Freedom, the Veil, and Western Views of Islam

I often spend time reading such blogs ashttp://www.muhajabah.com/islamicblog/archives/veiled4allah/010848.php to read Muslim interpretations of the West, as well as Muslim interpretation of the Islamic world FOR the West. What struck me today as I read about women in the Islamic world, the UAE port deal, and the Danish Cartoon Extravaganza was how much emphasis is placed in Islam on Society and the individual's place in the Umma (as I believe it is called), while in the West, the individual and individual conscience tends to have the upper hand. Wearing a veil is partly viewed by some as a FEMINIST response to Muslim men; see http://www.muhajabah.com/islamicblog/veiled4allah.php and scroll down to read about this.

From an American perspective, it seems sheer folly to wear a veil and cover oneself BECAUSE SO MANY MUSLIM MEN CANNOT BEHAVE PROPERLY TOWARD WOMEN IN PUBLIC. We have assholes here, too, hanging out of cars and hooting and whistling, yet in the US, covering yourself from head to toe would not be considered a reasonable or practical response to this behavior.

Veiled4allah also points out how a woman in Hamas can reconcile her feminist goals with sending her sons off as "martyrs" against Israel. It just sounds to me, as a Westerner, like fascism. Women were liberated under Soviet communism, but were "free to be put in a cage" in Leningrad (apologies to Randy Newman). They were equal to men under a form of government which rendered individuals impotent except to serve the state.

I'm afraid that whatever Muslim moderates might say, the logic of the state under Islam is headed away from democracy and toward state power over individual conscience. In practice, this has been more often the case than not, or wouldn't democratic governments be more common in the Muslim world?

It seems that Muslims wish that Danish editors would worry about Muslim sensibilities, just as the Islamic world seems to expect women to adapt to the sensibilities of Muslim men.

In America, we a have a saying: "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke."

I just can't hear that being said in Arabic.

Ahoy Bikers! Confront Narrow-Minded Stupidity

Reading this article at CNN made me wish I had learned to ride a motorcycle. Shame on Phelps and his ignorant followers, and kudos to the Patriot Riders.

Equal Opportunity Offensiveness

Just thought I'd point you in this direction in the interest of spreading offensiveness around on an equal-opportunity basis.

I've Always Liked the Danes, but I'm Not Muslim; Or: Buy More Havarti and Legos

After viewing this video which I think sums up the Islamic culture war situation pretty well (although it doesn't go into much depth), my reaction was to note how much shame is a part of so much of Muslim culture. Is Islam so weak, it cannot withstand a little blasphemy in a part of the world where blasphemy of all types is now the norm? And why are so many of these protesters hiding their faces?

And after hearing an English apologist for Muslim anger over the Danish cartoons, I wondered if he was standing the Muslim reaction on its head. Europeans learning to hate again? Huh? Doesn't this fellow know that when the Germans invaded Denmark, the Danish Jews had the support of their gentile countrymen? Or perhaps since so many Islamists hate Jews (actually, I think it's required) they still hold that against the Danes?

If Europeans are learning to hate, maybe they're taking a cue from the Middle East and its emigres. In so much of the Muslim world hate seems NEVER to have gone out of style. Read the signs in the video. Compare them to the cartoons. Which is more threatening? Is it any wonder when crowds take to the streets in the West urging death to anyone who doesn't like Islam Westerners fall prey to the urge to stereotype?

When moderate Muslims compare Western freedom of the press to Hitlerian propaganda, they miss the opportunity to EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE to their co-religionists. Religions in the West are part of the marketplace of ideas. If Islamists cannot hold their own without threatening death, beheading, etc. then they betray their own shame, self-loathing, and the anachronisms of their beliefs.

Does This Mean We Can Withdraw from Iraq?

This article examines W's most recent take on the oil industry. It sounds as though Bush has been taking a look at Jimmy Carter's policies (another president who had a bit of experience with the Mideast, and particularly in Iran). Because of its staunch support of free market principles, I doubt that the Bush administration will try to regulate petroleum consumption in this country. Would that I were wrong.