Bikini Beats Burqa

A very odd op-ed in the Guardian.

David Thompson:

In the comments following her article, Ms. Gopal inevitably invokes racism as a primary motive, claiming that, “the favoured game in town really is White Men Rescuing Brown Women From Brown Men” - a caricature for which no evidence is deemed necessary. She bemoans “US aggression and violence against Afghans,” as if the Allies were deliberately targeting civilians rather than the Taliban (who of course do deliberately target civilians as a matter of routine, and who buy or kidnap children as young as seven to use as walking bombs). She also objects to “assertions of civilisational superiority,” as if the society in which she lives, and lives quite comfortably, offered women no more opportunity for self-determination than one in which girls’ schools are burned to the ground in the name of piety.

The Western world is, of course, not perfect. However, saying that the West -- Greco-Roman reason fused with Judeo-Christian morality -- is not superior to the systems one finds in the several Trashcanistans in Asia just goes to show how big of a buffoon one really is.

Comments

[Francis W. Porretto]

"The Western world is, of course, not perfect."

Until you can point to a society that is perfect -- and not composed entirely of dead persons -- I'd appreciate it greatly if you were never to use that phrase or anything like it ever again.

[Yeah, that was a silly concession which I added at the end. It's a bad habit I've picked up here talking with Canadians. For example, when talking about state vs. private health care, I have to often concede that private care isn't magical and perfect; just that it's far better than the alternative.

Come to think of it, it's quite a philosophy for leading a miserable life: something which is not perfect must be bad. -- Isaac S.]