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Fox New raises an interesting question. Why lower the flag to half-staff because of a shooting on the Virginia Tech University campus that was apparently not related to national service (although I still do have questions about (Ismail Ax"). It was not an attack on the country as an idea, it was an act of an individual madman who apparently was not politically motivated. Meanwhile, about 20 GI's have died in active service to the country since the Virginia Tech shooting, and no-one has suggested lowering the flag nationally to half-staff for them.
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Meanwhile, Three Danish lawmakers have been reported to police for making remarks comparing Muslim women's headscarves with swastikas, pointing out that both are symbols of oppression. Apparently TRUTH is a reportable offence in Denmark these days.
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ReplyDeleteI wondered the same thing myself. For instance if tomorrow a bomb goes off at some US base and 700 soldiers are killed (God forbid), unless there is a world leader or major military leader in those soldiers, the flag will not be placed at half staff.
ReplyDeleteHow do students at a University rate? Are we changing the rules?
4/25/2007 2:00 PM
Muslim womens headscarves are not "symbols of oppression". Read a book,go and "talk" to people in cultures where it is worn (not only in Islamic ones,I'd add) and ask them why they wear it,before making such ridiculous generalizations. Neither is the Swas-tika in itself,a "sign of oppression". It is an ancient symbol that had been used (and still is) worldwide before that brief period of history when the Nazis used it. Read a book,read some history,before making such generalizations.
ReplyDeleteA Swastika is not a symbol of oppression because it was used by some other culture in the distant past? Hmmm, Okydoky.
ReplyDeleteIf Muslim women wore the scarf voluntarily, and were not brainwashed or pressured, and in some countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, even beaten for failing to cover up, then you may have a case.
The reader will decide.
Yes,the Swastika is 'not' a symbol of oppression in 'itself'. If you had said - "the use of the Swastika by the Nazis during their nasty deeds", things would have been clear. Personally,I don't think it is sane to stain an entire symbol that has been around for thousands of years, simply because a short term regime in history chose to use it. Are you one of those who would like to see the display of the Swastika as being an offence? Several religions have had to fight hard against such propositions that keep coming back for a second round every couple of years or so, and luckily keep on being defeated. With your comment, you called it "TRUTH" that Swastikas are symbols of oppression (which they are not). Nazi use of the Swastika was oppression. If you ask the women who wear headscarves in 'most' (not all) Muslim nations (and in Europe) the reason they are worn is that modesty is a "virtue" in Islam (and for men too, I'd add). Not an all out "do or die" thing. Nothing wrong with modesty, either. Some would even say we lack the virtue of modesty in modern times. Each to their own when it comes to Europe/U.S. Some Muslim women in Europe even "choose" to wear that extreme full Chador or Burqa (which they do "not" have to do if they don't want to). Why do most choose simple headscarves? Because they wish to, for their own reasons. We may be perplexed by it, being used to seeing half naked women as our criteria for "freedom". Each to their own. In Islam where modesty is a virtue and relationships with other men are far less loose, lots of Muslim women wear headscarves for that reason. To not be leared at while out and about. And many Muslim women have been very offended when women in our countries stand up on a podium in our countries and scream about those women being "oppressed", wearing a headscarf. Because it is arrogant presumption. In some nations, yes it is forced upon them, true. No denying that. But that is an issue of specific nations, specific regimes, and specific interpretations. Not the headscarf itself. It is like the Swastika. In itself, a headscarf is not a symbol of oppression. Worn in other cultures (un-Islamic ones), they are worn either for modesty, or to protect the hair from environmental pollutants (as women in our own cultures used to wear them not so long ago in history).
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