Letters to the Editor
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Actually, not
Several hundred women staged a demonstration to call for the release of a kidnapped U.S. aid worker. As uncommon as it is for a foreigner to be abducted there, it may be even rarer for women to stage a rally.
NOW it's rare to see women stage a rally in Afghanistan.
It wasn't rare back before the 1973 coup by Mohamed Daoud, whom Nixon and the Shah of Iran supported in the name of the War on Drugs because the authoritarian Daoud cut down all the cannabis in Afghanistan and ejected all the hippies.
Back before the 1973 coup, there were rallies and demonstrations all the time in Afghanistan and many of them were staged by women.
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women's issues ignored
Women in Mexico are being denited the right to vote. Women on our own North American continent. And this isn't big news? Something is seriously wrong here!
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There is no such thing as a bad thing that the Iranian government ever does.
I have it on firm liberal grounds that whatever they do, we're to like them and cheer them. There you have it.
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Israeli sex slaves
Odd how little you read about Israeli sex workers. Mostly Eastern European women held as virtual slaves.
If such a situation existed in Iran, we'd read about it, but because it goes against the MSM meme du jour, not a word. Google "Israeli sex slaves" and see what you learn.
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Or American sex slaves, Gordon
You know about sex slaves in Israel. So do I. I don't know about you, but I learned about it through newspapers and internet news sites. I learned about it through the media, in other words. The media has, and does report about sex slaves in Europe and Asia and Africa.
The media even report about sex slaves in this country, even if, as with the current story, the media reported about sex slaves in Iran.
But of all the nations that have sex slaves, you chose Israel to make your point about reporting on Iran. Why is that, Gordon?
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I've seen that human zoo on the Thai-Burmese border...
... and that's exactly what it is.
I was on a packaged hiking tour of the north of Thailand, and otherwise had a grand time hiking through villages with a small group of people. Until we got to what our guide called "the long-neck village." We did get information to start with about their culture, why the women put rings on their necks, all in a "isn't this interesting" presentation. Until a few facts creep in... the men traditionally put the rings on the women's necks. They start in early childhood. It's painful. It doesn't elongate the neck, it pushes the collarbones and shoulders down. That when women are unfaithful to their husbands, they traditionally have their neck rings removed, which kills them because they can't support their necks with their own muscles.
It gradually became clear that this village was in a political no-man's land. Like many of the Thai/Burmese/Laotian "hill tribes", they do not belong ethnically or linguistically to any of those three countries, they have their own distinct language and culture. Thailand, which is fairly homogenous in ethnicity, religion, and language, doesn't really want these people. So they live on marginal land that no one else wants, too poor of soil to farm properly, on the Thai side of the Burmese border.
They keep up the "long-neck" tradition solely for the tourists like me to come and see them, to buy trinkets and textiles and t-shirts, and take photos.
They were sad, thin, bored, and on display. They reminded me of the wolves pacing back and forth at my local zoo, pulling out their own fur in frustration and boredom. I bought some things because I felt sorry for them, and in the end just gave money... and I know that just perpetuates their plight. I didn't know what else to do. It seemed like a horrible way to live.
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Anybody see the writer/director of "Persepolis" on Colbert this week?
Stephen Colbert interviewed the woman who made the animated film "Persepolis." She was a very neat woman, arguing on behalf of the humanity of Iranians, and Colbert gave her the usual hilariously ironic treatment.
"Persepolis" looks like an interesting film. I like the animation style -- sort of a mixture of Japanese manga with Dan Clowes "Ghost World" subdued quirkiness. Looking forward to seeing it!
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The Seattle Times had a nice piece on the Mexican situation
It's not being totally ignored in the MSM. It's really bad, and I seriously hope the international community puts some pressure on the Mexican government to actually apply their national constitution to this problem.
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Desperation
Perhaps this is a sign the Iranian government is getting desperate. Of course, this whole scenario wouldn't be happening if Washington and London hadn't overthrown Mossadegh.
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Extreme Body Modification is as Old as the Hills
As a one time anthropologist, I got to know a bit about the rather extreme body modifications primitive people practise. The Kayan women with their permanently distorted collarbones and ribs, extreme Female Genital Mutilation in the Horn of Africa, and not least, what is called "secondary" circumcision among Australian aboriginal men (basically, slit open the urethra from the base of the penis on up, to make the penis "look like a kangaroo's").
How on earth are we to deal with "primitive" peoples and their un-modern behaviours, short of putting them in a zoo? And modern subcultures that do really nasty things to their bodies? Is it OK if the extreme body modifier is a middle class north american rebel, but bad if it someone living in a southeast asian hut? Should we civilize them? Honor them? Hold them up as objects of ridicule? Treat them as object examples in our own internal political wars?
This stuff is hard. But caging them and putting them on display does not seem particularly helpful.
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women's vote in Mexico
Of course women in Mexico can vote. But, there are certain areas, very small and limited, that are ruled by indigenous customs. That is, certain indigenous communities have be able to retain a level of autonomy. It is something akin, although not completely equivalent to, indian reservations here in the US. This concept of autonomy brings certain positive aspects such as the possibility of preserving pre-Colombian languages and tradition. Of course, it also creates situations such as women not being able to vote. But any woman who is not part of a community of this kind is able to vote in any Mexican election.