mention trespass and other concerns).
And do not contact his
organizations, either. And most of all, leave his family alone.
The only exception to all that is
that if you are reporting on this, there is of course nothing wrong with
contacting him for things like his official response to any stories you might
report. And even then if he tells you to
stop contacting him, obey that request. That
this is a key element in making out a harassment claim under Maryland law—that
a person asks you to stop and you refuse.
And let me say something
else. In my heart of hearts, I don’t
believe that any person supporting me has done any of the above. But if any of you have, stop it, and if you
haven’t don’t start.
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