The Required Generations

Posted on December 11, 2007
Filed Under Female Species, Islam, Mideast |

A few days ago while reading Mona Eltahawy’s opinion on the sick sentence passed by a Saudi court to punish a victim of gang rape with lashes, I came across this hard-knocking comment left by Mahmood.

Mona, gender apartheid is only one of many heinous discriminatory practices in the magic kingdom: religious, tribal, sectarian, racial and many other prejudices do exist and are propagated and even encouraged by religious clerics the efforts of whom are condoned by the ruling family.

Those attitudes are so entrenched as “normal” in that society now, that I doubt a simple removal of those religious “elite” would correct the situation and bring their society in line with the current century. Not even the removal of the ruling family can do that. The damage is quite deep and requires generations to be undone.

It’s a harsh truth, one that is difficult to swallow. It also points out one thing we usually forget when we’re busy criticizing our obnoxious governments - pointing at ourselves.

It took Europe a few hundred years to rise out of its Dark Ages. At best, it will take us at least a hundred. Gotta start somewhere.

Comments

6 Responses to “The Required Generations”

  1. Andrew Brehm on December 11th, 2007 3:34 pm

    Look at the bright side. Compared to the magic kingdom (I love that term) the rest of the Arab world has already risen out of the Dark Ages.

  2. Drima on December 11th, 2007 3:42 pm

    True, but risen only partially. We still have a long way to go.

    And ya magic kingdom is a funny term indeed. :)

  3. Andrew Brehm on December 11th, 2007 4:05 pm

    I have always disliked the term “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” or “the Kingdom”. It seems to imply that a Saudi is on the same level as the King of Jordan or the Queen of Britain.

  4. Nominally Challenged on December 11th, 2007 6:38 pm

    Actually, Europe came out of its Dark Ages quite quickly. The problem was the length of time it was in them for …

  5. The Raccoon on December 11th, 2007 11:33 pm

    Well… it mostly took the Plague for Europe to leave the Dark Ages. Societies usually change drastically only after a major shock.

    And these tend to be self-inflicted…

  6. Don Cox on December 12th, 2007 3:23 pm

    British society changed enormously between 1880 and 1930. Look at the clothes girls wore in the 1870s and the 1920s.

    Arabia could change surprisingly fast if the dam breaks.

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