Your Thoughts On This Please- an exploration of culture clash

[AtticusFinch]

Im surprised, considering the channel it was broadcast on that she was given air time.

 

A lot of Al Jazeera's staff are former BBC World Service employees. If you want to know what it's like, watch "Control Room". It's a documentary about Al Jazeera set just at the start of the Iraq war in 2003.

[purdyamos]

This woman (and Ayaan Hirsi Ali) have been heroines of mine for some time. As I've said time and again, the culture clash is not between Christianity and Islam, it is between patriarchal dogma and secular Enlightenment values. As I've also said, there are people from within those countries and cultures who are prepared to speak out and push for reformation, but we hardly hear about them because the liberal left are firmly protective of the religious conservatives. Any reasonable call for the same freedoms within Islam as those the left take for granted themselves, is branded racism.

[Jabberwocky]

So, and I know I may sound pretty naive here, if this lady or others like her were to say something similar on tv in say Iran or Iraq, would the outcome have been nasty? Or would they have engaged her in a debate...?

[donkey]

How so poppins? Do you mean that most of these outlets have leftist agendas which somehow run counter to Sultan's message? Or do you mean that they might be scared of upsetting the muslim minority in the US? As the latter is so small, I doubt if the latter can be the reason.

 

 

Good question. I hope poppins pops in again to answer.

[purdyamos]

So, and I know I may sound pretty naive here, if this lady or others like her were to say something similar on tv in say Iran or Iraq, would the outcome have been nasty? Or would they have engaged her in a debate...?

 

That's the thing, isn't it? We're always being sold the idea that Islamic countries are civilized and good and women are respected as equals, or at least that everyone born into an Islamic community is really happy with their lot. But the truth is it is often impossible for anyone to be able to express themselves freely without being punished or demonised - unless of course, they are freely supporting the status quo. Their voices are silenced, we hardly hear them.

 

And it's the very people who you would expect to be supporting and campaigning for that freedom who are actively suppressing any dissent. People who are outspoken about female equality, gay rights, who slag off the Catholic Church or political parties, who fought against apartheid, and so forth, are pro-oppression in the case of Islam. There are severalof these specimens on SF, who are blind to their disgraceful hypocrisy and no matter how often you confront them they Just. Don't Get. It.

 

Worth noting also that Ayaan Hirsi Ali spoke out in Holland and was still in genuine danger of being killed (as her colleague Theo Van Gogh actually was, of course). Now she's been hounded out and is living and speaking out in the USA too.

[LordChaverly]

So, and I know I may sound pretty naive here, if this lady or others like her were to say something similar on tv in say Iran or Iraq, would the outcome have been nasty? Or would they have engaged her in a debate...?

 

She would be in deep trouble in either country. In Iran, the punishment for apostasy is death (which can mean being hung from a crane or stoned in public). Ironically, the invasion of Iraq has actually set back the cause of women's rights, regardless of what it says in the post-Saddam constitution.

[LordChaverly]

That's the thing, isn't it? We're always being sold the idea that Islamic countries are civilized and good and women are respected as equals, or at least that everyone born into an Islamic community is really happy with their lot. But the truth is it is often impossible for anyone to be able to express themselves freely without being punished or demonised - unless of course, they are freely supporting the status quo. Their voices are silenced, we hardly hear them.

 

And it's the very people who you would expect to be supporting and campaigning for that freedom who are actively suppressing any dissent. People who are outspoken about female equality, gay rights, who slag off the Catholic Church or political parties, who fought against apartheid, and so forth, are pro-oppression in the case of Islam. There are severalof these specimens on SF, who are blind to their disgraceful hypocrisy and no matter how often you confront them they Just. Don't Get. It.

 

Worth noting also that Ayaan Hirsi Ali spoke out in Holland and was still in genuine danger of being killed (as her colleague Theo Van Gogh actually was, of course). Now she's been hounded out and is living and speaking out in the USA too.

 

Well said purdy

[LordChaverly]

LC. I've never seen or heard of her on any US talk shows, if anything FOX would have had her on by now I would think, Googling her, it says she was unknown up until 3 weeks ago, hope she gets to make the rounds before she gets her head chopped off.

 

poppins, she did appear on Fox shortly after the Aljazeera interview. See the link below. I was pretty sure that I remember watching it on Fox at the time. The reference to 'three weeks ago' is of course long out of date now.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9AgovSO4FQ&NR

[LordChaverly]

After watching that I'm glad for her that she lives in California...

 

 

Yes, she is probably safe enough in California, under the watchful eye of the Terminator.

 

Actually, I would be much more concerned for her safety if she came to the UK, not least because of the charming gentlemen in the video below.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKUoxbR9mwA

[poppins]

How so poppins? Do you mean that most of these outlets have leftist agendas which somehow run counter to Sultan's message? Or do you mean that they might be scared of upsetting the muslim minority in the US? As the latter is so small, I doubt if the latter can be the reason.

 

NYT ect mostly left wing media, and at times Muslim sympathizers, I'm just surprised they gave her the news coverage she deserves, they usually go for the Jane Fonda type....