The Desert Mordor

Oprah Winfrey showed Rania, a Saudi woman who was almost beaten to death by her husband. She used this segment to talk about the unfair and unequal treatment of women in Saudi Arabia. Essam objected to Oprah's show by writing this article in the Arab News.

Then came this remark by Qays:

At times I just wish miss Oprah would stop being a good house slave and represent the facts right.

Lovely.

The "facts" that Oprah got wrong are never exactly stated. Instead, Oprah is savaged for showing Saudi Arabia in a bad light. Cry me a river.

Here are a few FACTS about Saudi Arabia:

• Women must cover their bodies from head to toe in an abaya and never be in the company of unrelated males.
• Women are forbidden from voting.
• Women are not allowed driver licenses. It is illegal for them to drive.
• Women are not allowed to work in the majority of jobs.
• Women must have the consent of their guardian for travel (father or husband). Even then they can only travel with a male relative.
• The Mutaween (the religious police) enforce the above Islamist laws. For example, in March of 2002:

Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers.

15 of the girls died in the inferno as some of their parents waited outside. The Mutaween would rather have females burn to death than have them show an ankle in public. How anyone can defend Saudi Arabia is beyond me.

Comments

[Qays]

Mr. Schrödinger,

Thanks for the comment and the sharing of your perspective on your blog. Please note that at the end of my post I made a reference to the blog of a woman living in Saudi Arabia: "Nzingha’s Soapbox". There's a good perspective there. For those who are really interested. Pitty you didn't refer to that woman's views above.

My comment about Oprah was general and not specific to the segment in question that's why I said sometimes. That's why I didn'get to the specifics. I remember Oprah had featured my country on one of her programs and people left with the impression Guyana was Uganda or something.

There was something wrong with the woman's husband mentally. Omitting facts is not getting them right too you know. Additionally Mr. Ghalib's article pointed out the deception and bad faith that characterized that production. This has nothing to do with defending Saudi Arabia. It has to do with the ethics and conduct of Oprah Winfrey's outfit. But extremist, Muslims or otherwise have always been ready to ignore ethics and right conduct for whatever cause they misrepresent.

Qays

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Qays, I'll remind you the title of your post:
Thanks Oprah, but I’m PROUD to be Saudi! :)

There were two distinct reactions to Oprah's segment:
1. Her show wasn't upfront about how they would use the segment.
2. How dare she criticize the plight of women in our great Saudi Arabia!

As you see, I focused on the latter with multiple facts. Yet, you choose to waste energy on the first, and inconsequential, reaction. My point still stands. Put a little differently: how can any decent person be proud of Saudi Arabia?

[Qays]

Hmmm...fair enough...I see your point. Just let me clarify though. The post title was just the name of the petition I cut and paste it to draw attention to it. Please I am NOT proud of Saudi Arabia (anyone who knows me knows that). However I don't feel that a paucity of integrity is ever "inconsequential" not on my own part nor anyone elses including Oprah. Such programs come across to me like the newspapers that were circulated in Europe after the 'discovery' of the 'new world' which spoke about the the native 'Indians' as 'savages' and 'barbarians' in South America and the Caribbean: i.e. condescending cover for truely barbaric impositions and slaughter.

As such for me it's not so much an issue of 'how dare she criticize the plight of women in our great Saudi Arabia' but it's more an issue of 'why would she trick a Saudi woman into doing something she clearly did not want to and smear her homeland in the process'? Because of mutual human respect and the protection of rights? I don't think so. Perhaps Saudi is next in line like Afghanistan, Iraq and the American Indians. People should be allowed to fight their own battles and 'liberate and civilize' themselves, without the greed-driven meddling of a condescending elite who hide their imperialistic ambitions behind a supposed mandate to spread 'freedom and equality' among those they don't even respect enough to treat with integrity.

Qays

[Isaac Schrödinger]

"Perhaps Saudi is next in line like Afghanistan, Iraq and the American Indians."

That's odd, I don't remember the US government giving billions of dollars of aid to the American Indians.

"People should be allowed to fight their own battles and 'liberate and civilize' themselves,..."

Centuries had passed by while the Afghanis and the Saudis had yet to 'liberate and civilize' themselves. Meanwhile Osama's terror apparatus flourished in Afghanistan, the Khobar Towers were bombed, two US embassies in Africa were destroyed, the USS Cole was hit, and then four years ago the savagery reached the shores of the US.

For their own safety, the US and the West has to liberate the Muslims who've lived under tyranny.

"... without the greed-driven meddling of a condescending elite who hide their imperialistic ambitions behind a supposed mandate to spread 'freedom and equality' among those they don't even respect enough to treat with integrity."

Thanks for showcasing your worldview. Need I remind you that it was Oprah's show that didn't treat the Saudi women with integrity NOT the US government. You treat both as though they were one and the same. The regime = the media in most of the Middle East but -- trust me -- such is not the case in the US.

[Qays]

"That's odd, I don't remember the US government giving billions of dollars of aid to the American Indians."

You're right. In the absence of Ayatollah and Russia as threats there was no need for the aid at first so they just got the slaughter!

"Centuries had passed by while the Afghanis and the Saudis had yet to 'liberate and civilize' themselves."

I suppose blacks were 'people' in the U.S 'centuries ago'. Please.

"Meanwhile Osama's terror apparatus flourished in Afghanistan"

Yes. Refer to your earlier comment about US aid money.

"the Khobar Towers were bombed, two US embassies in Africa were destroyed, the USS Cole was hit, and then four years ago the savagery reached the shores of the US"

All this while the US was minding her own business, totally oblivious to the middle-east, sustaining herself purely on Texan oil and spending 'billions of dollars of aid' purely for philanthropic motives. This madness was occuring just because the people are barbarians. How sad. Hmmm...thanks for showcasing your worldview!

"For their own safety, the US and the West has to liberate the Muslims who've lived under tyranny."

Yes and 7/7 has nothing to do with 'liberating' Iraq just as 9/11 had nothing to do with US foreign policy which had nothing to do with 'Muslims who've lived under tyranny'. I can see the world getting safer already.

"The regime = the media in most of the Middle East but -- trust me -- such is not the case in the US."

[Enjoying a good laugh here] Good one...I gotta write that one down.

Mr. Schrödinger, for our collective safety both Muslims and the West need to abandon our pretentions, hold our leaders accountable, uphold the truth and treat each other with respect. And leave off 'interventionism' in favor of honest trade and international relations.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

I used the word 'savagery' to specifically describe the Islamist terror attacks. However, you said:
"This madness was occuring just because the people are barbarians. How sad. Hmmm...thanks for showcasing your worldview!"

Qays, you extended the remark to "the people" not I.

"Yes and 7/7 has nothing to do with 'liberating' Iraq just as 9/11 had nothing to do with US foreign policy which had nothing to do with 'Muslims who've lived under tyranny'. I can see the world getting safer already."

Do describe why 4 Muslim Londoners would murder over 50 Brits for the Iraq War? For that matter, how did US foreign policy contribute to 9/11? Put it another way: what would have the US done differently before 9/11 to avoid vexing Osama?

I am very interested in that question being answered.

I see that you still think that the US media is a propaganda arm for the US Republican government. I don't know how to respond.

"hold our leaders accountable"
Hunh, most of the Muslim world doesn't have leaders but rather some variety of dictators. How exactly can people in Saudi Arabia or Syria hold their, ahem, leaders accountable?

"uphold the truth"
A sizable proportion of the Muslim world thinks that the 9/11 attacks were perpetrated by the US government. The ruler of Saudi Arabia has said that the terror attacks that have occured in the Middle East were carried out by Zionists not Islamists. More conspiracy theories: Coke is anti-Muslim, Jews control US media, Jews in WTC were warned about 9/11, Israelis kill Palestinian kids and use their blood in food, and on and on.

The truth eventually comes out in the Blogosphere but such is rarely the case in the Muslim world. And even when it does, most people choose to believe in their convenient, and false, theories.

"treat each other with respect"
Please give the Islamists that message. Note, I talked about the Mutaween who ended up killing 15 girls because they were not fully covered. They seriously need to respect Muslim girls who're running out of a flaming building. Respect for the infidel is a whole new level.

"...leave off 'interventionism'..."
The West can't do that. Not after 9/11, the Bali attacks, the Madrid bombings, the raping and killing of children in Beslan, 7/7, and the almost daily assaults on the tiny democracy in the Middle East: Israel.

Our Great War was started by the Islamists. The West will end it.

[Qays]

OK. I'll blog a response to the legitimate questions you have raised. Insha Allah.

[Aya]

The natives here in the USA are free to be religious or NOT.
The women are treated with respect and given power in the tribe.
The Native American Indians here in the USA are Sovran and raking in the big casino BUCKS.

Don't feel bad for *American* Indians, I feel bad for anyone born into a Islamic dictatorship where the women are stoned for having sex with WHO THEY CHOSE TO be with, AND forced like to be slaves to small dicked muslim MEN.

:)