Letters to the Editor
Silenced
Published Letters: 1358 Editor's Choice: 75
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Okay this is my position not that anyone cares
[Read the article: Feminist hypocrisy on the hijab?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The hijab does not exist in isolation. It exists as part of the patriarchal tribal system.
We do not live in a patriarchal tribal system, for which I am grateful.
I like being a modern individual, not defined solely by my family, and I recognize the role that our political and economic system play in validating my existence and my rights outside of my family.
This is not how much of the world lives. In much of the world, the tribal system still is very strong and it performs a lot of functions that aren't performed by financial or political institutions in those countries.
It is a social and economic system unto itself.
Am I "against" that system?
I sure as hell would be against that system if it were forced on ME.
But I'm not going to advocate forcibly liberating tribal women from their tribal cultures, because I wouldn't have anything to offer to replace what the tribal system does.
Am I going to give them a modern government and a modern capitalistic economy?
That's what it would take to make the concept of living outside family rule realistic and feasible for them.
So it's pointless to "be against the hijab" -- there's a whole social and economic system attached to the hijab, and you're not going to get rid of that by protesting the hijab.
Social and economic evolution have their own time scale. It's not my job to force other cultures to evolve at a time scale that pleases me.
On the other hand, we have rule of law in this country, and if you're going to immigrate here -- you'd better be prepared to make SOME kind of peace with the concept of a modern individual.
America is not a tribal country. This is a country of modern individuals, for better or worse.
If you want to live in America as a tribal person -- you'd better realize that you're choosing a country that modern individuals built.
Modern individuals will be judging you should you end up in the justice system for practicing tribal law in this country.
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I'll recommend this book once more
[Read the article: Feminist hypocrisy on the hijab?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"The Tragedy of Afghanistan" by Pakistani socialist Raja Anwar.
Anwar gives a detailed account of the economic forces that have acted to preserve patriarchal tribal rule in rural Afghanistan.
He also gives a detailed accounting of how and why the officially feminist socialist government that took power in 1973 failed to make any major progress in convincing the tribal people to forsake their tribal ways and take part in a modern socialist economy.
Those bungled attempts to force Afghanistan away from patriarchal tribalism did more than just fail. They sparked a civil conflict that eventually brought in the Red Army and turned Bin Laden from a playboy into a terrorist.
Anwar's book could serve as a warning on how NOT to confront patriarchal tribalism in the developing world.
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I can't pick a candidate yet
[Read the article: McCain wins early newspaper primaries]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I thought I was going to vote for Hillary but then when that business about Obama's druggie past came out, it reminded me that Clinton drug policy was all about hatred and lies.
And then look at Salon -- here it's all about censorship.
Censoring the legitimate news on drug policy to play up this stupid fake controversy over Obama.
Now I'm afraid to vote!
What if I'm voting for the kind of censorship we see in Salon?
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God bless the ACLU
[Read the article: Inside the CIA's notorious "black sites"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is a horrible thing to read about, but at least one can feel reassured that the ACLU is on the job.
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You should really read Anwar's book
[Read the article: Feminist hypocrisy on the hijab?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But I suppose such practical lessons in real world attempts to change actual patriarchal tribalism in the actual developing world would be UTTERLY WASTED on a group of people determined to solve this problem completely within the confines of their own abstract ideological issue landscapes.
Yes, we can change the world if only we revile the right people.
Hah.
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I don't understand you guys at all
[Read the article: Kitchen gadgets: Do you need an indoor herb garden?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nancy Botwin's butt, Amy Winehouse's death march, Obama's (cough) misspent youth, and now pot growing in an automated aeroponic garden.
BUT: no cannabinoid science, not even when CBD blocks the gene that makes breast cancer metastasize, and not one single mention of the Sentencing Commission or the Supreme Court.
Two historic decisions last week have altered the course of the War on Drugs -- but they can't be reported in Salon because -- why? They're too politically sensitive?
That isn't really a GOOD sign for how things will be under the Democrats.
But whatever -- you're right, the Aerogarden is useless for growing pot.
And Salon is useless for finding out where the Democrats stand on mandatory minimum sentencing or the difference between powder cocaine and crack.
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Why don't they go after him like they do Tawana Brawley?
[Read the article: Uh, Brit?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Where is the relentless fury that the right applies to Tawana Brawley whenever that subject comes up?
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This case makes a point about patriarchal tribalism that I think the American left has been seriously missing
[Read the article: Saudi king spares rape victim]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The boyfriend was raped too.
I see left-leaning movie reviewers complain all over the Internet that "The Kite Runner" is an implausible story.
I think that's because they've been trained to think about how these societies abuse women and they haven't been educated by feminists or anyone else in how these societies abuse men.
Now the male rape victim did not get punished like the female did, but he still did get raped, so what did happen to him?
What happens to male rape victims in these societies?
There's a lot more of this than Americans have been educated to imagine.
"Charlie Wilson's War" is coming out next week. I doubt whether they're going to include in this film what was included in the book -- the fact that the CIA had surveillance photos of our favorite mujahedin "freedom fighters" raping their Soviet POWs.
What kind of "freedom fighters" rape their POWs?
Sad story all around.
It's useful to keep in mind that these patriarchal tribal societies are very hard on women, but they're also pretty hard on the non-dominant men.