The Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women has been in effect in Afghanistan since 2009, but only by presidential decree. It's now going to parliament to be written into what I think of as 'forever law', so that it cannot be reserved by any future president of the country.
Disobedience
However, the conservatives in Afghani government are apparently refusing to contemplate the cementing of the law, because they claim it's anti-Islamist, and would encourage disobedience.
Jessica Maybury is a young, Christian, workaholic (a guess), anyway she's extraordinarily busy . . . she asks a big question. Here are my first thoughts. Tell me what you think.
I am ill with anxiety that the Natural Order is becoming irreversibly perverted by political expediency and lunatics who believe every stray thought that comes into their heads is sent there by a higher being.
The only laws that matter are Natural and perhaps the seven Noahide Laws. All others fabricated by humankind are, as likely as not, worth spit.
Women: How absurd to even see a need to enshrine laws outlawing violence done to women. Women are not special, women are different and different to men in exactly the same way men are different to women . . . and beetles and sandwiches for that matter. However, regardless of whether a situation should exist or not is irrelevant because a problem does exist and it is entirely of our own making – everyone everywhere, not just priests but men, women and those in between. Violence is violence whether done to a man or woman. The root of the problem lies in the proponents of violence, not the targets of violence.
David Hume, a renowned 18th Century philosopher, asked us not to underestimate the power of collective morality and proposed something along the lines of: If the majority believe murder is good, then it is good. The trick is to get the majority to agree with your point of view. Rather than exploring the profound lessons of human nature contained therein, I’m sorry to say, in the era of political and intellectual laziness in which we live, this basic tenet has been used dangerously and adapted indiscriminately without regard to any morally ethical code. Some leaders enforce their point of view with wanton violence while others cajole support for their evil enterprises by plumbing the well of atonement for historical horrors committed against them. Employing David Hume’s theme, all of these dubious characters practice the tortuous art of constantly repeating an idea until it becomes accepted as true by the people no matter how ludicrous or evil. Examples: Weapons of mass destruction, foot binding in china, genital mutilation, genocide by stealth of Romii gypsies and Western Sahara, child witches, the poor are scroungers, the disabled are parasites etc. etc. ad nauseam.
Remaining silent does not translate to agreement.
It is never right to stone a woman for “allowing” herself to be raped. Neither is it right that a man should be forced to eat the testicles of his dead friend because they happen to be homosexual. Would anyone with any sense of morality willingly visit the home of a proven paedophile quite so readily as our political leaders enjoy the hospitality of leaders who preside over such brutality. Weak, lazy or evil, a cigarette paper between them, is it any wonder human kind is in a mess?
Media: You mention Islamophobia of the media. The Media per se is a different subject entirely, however aren’t you, like me, fed up being taken for an idiot? What they sell are easy truths remodelled any which way to keep the story going or to satisfy their political masters and (as told to me by a senior editor at The Times), for the sheer hell of it, because they can. I don’t give a damn what these conglomerates broadcast to the world and neither should anyone else after all with the internet the real truth is only a few clicks away. Terrifying isn’t it? The truth.
Islamophobia: I think most people are allergic to being blown up by a bomb in a shopping mall - that’s terrorism and much terrorism has undoubted links to Islam. On a similar note, people are disgusted by the sexual perversions linked to the Catholic Church. Government and the Media should demand the church of Islam take responsibility for weeding out terrorists within its midst in much the same way the Catholic Church has shouldered responsibility and is, supposedly, expunging its perverts. Instead, they have allowed the issue of terrorism to be subsumed as a plight that belongs to everyone else but especially its victims. Responsibility for resolving the issue of Islamic religious fanaticism has been passed to people who are proven to be wholly inappropriate for the task. As you say “if you get bitten by a rabid dog and get rabies, it’s your fault for being alive in the first place.” The attitude of the Establishment begs the question whether whipping up fear has become yet another frighteningly Orwellian tool for controlling people en masse.
It seems to me the starting point of any Government when attempting to deal with actions caused by people from different cultures and/or backgrounds is to propagate distrust and fear. They feel it’s their duty to tackle the issues rather than reach an understanding of the human aspects of the matter in hand. The trouble is, learning about the real issues takes time and resources so why on earth would an overpaid, lazy, slightly stupid politician put him or herself out when they can make tough sounding decisions that mean and achieve absolutely nothing in the real world.
Anti-Semitism: Anti-Semitism are two words that conjure a bucket load of reverential perturbation in the hearts of everyone whether familiar with Jewish history or not. I would never denigrate the horror of the Jewish Holocaust in any way, I would say however that there were many millions of other victims, people from different races, creeds and cultures who were equally decimated and who have somehow managed to leave it behind them as one of history’s most devastating milestones. However for Jews, especially Jews in Israel, the emotive currency of the Holocaust remains as a valid political instrument.
If it weren’t so sickening, it is almost touching to witness the schoolboy pride swelling Israel’s pigeon chest when the President of The United States comes to call and shows everyone Israel is still in his gang regardless of the hateful racism they harbour for Arabs (and just about anyone else who dares question their morality) or acts of systematic genocide they inflict on the people of Palestine who are tired, scared and almost completely impotent.
If you’re looking for scapegoats, ironically the Israelis offer us the Palestinians as a sacrifice for what Arabs etc. throughout the Middle East may or may not be goaded into launching against Israel. It would not surprise me in the slightest if one day the bully is finally revealed as a pointless coward and be isolated with none of their “best friend’s” muscle in sight to sort out those horrid Palestinians.
Should religion or ideology be used as an excuse to inflict suffering?
No.
