I've written a more elaborate piece on the problem with Bill Maher's conception of the Arab and Muslim worlds before, but his latest comments on the video of Gaddafi's violent capture merit another reaction. Commenting specifically on the video of rebels sodomizing Gaddafi with an object before he was killed, Maher said: "Don't these people have issues?... I feel like [committing this act] says something about you as a culture."
There is no denying that the abuse and brutality that Gaddafi met at the hands of the rebels upon his capture was utterly unacceptable, regardless of how awful his crimes had been (and doubtless they were pretty awful). But whatever abuses take place in the midst of armed conflict tell us less about the culture of the perpetrators and more about the culture of war, especially when we see these very same abuses replicated in other conflicts across the world. When American soldiers are documented to have committed acts of sexual humiliation against Iraqi prisoners in Abu-Ghraib, no sensible thinker would take that as a reflection of American culture. It's a reflection of an environment of violence, dehumanization, and unaccountability.
The truth is that war takes a part of our humanity away. People cease to operate by healthy moral mindsets when they are plunged into a situation where they have to kill or be killed. While that much may seem obvious to most of us, people like Bill Maher are so eager to support their preconceived (indeed, ill-conceived) notions about the culture of "these people" (he's always loose on who he's talking about exactly) that he's willing to grab any piece of plausible evidence and force-connect it to his thesis when in reality there were no dots to connect at all.
To their credit, people on the panel with Bill Maher challenged his comments, with Newsweek's Michelle Goldberg noting that the treatment of Mussolini's corpse could not be taken to reflect Italian culture, and Cornel West adding that sexual abuse had taken place by rogue officers within American police forces. As for Bill Maher himself, he seemed noticeably reluctant to defend his point, as though he wasn't certain his interpretation was defensible. To his credit, he is an honest thinker who has repeatedly shown the capacity to evolve his views when confronted with new facts, which makes calling him out when he gets something really wrong all the more worthwhile.
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The American media needs to be accountable by removing those which only serve the purpose of being pundits. Professional opinionists are destructive to bringing fact based awarness in the news realm. The citizen watching news that is seeking to be informed needs facts over opinions on subject that are past or happening in the current time.
End of Story !
When we expose ourselves to such things we run the risk of embracing the same depravity we so readily condemn in others. We are just as vulnerable. Look at OWS, the police violence, the violence from fringe elements of the movement. As a society we are only steps away from making choices we will all come to regret. Meaning, we are not far from taking action in ways for which we already are or will be increasingly ashamed of.
Once we come to realize our equality and oneness as a species, I am convinced those things causing apathy and indifference, as well as those things turning us away from each other, will fade away into the ether.
Appreciate your post. Peace! =)
I wouldn't say it's a deeply male thing either like West suggests (or here him chant 'deeply male thing' ever again). The e.g. is specific to men, but Lynndie England shows all people have a capacity for great inhumanity towards other people when othered by war--sexual humiliation. Libyan culture is not to blame.
Bill Maher doesn't, as you suggest, lack dots to connect when critical of how middle eastern culture mistreats women--it's just they don't connect to Gaddafi. It's not a sound argument to blame what happened to Gaddafi on these separate critiques and issues. Here, women may get objectified, face sexism, but women have faced a less difficult recession when it comes to finding a job here albeit pay inequity still exists. Women over in some other countries where Islam dominates can't drive cars, educate themselves, and do a whole host of things Secretary Clinton has shown great leadership addressing.
Islam doesn't inevitably lead to women's mistreatment. Maybe some women want to follow behind their husbands at a distance, keep themselves covered, for his eyes only. However, I also don't think its ethnocentric to say American culture treats women better overall. That results from an intellectual revolution, feminism, not a prevailing religious view as our society is pluralistic and respects freedom of religion.
Whoa.. Its only one country and It's saudi arabia. The inability of women to drive is the Saudi society's fault not just the religious class over there. The saudi society is hugely sexist when it comes to women in general but it doesn't have much to do with Islam.
you could add Afghanistan under taliban to the list.
There's nothing in islam that suggests women shouldn't be allowed to drive or educate themselves. So you would've more accurate if you said Arab countries.
Still, don't hang your hat on e.g. Islam is blameless. I could have used, "travel abroad without a husband's consent." That's not in the Koran either, and anyone with an eye for anachronism knows driving a car could not be commented on by Mohammad.
However, the original text of Islam ain't great feminist lit.
E.g.'s
--(2:282) A woman's testimony is worth one-half a man.
"Call two witness from among your men...And if two men be not at hand, then a man and two women."
To show it's not an "Arab" problem, "A survey carried out by the Indonesia Survey Institute found that 43% of Indonesians support Rajam or stoning for adulterers."
The Bible stinks on women's rights too. However, feminists in our country won out.
I'm not saying an Islamic man is more likely to rape a woman than a Christian man or an Atheist--that's stupid.
However, Saudia Arabia is not unique among Arab states in having sexist laws. To separate the laws, the religion, and the culture proves a fool's errand--the causality is intertwined.
I stated before that "Islam doesn't inevitably lead to women's mistreatment." However, it's true Arabic countries, where Islam pervades public life and the culture, often mistreat women, and even encode it in their laws.