Another feminist failure

Let's make a couple of things perfectly clear. I am a supporter of feminism. I believe in equal pay for equal work. I believe that a woman should be able to do anything a man does, provided she is physically capable of doing so. However, I think that modern feminism has become so completely politicized that it no longer acts as an advocacy group for all women. Instead, it has become a movement which focuses exclusively on the rights of Liberal or left-leaning women and the causes they espouse. This is why you see not a single word out of groups like NOW when so-called "honour killings" take place--it would be politically incorrect to say anything negative about Islam. That is also why you see not a word from feminist leaders about the rights of women in countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iran, where the dangerous and delusional Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is moving against the few rights women in that country still have: http://www.nypost.com/seven/09062008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/ahmadinejads_new_enemy__women_127724.htm.

If feminism is to retain its legitimacy as a movement, it can't simply speak on behalf of some women. It has to speak for all women.

More dishonour killings

There are reports out of Pakistan which suggest that five women who committed the unpardonable sin of wanting to choose their own husbands were shot and then buried alive in what appears to be the latest of example of so-called "honour killings": http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/shot-then-buried-alive-in-honour-killings/2008/09/02/1220121169879.html.

I'll leave aside my disgust at feminist groups who seem to completely ignore these stories whenever they come out. I'll leave aside my fury at the Islamic-dominated U.N., which has not once issued any condemnations of this primitive and barbaric practice. I'll ignore the fact that anyone who claims to be civilized should be appalled by these stories, instead of the deafening silence from so-called western intellectuals.

Instead, I'll ask this one, simple question: How can any human being, civilized or not, western or not, Muslim or not, accept this behaviour?

The spread of dishonour

I hate to say it, but this truly is an Islamic problem. You don't see Orthodox Jews or Southern Baptists or Hindus killing their daughters because they have "brought shame" on their families by dating, wearing western clothes, etc.: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/08/10/honor_killing_comes_to_the_us/. How can we in the West continue to tolerate this barbarism? Where are the damned feminist groups on this issue? Are they that cowed by the fear of Islamic terrorism that they refuse to say anything? I guess that their continued silence gives me my answer.........

More deafening silence.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have "women-free" Olympic teams: http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/05/21/should-men-only-muslim-teams-be-barred-from-the-olympics/. It's strange how this seems not to upset feminists in the least. You don't hear a word out of NOW or any other feminist organization. Nope, instead they're focussing on horrors such as construction work signs which say "Men at work". The IOC as well of course has nothing to say about this.

Talk about your priorities being completely out of whack.............

Still another "honour" killing

I'm late to this particular discussion, which has been all over the blogosphere for days now, and even the MSM is paying some attention to it, but a Pakistani immigrant recently killed his daughter after she told him that she wanted out of her marriage: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/georgia-man-charged-in-honor-killing/20080708154209990001. Of course, the MSM is glibly glossing over the connection of Islam to this horrible murder, going out of its way to portray as a simple "domestic violence" issue as opposed to a cultural or religious issue. Yeah, like we see Southern Baptists and Catholics killing their daughters because of perceived stains on their "honour". If you don't buy that first narrative offered by the MSM, then they'll throw the "It's our fault because we're not tolerant enough" argument at you, as if something like this should ever be tolerated in a civilized society.

What I want to know is, where is NOW (the National Organization of Women) on this? Where are any feminist organizations? You haven't heard word one out of them. Their silence borders on the criminal. One would think that if they truly do represent women, and are not simply a left wing lobby group, they would speak loudly and often on this subject. I think that their silence speaks volumes.................

Obamanation

Now that he's officially clinched the Democratic nomination for the Presidency, the media hoopla over Barack Obama can REALLY get going: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-06-03-clinton-delegates_N.htm. It's going to be very, very difficult for John McCain to beat Obama, and if those persistent rumours that Obama will make Hillary Clinton his Vice-Presidental nominee come to fruition, I think that McCain is toast in November no matter what he does. Look at the numbers now in the so-called battleground states (courtesy of Realclearpolitics):

Pennsylvania
Obama +5.8
Michigan
McCain +3.0
Ohio
Obama +1.3
Wisconsin
Obama +2.0
Iowa
Obama +6.4
Virginia
McCain +1.3
Florida
McCain +8.3

Those are NOT good numbers for the Republican nominee, who absolutely needs Ohio to have a shot at the Presidency. If Hillary Clinton joins the Obama campaign, the Democrats will have pretty much a lock on the female and minority vote.

It's looking like it will be a very, very ugly November for the Republicans.........

Dishonour in the name of honour

I don't know of a more horrific practice than the act of committing an "honour killing". Judith Apter Klinghoffer writes in her blog on the History News Network website about several recent episodes, each one more depressing and frightening than the one before: http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/49860.html.

Again, WHERE are the western feminist organizations on this issue? Where are the condemnations from NOW? Why are they silent? Until they speak loudly and unequivocally on this issue, they have zero credibility in my eyes.

Hypocrisy, thy middle name is "Steinem"

Yesterday, I blogged about how feminist icon Gloria Steinem trashed John McCain and said that his military service at best didn't matter and at worst was a negative. Well, turns out that four years ago, she was singing a very different tune: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,605468,00.html.

I guess that when you're a Democrat, military service IS something of which you should be proud. Then again, we all know how much more distinguished John Kerry's military record is when compared with John McCain's, don't we?

When is being a genuine war hero a minus?

When you're talking to a card-carrying member of the Angry Left, of course: http://www.observer.com/2008/stumping-clinton-steinem-says-mccains-p-o-w-cred-overrated. Turns out that in the world in which Gloria Steinem lives, being a hero such as John McCain (who even his most ardent critics have--to this point--acknowledged IS a war hero) is at best overrated and at worst a detriment to his serving as the Commander-in-Chief. Yup, that war hero crap is just SO passe...................

I find it interesting that Steinem has so much to say on this subject, but she's dead silent on the issue of honour killings or the gender apartheid in Saudi Arabia...................

Nothing "Honourable" about it

Reports in the U.K. are that there are 17,000 so-called "honour killings" in the country every year, and that this figure is very likely a gross underestimate: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/a-question-of-honour-police-say-17000-women-are-victims-every-year-780522.html.

Let's not get smug about it here, either. We have the case of those two teenage girls from Texas who were (allegedly) killed by their father for becoming too westernized. A rhetorical question: If you don't want your family to become westernized, why move here?

And, I'll keep asking this question until I get an answer, preferably from someone who either supports or is a member of the group: Where is NOW on issues like this?

Another week, another "honour" killing

Where else but in the Islamic cesspool that the U.K. has become? Another young Muslim woman who dared to have a relationship with a man of whom her family disapproved was killed in horrific fashion: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=QN0NOJETBUMWXQFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/07/20/nbanaz120.xml, by being strangled with a wire and having her neck stomped. Even worse, she expressed her fears to the police about her family on four occasions but they did not take her seriously.

Where's the article from Ms. magazine on this? Where's the statement from N.O.W. about this awful crime? Frankly, the silence of feminist organizations on this subject is a crime in and of itself.

Double Standards

I have to admit, I am mystified by the actions of feminists in the West. It's not that I disagree with equal rights for all, it's just that I don' get their willful blindness when it comes to the Islamic world. They carry on--sometimes legitimately--about gender bias in here in the West, but either ignore or (worse yet) excuse it in the Islamic world, where polygamy, honour killings, a lack of women's suffrage and the like are the rule: http://www.meforum.org/article/1769.

Can anyone explain this to me?