At the risk of going off topic, what is it about Christianity that you believe is hostile to women? It certainly seems much more "female friendly" than the Muslim faith.
She said nothing about Christianity in general. She did mention the conservative christian movement, which is merely a politicized version of Christianity.
I said "conservative christians." The ones that are anti-abortion, anti-birth control, anti-sex ed, etc etc etc. Also, the Catholic Church doesn't allow women to be priests and doesn't allow their priests to marry. Nuns are basically servants, with no real status in the church. Yeah, relatively speaking christian women have it pretty good in this country. There is a contigent of conservative christians who think that the BC pill is the root of all the evil that has befallen our society in the last 40 years. God forbid something comes along that gives women some control over their lives.
What's the connection between feminists and the national networks? It's not like the networks or the mainstream media in general are carrying water for feminist activists. The mainstream media has a long-standing practice of ignoring feminist work only to periodically discover some particularly egregious violation of women's rights and denounce American feminists for ignoring the plight of women in the third world, all the time not paying attention to the extensive and sometimes heroic work that people with limited resources are doing to address the problems. See for example, Katha Pollit's response to Nic Kristof denouncing American feminists for not caring about sexual slavery: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040301&s=pollitt To denounce feminist activists for the mainstream media ignoring women in Afghanistan and Iraq is like blaming BigSoccer for the lack of MLS playoff coverage.
You're a fvcking idiot. Sincerely, Patrick Henry Bill, I hate to defend Coulter but she has to get a pass on that comment IMO. She wrote it less than 24 hours after her best friend (CNN reporter Barbara Olsen) died aboard the plane that hit the Pentagon, I think we can forgive her for writing something stupid in a fit of rage.
I know that but in a TV intense environment my default is the visual reference. Sorry for the misnomer.
Suggesting to kill people is a consistent Coulter theme. 9/11 is just an excuse for her to continue promoting her version of hate.
needs, fair enough. Reliance on any single segment of broadcast media alone is not the best way to get information and the rights of women is not difference. This did get off topic and I think I have made my point clearly; whether it is the result of a lack of recognition by feminists or the lack of coverage of same, the result has been too little recognition of the effect.
As far as I'm concerned there hasn't been nearly enough media coverage of the potential dangers that face women in Iraq or discussions about how to head them off.
So I am curious, what would you do in Iraq to make the future safer/better for women? (That is if anybody has that power.)
Fair enough, but she got fired because a few (several?) days later, she refused to edit that piece. I don't know what the statute of limitations is for "vicious hate caused by grief." I'm just sayin'.
I don't know. That's a good question. I think that there is possibly nothing we can do at this point but I'm not very well-versed in the details of the Iraqi political landscape so maybe those who are better informed will have some ideas. I sure as ******** hope our government does. However, the damage is done and we most likely have zero control over anything that happens from this point forward. It's pretty clear that Bush thoroughly ********ed up the place and has no idea how to fix it. I'm hopeful that what we wind up with in Iraq is a democracy with a constitution that is secular and calls for equal rights for women. I'm hopeful that we don't wind up with a civil war over there. I'm bitter that our government has created this situation. I'm bitter that our government will not acknowledge that there was no pressing need for it in the first place. I'm bitter that our government alienated our allies to the extent that they will not help us. Well, except for the UK and Poland, of course. Generally, I'm just bitter.
Why is "personal responsibility" such an anethema to people on the right? What's next, the Twinkie Defense?
BarbaraJune, I certainly don't have any answers either. My hope is that the progress made in Iraq is similar to the elections in Afghanistan. As much as the Iraqi situation is frustrating, at least the people will have a chance to vote. Right now the big quarrel internally the Secularists vs Monotheist. Given that choice, I hope for a Secularist-based government for the sake of the women. Allawi seems to be headed in that direction. The big problem is that the geography of Iraq encompasses really 3 different groups of people who haven't liked each other for centuries. (Sounds like segements of this board sometimes. Just kidding.) On a slightly different level, a good friend's sister is a doctor currently stationed in Iraq. She was home for a 3 week leave last month and claims that the "insurrgents" are making trouble in a relatively small area of the country and that is at the top of the news everyday. Throughout the rest of the country, the plight of women is much better than under Saddam. She had many interesting stories, some were scary, others very heartwarming, but all indicated some real progress was being made. Frankly, at a time when most everything else has been sounding very negative, it was nice to hear some good news.
Good point. And that's something that the Bushies should have considered from the outset. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Good. Believe it or not, I'm glad to hear good news. As for the plight of women being better now, excellent! I hope it stays that way. It's not right this minute that I'm worried about. I'm worried about later. When we no longer have a puppet government there.
If history is any guide, there will be US forces in Iraq for several years at the least. Heck, we still have troops in Bosnia, Germany, Japan, Korea, etc. Given the overall makeup of Iraq, no matter how the elections turn out, the will have to be some significant military force there to keep the 3 sides from killing each other and destroying the government that has been elected. Hopefully, once a legitimate government selected by the people has been put in place, we would see a more multi-national force in place but I am not betting on that. I am resigned to a US force in Iraq for the next 5 years because no matter how the US election turns out, to pull out of Iraq in anything less than 24 months would result in a bloodbath, IMO. My opinion/hope is that once the new government is selected, and the people have a chance to see it working, they will accept the format and things will stabilize. stabilize.
I couldn't wade through all the idiocy on a thread stemming from an Ann Coulter comment, but I got far enough to see some totally misinformed people making comments about Afghanistan and how we've all of a sudden done so much for women there. Newsflash: Women in Kabul prior to the Taliban takeover were quite free--they were doctors, teachers, lawyers, journalists, etc etc. American and international feminists (and other human rights groups) were talking about the Taliban for most of the late 90s, quite vocal about how horrible it was what was happening. Especially the stuff about destroying those buddha statues, IIR. Clinton merely tried to freeze them out and let international organizations deal with. What did Bush do? "Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously. That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention. Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998. Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden." http://www.robertscheer.com/1_natcolumn/01_columns/052201.htm Simply put, that Coulter is now trying to say that feminists should get in line with Bush for rescuing Afghan women is beyond idiotic. Of course, it's par for the course for her.