Letters to the Editor
-
Thanks
for publishing this.
-
Opus is supposed to be Dada I guess at this point
Either it's supposed to mean whatever you want it to or nothing or the real point is the series of equally obtuse reactions people have to it. Coffeegrinder urinal with horns bicycle wheel.
-
I think it's being censored...
because America will be offended, not Muslims. The naysayers here predictably say nay once more to Mr. Breathed, but I think it's a very good strip...
-
I admire the shadows
...in the last panel. It's a nice effect on the computer especially when zoomed in.
This was banned? Only in the land of "U.S. Americans."
-
Defanged...
Berke - it needed to be funnier, or more offensive, or (preferably) both.
-
ahiida.com is the punchline!!!
Did anyone bother to checkout ahiida.com? The girls/women on that site look like they are having fun, but I really want to know what they would look like coming out of the surf with all that clothing on, or better yet, on a surfboard.
Think we can get MAXIM to do a Burqini shoot?
How do you say "Surf's Up" in Arabic?
-
I don't get it
Is he making fun of Muslim women for wearing a cover-all swimsuit? Or does he think it's some commentary on how the US fails to change Islamic society? Either way, it's just not funny.
-
If anyone thinks this is a pro-American, anti-Muslim cartoon . . .
the joke is on them.
The last panel is a bit reminiscent of George Bush's declaration, "Mission Accomplished!" A great cartoon, I think.
I do see something serious here, however -- something I've been noticing for a while, and have worried about. It seems that fewer and fewer people understand irony, and more and more take everything, even a comic strip, literally. I wonder whether I'm correct in my impression, and I wonder what it means.
-
Burquini Ayatollah
It's a rather dry comic, isn't it? As a long-time fan of "Heavy Metal" magazine and the "Love & Rockets" comic, I was rather hoping she would come out in a bikini or possibly fig leaf. Oh well, a burquini it is.....and how offensive! I mean, oh my god! Actually not offensive. Just rather dry and wry. To those who are complaining the cartoon is not very funny, have you read the other comics in the newspapers these days? "Not funny," "not funny," "not funny," and "not funny." Somebody should just title their comic "Not Funny" and cut to the chase. So Berk is doing OK, if not super-great.
The comic simultaneously reflects on Muslim standards and American standards, though it doesn't really say anything. You are free to interject your own interpretations. To me, Muslim women's clothing reminds me of Western women's clothing about 130 years ago -- not that I was around then. But I saw some pictures. Remember when women wore "hoop skirts" that might fly upward at any moment, revealing the multiple folds of their ankle-length knickers? Remember the oh-so-risque bathing suits for women in the 1920s, which would actually (gasp!) show their knees and a thin sliver of their mid-riff? HAWT! And don't get me started with feet....ohhhh what about those brazen hussies who wore shoes that revealed their bare toes? I might have to run to the bathroom and lock the door on that one.
We're all too quick to say Muslim women are repressed, though I personally think they are. But many Muslim women, if interviewed, will claim to be quite happy with their burkhas and place in society. Maybe they have no clue what they're missing. Or maybe their fearful and repressed. But I'll bet some of them are sincere in feeling OK about everything. Just think, if you wore a burkha you could roll out of bed, not have to worry about how you look, and go do anything you want in minutes flat. Awesome. You could be totally anonymous wherever you went. If you walked by that obnoxious Hummus Guy with Dolmades breath, you could pretend you didn't know him. Ha ha, Hummus Guy! You lose!
Anyway, I am all for cartoons in Salon. Why stop here? Bankroll some original Pete Bagge or Daniel Clowes or something. I dunno.
-
Mixed feelings and painful memories
It's obvious that the point is that she makes up her own mind what she will wear, even if Americans assume that she has been brainwashed into that choice. (In either case, a bikini or a burqa, why should a woman dress to please a man?)
As an American who once chose to wear saris and cover my own hair in order to be "chaste" by the standards of the Hare Krishna movement (an American offshoot of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a Hindu sect), I find that I have mixed feelings about this issue. Once I left the movement, I thoroughly rejected the notion that I needed to cover up my body so that men could be protected from any temptation that the sight might cause in them. We were told that the man is like butter and the woman is like fire. Well, give me a frying pan!
I remember how angry I felt when I heard how the Taliban were treating women and the many new restrictions placed on Afghani women as a result. It's difficult for me to be objective about women being required to follow such rules and actually penalized or even face violence if they do not. But here in America, Muslim women can choose, if they are willing to go against their community, family, and friends who might be more traditional. At least, I hope they feel free to choose. If covering up is their choice, I support them in doing so.
I see a young Muslim girl in our apartment complex who goes in the pool with her body and head modestly covered. We sometimes swim together and she is just as carefree and happy as any girl her age would be. I can't say that this mode of dress is harming her in any way, yet still I feel uneasy when I see it.
Is it just a blast from my past? Once I thought I was wholeheartedly embracing this modesty, and now I wonder if there was a rage simmering under the surface even then. With the mode of dress came a way of looking at women, at our position in relation to the men in our community, of always being lesser than, needing to be sheltered and protected and therefore limited and prevented from being all we could be or doing all we were capable of doing. We were frankly told that we were less intelligent and needed to be guided and protected at every stage of our lives. (My protector turned out to be my batterer as well, some protection.)
Now I wonder why, if men are the ones who have such difficulty controlling their senses, women are the ones who must cover up? Why don't the men in these restrictive religions wear blindfolds?
Maybe then the women could "protect" them by leading them around so they could conduct their business.
I'm glad Salon chose to run this comic strip--whether or not people think it is funny, it is at least thought-provoking.