Greetings, Salvador > Burkas are a cultural artifacts associated with tradition, not a taliban > idea, and it makes even more dificult for these Muslim women to choose. We > must aware to avoid a very common confusion: a cultural product is not > necessarily good by itself. And freedom of choice, at least in > this kind of > issues, should not be restricted by tradition of culture.
I think you are going directly to the heart of the matter, here. Culture is, if anything, a common set of assumptions, values, and uncodified 'rules' about how people should act. Freedom of choice can exist within a culture, and simply means that a culture allows certain degrees of freedom on certain issues, but prohibits choices that lie outside that range. If one is part of a culture, one will tend to think that the degrees of freedom that it allows are proper, and that those who go beyond are 'wrong.' As a member of a culture, we often brans those who live in other cultures where other ranges of freedom are adopted as 'wrong', or 'barbaric,' or 'ignorant.' An example: what do you think would happen if you (or I!) were to walk naked into our local supermarket? Church? Police station? It is only a cultural assumption and its cocification that 'says' this is 'wrong.' Yet, will anyone assert that no culture should stand in the way of an individual's freedom to make and implement such a choice. We have comparable cultural assumptins (which act in part as the blinders I have been referring to in my past posts) with regard to work, employment, income, and societal responsibility. The burka discussion was a handy way of getting at the central point.... > > > I have no doubt those people, who think they do Afghani women a favor by > > trying to 'liberate' them from the outside mean well. But some disasters > > are wrought by the well meaning. No doubt the communist regime meant to > > do well for the equality of male and female by abolishing the dowry > > practice; only it wasn't accepted by the majority of the population that > > just wasn't ready for it, it was considered an attack on their culture, > > tradition and religion and it directly led to the anti-Soviet uprising > > and the real start of the war. > Of course nobody has the right to impose others what he/she > considers "good" > (americans and catholics tend to forget it, as history clearly shows), > except when there are serious threats like illness or violations to human > rights (like selling the daughters). I agree with Jan and also with Karen > Watters, who said that change must be gradual. This is another discussion, and a major one: just how fast can change be brought to a culture, and how can it be best done, and what are the skills required to do so? I'm not sure this is within the scope of this list, but if anyone is up for it, so am I. > > So maybe some things need time. If you want to force them, they > > boomerang back and have the opposite effect, as the taliban repression > > could never have happened without the communist meddling in the first > > place. I hope this opinion doesn't make me a bad human rights activist? > > > > Jan Matthieu > > As Karen said, it's a question between fundamentalism (archaism?) and > modernism. Clothing is not a trivial issue, it is an individual > manifestation of identity and belonging but also a display of > social traits, > practices and customs. Freedom to manage our own personal appearance is a > right associated with modernism. If it is good for me, I should > defend this > right for anybody else. > > By the way, my own "portable prison", five days a week, is a jacket and a > tie. At least I have some degree of freedom choosing colors. I was wondering when someone might bring up the male tie! I saw a gallery of protraits of US presidents, recently. They did NOT look comfortable in their garb... I agree with Karen's suggestion that the issue may be between 'modernizing' culture and an 'archaic' one, but, oh, how to describe such different cultures without being self-serving, and 'too-certain.' > Greetings from the rainy, cloudy and fresh Mexico City. > > Salvador Sanchez And greetings from sunny, refreshing and high-altitude Colorado! Lawry
