Tuesday
(0)Totalitarian systems are not sustained at the top, but at the bottom, where a system of mutual surveillance prevails. The influence of Desert Islam on the region has engendered just such a totalitarian system, whereby a woman who refuses to wear the hijab is stigmatised, and possibly threatened with violence. Even in liberal Lebanon, where women have historically been highly expressive in their dress, the present generation is increasingly adopting the hijab and shaming those who don't. Some people see this trend as a reaction to the West and modernity. It is anything but. It is merely a succumbing to the encroaching influence of Saudi-funded Desert Islam, a totalitarian system expounded by highly rational modern means.
- William G. Ridgeway, Those Drunken, Whoring Saudis: Desert Islam's problem with women
Note: This article was published on Social Affairs Unit blog and someone (we do not know who) redirected the url of www.islamchannel.com to point at it, to much consternation of the Islam Channel and bafflament and bemusement of the Social Affairs Unit. It also attracted some atypical commenters...
Or to quote the 'respected' (yeah, riiiight) Saudi journalist Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid:
"Is there any logical justification for spending huge amount of money on women's education when thousands of female graduates face the prospect of either remaining at home or entering a single profession."
Editorial article published in the Saudi Arabian newspaper Arab News, 4 April 2000.
Posted by Julian Taylor at September 6, 2005 01:31 AM
I hope I don't incur the wrath of the admins, but Perry de Havilland commented on it about two weeks ago.
Not that the story isn't worth repeating! :-)
Posted by Ted Schuerzinger at September 6, 2005 02:59 AM
Ted: Huh? The redirection happened yesterday as far as I know...
Posted by Adriana at September 6, 2005 08:14 AM
Ted: I mentioned the original article on SAU blog but the redirection from IslamChannel.com happened yesterday. Since yesterday the URL now redirects to a different and equally none too flattering commentary on Islam.
BTW, I have been deleting more multiple personality comments by a certain apologist for totalitarianism. Some people never learn.
Posted by Perry de Havilland at September 6, 2005 10:52 AM
"Is there any logical justification for spending huge amount of money on women's education"......
Actually, many in Saudi have written of this topic due to the fact they have so many University graduates amongst the women.
Unemployment is high for men, let alone women. Much of that solution lies in the massive importing of foreign labour, which will have to slow at some point soon.
Logical justification for women being educated? Of course. Would the West want women uneducated, even if they chose to be homemakers and raise their children? Of course not.
Educating women is priority, whether she chooses to have a career or not. Never say this is a waste.
Posted by Divine Mercy at September 6, 2005 12:54 PM
DM, dude, I don't the point of the article was to argue that women shouldn't be educated but that the wacko faction of Islam actually thinks that, and that is, you know, bad.
Posted by asus phreak at September 6, 2005 01:22 PM
DM "Educating women is priority, whether she chooses to have a career or not."
Whether she chooses to have a career? In SA?
Posted by Verity at September 6, 2005 01:54 PM
