Girl Murdered Over Hijab?

I lived in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 1971-1972. I talked to quite a few women friends in those countries who would wear the chador (aka abaya, burqa) whenever they went outside. I asked them about this, and if it was not oppressive, and if they would like to do without it. Several of these women told me that they would not get rid of this tradition, because it allowed them to go visit their lover and not be recognized, not even by their husbands. So yes, there are adavantages! The hijab, on the other hand, is simply the scarf that Muslim women and girls wear - it doesn't hide the face nor the body. I know Muslim girls and young women living in Europe who like to wear it, others who reject it. Those who like to wear it say that one of the advantages of doing so is the respect that they automatically get from Muslim men, and the disadvantage is the jibes and mockeries and hassles they get from non-Muslims.

The picture is that of a hijab.

You know that I feel that incredulous is making a lot of sense. How can we achieve total equality in this world when people are so deluded and oppressed that they cannot separate reality from fiction?

The reality is that we are all equal and that no one human being is better or morally superior to the other. We all have to poop and piss just like everyone else, including the animals. We all bleed and we all eventually die. No one has come back from the dead with definitive proof of an afterlife; everything in this regard is speculation.

The fiction is that God has a master plan that only he understands save for the few chosen ones who he has enlightened with the fullness of his knowledge and being to lead us misbegotten "sheep" who because of sin are of no value, deserving of death (unless we loose our lives for God's sake, then we will have eternal happiness in heaven or have 40 virgins waiting for us). In order to secure our place in heaven, we must not think for ourselves, we must not question their authority or how they derive it, we must accept on pure faith that they have and always will have our best interests in mind.

Expressing cultural sensitivity to patriarchal oppression is criminal; end of story.

In Saudi Arabia, a man has every right to murder his wife if she doesn't want to obey him, or even if he grows tired of her. He has the right to discipline her by beating her if he feels that she is straying from the faith. This is likely true in many Islamic Republics. He can burn her too. To quote Ramtha, "This is what I call dictatorial suppression and if this is done in the name of some god, then fuck that god."

"Violence in dealing with women in our Saudi society is a crime that no one likes to talk about and the harm continues because of that silence."
Dr. Abu Baker Ba Qadir
King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah

"Several hundred women are killed in the name of honor in Pakistan every year, but their murders are rarely brought to justice. However closely a woman tries to conform to social norms, she lives in fear of attack...just for being suspected of shaming her family in some way."
Amnesty International

To further quote from a lecture by Ramtha, "Do you realize that to this day no woman ever has been regarded as a Christ like figure?"

(Except for perhaps the Virgin Mary in Christianity, and other goddesses from various ancient religions and sects no longer practiced; but even the Virgin Mary is always depicted wrapped from head to tow with only her face showing, couldn't that be interpreted to be like a burqa or something like that?)

Any religion that does not acknowledge women as total equals both on earth and in heaven is a destructive terrorist cult that should be eliminated, even if they are domestic or foreign. In this instance I think the government has a duty to it's citizens to outlaw and ban such religions. In my opinion this is the only time that we should stray from the first amendment of the constitution. Murder is not free speech. Oppression is not free speech. Dictatorial control is not free speech.

Anyone who practices cultural sensitivity to violence and oppression is just as guilty if not more guilty of the crimes perpetrated.

Any enlightened woman in the 21st Century should be ashamed to suggest that any form of oppression should be tolerated. Shame on you for doing so!

Don't forget this amazing song and video from "Tear for Fears"...


Woman in Chains

"Deep in your heart their are wounds time can't heal."

Unfortunately You Tube has shut down the embedding on the video so you will have to click on the link below the video screen to go to You Tube's website to watch it. Sorry.

Incredulous, it is still ludicrous to claim that I was manifesting the Stockholm Syndrome when I was living in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

From the link:

The Stockholm incident compelled journalists and social scientists to research whether the emotional bonding between captors and captives was a "freak" incident or a common occurrence in oppressive situations. They discovered that it's such a common phenomenon that it deserves a name. Thus the label, Stockholm Syndrome, was born. It has happened to concentration camp prisoners, cult members, civilians in Chinese Communist prisons, pimp-procured prostitutes, incest victims, physically and/or emotionally abused children, battered women, prisoners of war, victims of hijackings, and of course, hostages. Virtually anyone can get Stockholm Syndrome it the following conditions are met:

* Perceived threat to survival and the belief that one's captor is willing to act on that threat
* The captive's perception of small kindnesses from the captor within a context of terror
* Isolation from perspectives other than those of the captor
* Perceived inability to escape.

Stockholm Syndrome is a survival mechanism.

* * * *

Nothing in the circumstances and conditions in which I was living when I was in those two countries remotely resembled those which can trigger the Stockholm Syndrome. Nothing whatsoever. In fact, not once was I experiencing any of all the possible conditions that can lead to the Stockholm Syndrome. Sorry, your analogy is completely off-target.

Furthermore, at the time when I was there, women were by no means forced to wear the hijab or the burqa, they did so of their own free will. Those who didn't want to were not obliged to do so. In Kabul, the burqa was generally worn by educated upperclass women, it was practically a fashion. In rural areas, it was practically never seen, especially as the burqa would make working in the fields almost impossible. Sure, some of the Afghan and Pakistani women were forced to do so by their husbands or fathers (mostly in remote areas), but they were very much the minority.

I'll grant you that things in both countries have changed a lot since the early seventies, but even today you'll see most women not wearing either burqa or hijab in the cities of Pakistan. Some will wear a light and semi-transparent veil draped loosely over their heads (à la Benazir Bhutto), but mostly, that scarf is worn hanging from the shoulders and folded over their breasts, as the Koran actually asks women to cover their breasts with a veil - the Koran was written at a time when many women were walking around with bare breasts, which is what offended Mohammed.