Comment on Birthday Musings by A.J. Valliant
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Pollyana, Max, Jive, Sulya: thank you kindly; It was a fine birthday and strange piece to write.
.. read more..Comment on Birthday Musings by sulya
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
That is beautiful, Valliant.
Truly.
It made me ache and cry.
In both good and hard ways.
To all the words you will read this year.
To all the words you will write…
The world is measurably better because you learned to do both.
Happy Belated Birthday, sir.
.. read more..Comment on Birthday Musings by Jive
Monday, June 29, 2009
Given the relatively low word count that piece still managed to deliver a solid dose of thought and emotion into my day. A lean yet formidable featherweight of prose you could say. Well written sir, and happy birthday
.. read more..Comment on Birthday Musings by max
Friday, June 26, 2009
Happy Birthday AJ.
.. read more..Comment on French Fashion Sense: Sarkozy vs. Niqab by LaBee
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Hurrah! I have been raging at Monsieur Sarkozy since last week. I have sometimes heard other feminists use the “false consciousness” concept to describe women who say they are empowered while doing non-empowering things and it has always made be nervous. Your discussing of the concept is right on target.
Now, being a practical-minded gal, there a few other issues that come to my mind-
1) Sarko says that the burka is a prison. Did he stop and think that banning the burka will mean that women who wear it will be condemned to the prison of the home? At least the burka is a prison that can be worn in public.
2) Don't push the shiny red button! As if telling people they can't do something won't make them want it more. Outlawing this garment would contribute to the isolation, and the likely increased marginalisation, of fundamentalist Muslims. Is that what France wants?
3) I too am dubious about Sarko's sudden feminism; the arrogance is palpable. Are there not Muslim women in France working to create education programs and the like… groups that are respectful of religious practices and that have a profound understanding of how to reach out to women in abusive situations? Perhaps these groups could be consulted and funded by the French government.
4) While I understand how shocking it is to see a woman covered in head-to-toe black, I find it equally shocking that Western women pay surgeons to cut up their bodies causing horrifying bruises, and sometimes death, in order to conform to beauty ideals. Having married one such beauty ideal (twice), I hardly think Sarko will make a speech about the necessity of freeing white French women from the pressure to look sexy all the time. I'm not willing to get into a “your oppression is worse than my oppression” argument; these are both serious issues and 2 sides of the same coin, in my opinion.
Comment on French Fashion Sense: Sarkozy vs. Niqab by A.J. Valliant
Thursday, June 25, 2009
A more considered response:
Well I’ll be dammed, we finally agree on a social matter.
Using ones superior moral awareness to overrule another adult’s personal choice is always a suspect course of action. Unless there is concrete harm being done (physical abuse, extreme mental abuse, tremendous deprivation) or a child is involved, a citizen should be allowed to make unpalatable choices. Once you begin legislating a cultural standard you are enforcing narrow ethos over real social good.
Obviously the government extends it powers into personal lives already: drug laws, mandatory school ages, hate laws…but this so clearly fail the intentional stink test. If you are going to try and undermine someone’s culture at least be upfront about it: no one likes a passive aggressive xenophobe.
If they really care so deeply for those made vulnerable by misogynistic Islamic culture use the money they would waste enacting and enforcing this law and put it into scholarships for young girls, shelters and literacy initiatives for abused wives, and police and social workers to detect and shield them from the real harm that occurs in those communities…not fashion police.
At this point the French are setting themselves up as the moral peers of the Iranian religious police that beat and maim women for not wearing the garb.
.. read more..Comment on French Fashion Sense: Sarkozy vs. Niqab by A.J. Valliant
Thursday, June 25, 2009
How dare you try and play my deep prejudice towards the French against my deep prejudice of Islam! I won't stand for it, sir…even your trickster words can't force me to chose which deformed step child I love less.
ps.
Excellent piece. I'll allow my better nature to respond at length once I've had my morning coffee.
Comment on Birthday Musings by Pollyanna
Thursday, June 25, 2009
“I learned to read soon after.”
Happily for us, at some point you also learned to write. On a more personal note, to say I'm glad you made it through such precarious beginnings is a huge understatement, but glad I am.
May your day be filled with delicious toast, luxurious loungings, and assorted sordid delights. xoxoxoxo
.. read more..Comment on French Fashion Sense: Sarkozy vs. Niqab by Magnus Holm
Thursday, June 25, 2009
I couldn't agree more. While it is clearly morally wrong to pressure or force another human being to wear a niqab, burka or hijab – or a kippa or turban for that matter – it is just as wrong to pressure or force someone to NOT wear the same items of clothing.
.. read more..Comment on Sleep Stink by max
Thursday, June 25, 2009
I see an instant market for kitteh hazmat suits.
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