"Salvador R. Sánchez Gutiérrez" wrote:
[snip]
> 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.
>
> Greetings from the rainy, cloudy and fresh Mexico City.
>
> Salvador Sanchez
True story from IBM Research, where in the 1980s the employees
normally dressed casually. A friend of mine transferred from
sales to research and showed up at work in his 3-piece suit.
One of the researchers admonished him for not dressing appropriately.
He responded: "You mean I can't dress the way *I* want to here?"
Another item: If we "free" women in traditional societies from
burqas and genital mutilation, etc., the result -- if we do not
help the people restructure their society, may well be either
that the individual woman becomes a pariah and either a
prostitute or worse, or else the society as a whole
falls apart. --Sort of like the way Ronald Reagan "freed" the
Russian people from communism.
Different and more hopeful item: The NYT ran an article a few
years ago about one African tribe where the elders got together
and decided to take an inventory of their customs and to
discard the ones that were no longer useful -- like genital mutilation.
We in New York City should be so "advanced"!
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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