Hitler, Halal, and Hubris: The Extreme Ignorance Involved in Analyzing Islamic Terrorism

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I received an email from a family member entitled “A German’s View on Islam”. It’s a hoax email, but I didn’t know that until I did further research. If anyone is interested in the contents of the email that was sent to me, those contents can be found here:

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/t/Tanay-Merek-German-Islam.htm#.VL_rtIo8KnM

I put a lot of thought into the response I emailed to my family members, however, and thought I should post my thoughts here because the topic and subsequent discussions still seem relevant.

This is a slightly edited version of the email response I sent to my family members:

I, too, was disappointed when I read this email. I wouldn’t say I was “shocked” because I’ve heard a lot of this before. The “no go zones” stirred up a lot of controversy when Bobby Jindal talked about them, and then defended his statements on CNN. At the risk of getting into an all-out war with everyone, I’d like to share my thoughts. Please remain civil. Attacking each other is not going to help anything.

I read this a few minutes after it was sent out, and had an immediate reaction, but I was watching the State of the Union address, so I thought I’d wait to respond. Then I thought it might be best not to respond, but since I see others have already done so, I will.

I was immediately intrigued by a sociological examination of current Muslim terrorism. (To be clear, I’m in no way saying all Muslims are terrorists or that we should “kill” Muslims–or terrorists. Extrajudicial killing, though usually done for practical purposes, adds to the problem.) My first thought was that the timeline must be off. An aristocrat pre-Nazi power? The fact that this person would still be alive and writing articles is not impossible, but surprising. I understood this man as saying he was a well-established businessman by the 1930s. I would think this would make him at least 100 years old today. I didn’t do the research Robin did, so I can’t tell you who Emmanuel Tanya [as it appeared in the email–his real name was Emanuel Tanay] is, or who this story/email originates from.

[I later did do the research.]

I have no reason to doubt the idea that many Germans rallied behind a renewed German nationalism or that much of the population didn’t follow as close attention to politics as it should have. My issue comes with comparison of Nazi Germany to not only today’s situation of global terrorism, but to situations unrelated to either in recent history. It’s very sexy to compare any situation to Nazism. Heads of majority Muslim countries that support terrorist organizations within their own borders (and without) are not Hitler, just as terrorist cells are not comparable to the early Nazi party. I think it does a tremendous disservice to all of the victims of extreme violence, tribal warfare, ethnic cleansing, and genocide to lump them all together. There are unique causes and conditions that occurred in Rwanda, the Balkans, China, Japan, etc. The barest of similarities can be made with the rise of Nazism and the subsequent genocide that occurred in Germany. Yes, ethnic and religious hatreds exist around the world, unfathomable acts of barbarism are practiced in an effort to gain and maintain power, and runaway ideology used as a justification for almost anything did not end in Germany in 1945. If we conflate every conflict, we misunderstand history and have even less chance of effectively mitigating the worst situations. It is pure ignorance to say ISIS or Al Qaeda or Boko Haram or any large terrorist organization of the moment is tantamount to the Nazi party. I’m not trying to diminish their threat or barbarism, but there are so many differences that I don’t think it’s a useful or proper comparison.

That those who scream the loudest or instill the most fear often get the most attention is not something I will dispute. Have terrorists overwhelmed the “silent majority”? I would say this is not true in every case, but yes, they pose significant threats to the very lives of those who live near (or more unfortunately, under) them. Ask anyone who has escaped from ISIS-controlled territory. The idea that those around them, the “moderate Muslims”, or, in this case, “peace-loving Muslims” should call out the poisonous apples in their ranks is an attractive one. Wouldn’t that be wonderful if everyone said “not in my name” to the point that their civil views drowned out the hatred and suicide bombings and maiming and beheading and stoning executed by the extremists? 1. Try doing this in a country where blogging your dissent can get you 1,000 lashes. (This happens in Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, that practices its own form of extremism.) The new head of “Charlie Hebdo” was asked how he felt about the cartoons of Mohammed drawn by his magazine staff not being shown in much of Western media. He said that he very much understood the threat posed by those living under authoritarian regimes and in places where free speech is hindered and “insulting the Prophet” can result in death. He did not encourage people to “stand up” in the face of such retribution. He did say, however, that he believed those who live in so-called “democratic” countries with stronger free speech protections were cowards for not showing the cartoons. I mention this because whatever your view on this, the point I’m making is that we tend to assume it’s just as easy for people around the world to openly “stand up for what is right”. It’s not. Perhaps the author is arguing that those who were silent let things get to this point. I’m not sure that’s entirely fair either. 2. It’s a nice idea, but will the terrorists just decide that violent jihad is no longer a good idea because most people wag their fingers at them? It’s a nice sentiment, but I doubt there’s significant merit to it. 3. Why should every member of a group be responsible for the actions of every other member of that group? Are we not all individuals? (“The Daily Show” made this point very well about 2 weeks ago.)

I’m not a proponent of any religion. I think passages from the Qu’ran as well as passages from the New and Old Testaments are despicable. There are extremists who will follow these tomes to the letter, including many Muslims. This is real and it is dangerous. I don’t have a solution that will address all of the root causes of the upswell in Muslim terrorism and extremism.

I do not agree that this email calls for the killing of all Muslims. I know there have been several instances of controversy regarding the Lord’s Prayer being shafted in favor of Muslim prayers at major institutions. I can’t speak to the validity of this claim. While I would like separation of church and state to actually exist, religious freedom should be extended to all. No group should be favored and allowed to practice if another is not.

The email mentions the dangers of labeling food as halal. Does anyone care if it’s labeled kosher? These labels mean nearly the same thing. (Muslims shopped at the Jewish market that was recently attacked in Paris!) I suppose this is an attempt to warn Western nations of the infiltration of their societies by especially motivated and mobilized outsiders. Instead of looking at this development as one toward greater unity and understanding, there are those who see it as a threat to their very existence. I do not condone any system that treats women and minorities as lesser, that puts religion above the safety and wellbeing of others, whether this is a perversion of the religion by some or not. Ooh, an imam supervised the baking of a chocolate bar. That’s really symbolic. Forget real terrorism. Now we should all be cowed.

Progressives: Stop Being Petty and Polemical

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In one of my very first blog posts, I talked about how I thought progressive groups have a branding problem. That feeling has only been strengthened with time.

In email after email that I receive from different progressive political groups, I’m assaulted with the same type of message: a call to action against “the right-wing nut jobs”, “the gun nuts”, “Karl Rove, the Koch brothers, and the dangerous Tea Party”. Sometimes the writers get really creative, leading one to believe they spend hours sitting in front of their laptops or tablets, experimenting with extreme alliterations and potential apocalyptic scenarios. The whole “the world as we know it is about to end…if you don’t donate $3 or more by this CRITICAL fundraising deadline” schtick is so old that I barely open these emails anymore.

Progressive talking points generally seem to follow the same pattern. Maybe someone decided to dumb it down a bit, deciding that pithy slogans and fear mongering were easier and sexier than winning an argument based on sound policy. Why inform the people when you can take a shortcut?

Sure, hate and ignorance will cohere the torch-wielding mobs (temporarily), but there are multiple problems with this strategy. Perhaps the most worrying is that engaging in this kind of dialogue–and I use that term as loosely as possible–necessitates an arms race of vitriolic rhetoric. Nearly everyone complains about how divided the country is. Let’s just divide it more, shall we? “But they did it first! We have to fight back!” And so it goes…
Besides selling citizens short, this approach dilutes the argument and dissolves credibility. If the other side is so bad, what makes your side better? When spokespeople bury their legitimate points in screeds against others, it’s very difficult to separate out the noise.

Another thing progressives don’t seem to understand is that the conservatives they so loathe at least pretend to stand for something. Of course, being “the party of no”, voting against bringing even the barest of legislation to the congressional floor, shutting down the government, and bringing lawsuit upon lawsuit against nearly everyone and everything to promote their self-described “culture war” should stand on its own as abhorrent behavior. Obviously, many of these people are “against” much more than what they are “for”.

There is a caveat, however. Decisions like the Hobby Lobby decision handed down by the Supreme Court are cloaked in the nebulous, but always-appealing brand of “freedom”. Personal liberty, historic imagery, and inalienable rights are so ingrained in the psyches of Americans since kindergarten that these tropes are difficult to argue against. Sure, there are nuanced polemics about “whose freedom is really being protected” and true (but often long winded and depressing) anecdotes about how many groups faced and continue to face discrimination throughout American history. Most of us know that “the good old days” weren’t really that great and that all of American history has been a kind of gilded age fight for the furthering of freedom.

For a brief stint, progressives followed President Obama’s line in repeating the ethic of equality. This idea should be compelling, but like scissors cutting paper in Rock, Paper, Scissors, “equality” is often no match for the far stronger sentiments evoked by “freedom”. This paper-thin concept that we should live a more egalitarian life is not something most people care about. Besides being fraught with the historically anathema association to communism, equality is more of a communitarian idea. If someone else getting more means that I lose some, why should I give that up? People are not persuaded by the idea of less for themselves; they are stirred by the possibility of more for themselves.

What should really be put forward is something along the line of fairness. If progressives can argue for fairness for specific groups or, especially, tailor this idea to individuals, I think they would be more successful. Framing an argument is important. Just as people are grabbed by headlines, the thesis and tone of an argument are what will stick in people’s minds more effectively than slews of statistics. This is not to say that arguments–both written and spoken–should skimp on content. I am instead promoting the idea that a measured, but consistent approach be taken when presenting issues of concern.

The idea of paycheck fairness is difficult to argue against. The main argument I heard by those against passing concrete legislation that sought to make it more difficult to discriminate against women in the workplace was that it simply wasn’t happening. That is a negation of the premise, but not an outright rebuttal.

If hot button issues like climate change and immigration are proving difficult to advance on, try changing tactics. There are always going to be ideological differences and “bridging the divide” is much easier said than done. It only serves to exacerbate the wound when you either aren’t really trying or have lost the argument before you’ve even started.

The Hobby Lobby and Citizens United decisions aren’t fair to most people, plain and simple. Even if we accept the premise that the rights of a few (those in charge of companies) are being impeded, what about the millions of workers and millions of voters impacted by such decisions? What laws like this state is that those who have money and power are worth more than the vast majority who have less. If you own a company or you have lots of money and friends in high places, you are legally entitled to a greater say in the workings of what is supposed to be a democratic country. The rights of a few (whose rights I would contend are not really being infringed) bump up against the rights of the much less powerful many. This is a corporatocracy that caters to vested, ideological (and often very misinformed) beliefs that simply is not fair.

Show people why THEIR rights are being restricted. Be FOR something instead of solely against something. Live up to your name, progressives, and be truly progressive. Maybe then we’d have a slightly better shot at mobilizing people. People want to do what’s in their interest. I believe that people would rather get something for themselves than hurt others. As long as politics operate in a zero-sum fashion (which they don’t have to, but they tend to), make people want to win. That is almost always more persuasive than making the other side lose.

The Media and the Ministry of Truth

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I’m writing this with the perspective of having seen both the first presidential debate and the vice presidential debate.  I’d like to comment on the veracity of both.

I hope that anyone who reads this post will watch tomorrow night’s debate through a pretty straightforward lens.  My main criterion is very simple: Support the candidate who tells you the truth.  I know, it seems like a tall order.  It shouldn’t, though.  If both major party candidates lie tomorrow night, both should be admonished.  While the candidates—and every politician—is ultimately responsible for what he or she says, the environment should not exist in which certain behavior (e.g., lying) is not only expected, but encouraged.

For some time, there has been a not so tacit acceptance that politicians lie.  For at least as long as there have been politicians, the cynical belief that you can’t trust someone who seeks to attain and maintain power has been stubbornly cemented into the collective consciousness.  To an extent, this ethic may be true.  It is a logical extension of human nature, and has certainly been borne out by empirical observation.

The idea that a politician can lie to get ahead, that a person can—and should—lie to the very people he or she hopes to serve is not ok.

It is not the world of 1984.  There is no (official) Ministry of Truth, passing off falsehoods as fact.  Politicians and members of the media are responsible for disseminating true statements, not self-serving lies.

On October 4, Dana Milbank, widely read columnist for The Washington Post, said something shocking on Martin Bashir’s show on MSNBC.  Bashir asked Milbank to explain an article he had written, defending Romney’s debate performance.  Milbank ended up admitting that, yes, Romney did lie on countless occasions during the debate.  He had no reason to believe that these lies were not deliberate deceptions intended to win the debate.  Essentially, facts be damned.  When pressed further by Bashir on the major ethical issues of running for the highest office in the country, and how such action certainly undercuts legitimacy, Milbank said that Obama “let him lie”, and that that’s how you play the game.  Milbank said that after he watched over 20 Republican primary debates, he didn’t see how “you would expect anything different”.  Milbank maintained that lying is fine and, in Romney’s case was an advantageous move.  He thinks Romney owes the country nothing, and basically said that the ball is in Obama’s court to disprove Romney’s lies.  Both Bashir and Milbank agreed on Romney’s “litany of lies”.  Milbank saw no problem with these lies.  Not only was he complicit in this disgusting system; he praised Romney in both a widely circulated newspaper editorial and on national television. 

People should be very upset.  The onus, however, should not be on every person to fact check every statement.  Everyone should be informed, and people like me do fact check political statements, but no one should have to expect that lies are the default position.  What are journalists for?  Where is the media?  Oh, right, certain members—the Dana Milbanks of the media—are not doing their jobs.  I don’t care if this was an opinion piece.  Dana Milbank should be ashamed for encouraging such behavior, and then for doubling down on his encouragement.  Like Mitt Romney, “no apologies”, it seems. 

Paul Ryan also lied in his debate with Joe Biden.  Ryan has a habit of disavowing the truth.  The moniker “Lyin’ Ryan” didn’t come from nowhere. 

Yes, I’ve been picking on Romney and Ryan.  I’m putting them under the microscope because they represent very vivid and pretty indisputable examples.  This is not a purely partisan issue, and I don’t seek to be discredited by acting as if it is.  Lying, no matter what person, party, or persuasion, is not acceptable.  It is not how you win debates, and it shouldn’t be how you win votes.

Aren’t the candidates supposed to love and laud “the American people”?  To politicians everywhere: what a tremendous slap in the face to the citizens you expect to vote for you.  You’re supposed to be a public servant.

To be completely clear about why such lying is problematic at best and morally bankrupt at worst, I will list five reasons why the electorate should not passively accept those who seek to lead us deceiving us.

1. An “anything goes” downward spiral: The first excuse given by anyone seeking to apologize for a politician’s lies are “but the other side does it!”, as if this excuse somehow absolves their candidate of responsibility for wrongdoing.  If evasive tactics haven’t worked (further compounding the lie into an often unmanageable, tangled web of more and more lies), and the candidate is stuck with “blueberry pie on [his or her] face”, as Al Sharpton likes to say, then the act of lying is used as a defense mechanism.  We, the voters, are reminded that our candidate has to “fight back” against the barrage of lies being told about him or her by his or her opponent.  We are to believe that every race is an arms race and that each campaign degenerates into a prisoner’s dilemma.  Of course, it would be nice if the candidates each just highlighted their own records and didn’t have to lie, but unfortunately, once the “other side” does it, “our side” has no choice.  We are made to believe that the only thing that can neutralize lying is more lying, whether or not the “other side” even lied in the first place.  There is so much deliberate fabrication and spin, especially by outside groups (yes, I’m calling you out, Frank Luntz and Karl Rove), that it seems chaos is created intentionally to justify further lying.  At least in the Cold War, the idea of mutually assured destruction prevented each side from nuking the other because everyone realized it was in their best interest not to bring us all down.  Politicians and their enablers would do well to learn a lesson from history.

2. The No Responsibility Ethic: If a politician is encouraged to lie (and takes the bait), in a debate, let’s say, then we can be assured that person has little in the way of scruples.  This person is unlikely to take responsibility for lying, or for any of the consequences of his or her misinformation or disinformation.  The candidate has a reputation to uphold!  How dare you question his or her character?  Do you really want someone in office, representing you, who does not take responsibility for his or her actions?  The rest of the country is constantly reminded of the fact that we are supposed to take “responsibility for our lives” (here’s looking at you, Mitt Romney; yet, it’s more than alright for Romney to lie?)—I sense a disconnect here.

3. Unethical Conduct and the Trust Factor:  This is very clear cut.  Lying is unethical.  Most people would agree on this point.  Ask any focus group or perform any poll, and I can almost guarantee you that when presented with the idea of outright lying, this practice would be nearly universally panned by almost any panel.  This idea cuts at the heart of our instinctive drive to trust others who have proven they are trustworthy.  If someone will lie to you, how can you trust him or her?  And should you trust him or her?  Pick any point in human history.  One person’s lie could have led to an early human version of you being eaten by a wild animal, or a seventeenth century version of you being burned at the stake.  Trust is crucial to survival.  Trust is earned and can be broken.  Betrayal is devastating, even if it doesn’t result in one’s immediate demise.  That is why we put such a premium on it.  If someone betrays you, especially repeatedly, how can you trust this person?

4. Abuse of Power and a Sense of Elite Entitlement: We hear a lot about the divisiveness of politics, about how it’s wrong to separate people.  From accusations of “class warfare” to charges of exclusion, we like to pretend America is one big, happy family, and that “united we stand; divided we fall” is an ethic to live by—until it’s not.  This is only a categorical imperative for the lowly, the lesser.  If politicians are allowed to lie, it sends the message that the rest of society is somehow not entitled to the same privilege, that an exception is made for the politician.  Somehow, the view has been turned upside down.  Instead of those who tell the truth being placed above those who lie, lying engenders a dividing line.  Those who can lie with relative impunity live in the VIP room of society.  They end up thinking they are allowed to act in a way contrary to the behavior expected of the general population, and how is this normally abhorrent behavior justified?  Well, they must be special, or their circumstances are special.  Either way, they are patricians to the rest of the American plebeians.  They—the politicians—are the elite who must pay lip service to everyone else.  This leads to the cordoning off of certain sections of society, like politicians, who are allowed to act in a way normally viewed as unbecoming for the rest of us.  It leads to politicians thinking they are special, therefore, further separating themselves from being “one of the people”.  One cannot expect to be accurately represented by such a person.

5. It’s Disingenuous: What’s real?:  This is an important point: I’m not saying all politicians lie, and I’m not saying they do it all the time.  If it happens even once in a presidential debate, however, that is one time too many.  It’s unbelievable to me that there actually exists an adviser to the Romney campaign who claims that the campaign is not beholden to fact checkers.  This statement is viewed by some as heroic.  Really?  Facts don’t matter?  What else do we have?  Suddenly, a campaign can create its own reality.  Well, not only is that unfair, and the other candidates do not even stand a chance if fictional versions of themselves are presented to the public, but it’s pretty irrational and scary, not to mention incredibly arrogant.  Facts do matter.  Unbiased data is essential.  Voters have the right to make informed decisions based on real evidence.  No one should be allowed to cheat.

When you watch the debate tomorrow night, judge the candidate’s integrity.  This is important. You deserve to be told the truth, and not to be manipulated.  Demand a basic level of decency and honesty from politicians.  Your vote matters.  They are there to serve you, and lying about their records or their opponents in an effort to get ahead or pull one over on voters should be a disqualifier.  Think about it: it would be in almost any other position or area of life.  Those who make the climate comfortable for liars are equally responsible.  Honesty and integrity are basic tenets.  Telling the truth is the least people can do.

Sugar and Spice and Equal Rights: Women in Today’s Society

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This month marks the 40th anniversary of Congressional passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed amendment to the Constitution that grants equal rights under the law to U.S. citizens, regardless of gender. On March 22, 1972, after a very long battle beginning when the bill was first written in1923, the ERA passed the Senate (after a protracted battle in which it passed the House twice). It was not ratified by enough states to become an amendment. This bill didn’t pass at the height of the women’s rights movement in the United States. We have been dealing with the repercussions ever since. Sexism might have very well still been abundant, but perhaps we’d be closer to true equality if such an amendment were passed. It is one thing to say you believe in equal rights for women, but the reality illustrates an alternate picture. In recent weeks, women’s rights have entered the political foreground, and I’d like to take the opportunity to address the crucial issue of women’s rights in this blog post. As trite as it sounds, “women’s” rights are human rights.

On Wednesday night’s episode of “The Colbert Report”, Stephen Colbert had a hilarious and very timely bit concerning the recent strides in the development of male birth control pills. He declared that if men are to use such pills, then the morally right thing to do is to force them to endure an ultrasound probe into their urethras in order to see the face of every sperm—yes, you read that right. The importance of seeing the face of each sperm cannot be discounted because, according to his logic of reproductive morality, each sperm is a potential life. Taking birth control pills to render voluntary impotency is killing potential life. If the men could see the faces of the millions of sperm they are destroying—nee, the potential human life that is being destroyed—maybe they would think differently. “If they survive” having a huge probe rammed up their pee holes, that is, Stephen said.

As unbelievably ridiculous as this sounds, it could’ve been the reality for millions of Virginian women. If a woman wanted to get an abortion in Virginia, she would have had to undergo a 24-hour waiting period, be subjected to a line of emotional questioning, and submit to a transvaginal ultrasound. The normal ultrasound is a non-invasive one placed on top of the woman’s abdomen. This is not the ultrasound that would’ve been given. Transvaginal means a large probe is stuck up the woman’s vagina for no medical purpose whatsoever. Pursuant to the wording of Virginia’s laws, forcing an object into a woman’s vagina against her will for no necessary purpose is tantamount to rape. Think about this: If a woman were not in a doctor’s office, and someone forced an object up her vagina without her permission, this would be called rape by instrument. It is a crime. It is traumatizing, very possibly painful, and intended to shame a woman into not having an abortion—or at the very least, to preemptively punish her even if she does go through with the procedure. What if a woman is pregnant as the result of a rape? The violation of a probe after such an event is even more traumatic—unimaginably so. As if all this isn’t bad enough, pictures of the fetus were to be permanently placed in the woman’s file. The alleged compromise at the time was that the woman wouldn’t be forced to look at the photos if she didn’t want to—even though they were being shown on a screen right next to her face. How considerate. They are only placed in the file as a permanent reminder. Because the act of getting an abortion is so easy, right? It’s not already a terribly tumultuous time emotionally for the woman involved. Of course not.

While the most obviously offensive part of the bill was overturned, other tenets of the bill were not. After a tremendous outcry from millions of women as well as men, on the gross invasion of privacy and sheer violation such a practice would entail, Governor Bob McDonnell (known for his lifelong commitment to curtailing women’s reproductive rights) scaled back the bill. The bill is no longer up for a vote in the immediate future.

One of the recent precursors to this bill was McDonnell’s proposal that women be given “morality tests” to judge whether they could make the right decision about getting an abortion. Don’t many Republicans claim to belong to the party of small government? Don’t they hate mandates and government intrusion and claim it’s the big, bad Democrats who want to make your decisions for you? That “Obamacare” gets in between people and their doctors? (Fact check: it doesn’t.) There’s a very good reason that it’s been said that Republicans want small government—small enough to fit inside a woman’s uterus. It’s empirically true.

Similar bills are already on the books in several other states. That’s right—this proposed Virginia law was not an isolated case.

The other big story in the news recently was the opposition to sections of the Affordable Healthcare Act that stipulate that costs for methods of birth control and family planning, such as birth control pills, be partially covered by employers offering health insurance to their employees. The Catholic Church bucked at the provision that it should pay for birth control for female employees of Church institutions such as Catholic schools, hospitals, and charities—that this was a matter of conscience. In lockstep with several Church elders, many Republicans framed the “debate” as a demonic, overarching president infringing on the religious freedom of individuals—and institutions—opposed to such practices as they view as not only immoral, but unconscionable. I could get into all the hairy details about how this was almost entirely a calculated political move and had very little to do with “liberty”, but I would end up going off on a very long tangent. Even when the Obama administration promised a compromise wherein the insurance companies would pay for the costs, the fight continued.

A Congressional panel was formed to discuss religious freedom vs. “Obamacare”. No women were invited to speak on women’s health issues. A woman who had been invited by the Democratic minority to speak was shut out by Representative Darrell Issa. Forget partisan bullying and obstructionism. This was sexism, pure and simple.

The next step was a vote on the Blunt amendment. I would recommend watching Jon Stewart’s synopsis of this vote from his Thursday night show. If passed, this bill would have allowed employers to deny healthcare coverage to employees based on religious or moral convictions—whatever those might be. The bill failed—by only 3 votes.

Rhetoric such as the contention that back in his day, “women held an aspirin between their knees” and called it birth control (a statement declared by Rick Santorum’s largest donor Foster Friess) is despicable. His attempt at a cutesy folk reference literally means that when he was younger, women didn’t need actual birth control because they kept their legs closed. It cuts to the heart of true sexism. It is an entrenched way of thinking not unlike the racism of certain southern conservatives whose opinions of those of color hasn’t changed all that much since the time of slavery. It’s a wink and nod, old boys club, women shouldn’t want to be desired or else they’re sluts, sexism. It’s couched in religious rhetoric and it’s not necessarily confined to regionalism. Republicans have been at the forefront, but it’s not a partisan sexism. There are even women who subscribe to this same ethic of gender inequality.

This is a huge problem. I have dealt with the idea on a daily basis that if I wear clothing that shows off my body, then I’m “dressing slutty”, that if something were to happen to me (this something is always hinted at, but it means if I were to be attacked—raped or molested—by a man), then I’m asking for it. I can’t be too pretty by wearing a lot of makeup, whatever that means. I can’t be too sexy. I’m just too tempting. I’m asking to be raped. It’s my fault. The man can’t help it. He’s so horny that he just can’t control himself. This is what we tell girls and women in our society. The goal is to be desired because you need to have a man, but you better be careful because men aren’t to be trusted. This bipolar ideology governs women every day in the United States.

Another recent point of contention was in response to Rick Santorum’s view that he worries about women in frontline combat in the U.S. military. His claim was that he worried about the emotions involved. He clarified his statement by saying that it wasn’t the women he was worried about who would fall to pieces, but the men, who have been taught to protect women, to subscribe to a kind of chivalrous ethic in which they keep women out of harm’s way. While the overwhelming military view is that female service members in Afghanistan and Iraq have been just as capable and tough as men in combat, we should be looking at another issue entirely. If anyone is worried about women, they should look at the appalling rates of sexual abuse women suffer, both in the military and as military contractors. Those men are certainly not chivalrous or protective.

This brings me to my main underlying point. The prevailing view—whether subconscious or not—is that in many instances, the victim is seen as the aggressor or the instigator. We look down on cultures that force women to cover themselves up so as not to be sexually objectified, yet it is rarely explained why we do that. Clothing and not wearing a head covering is more than a matter of choice, of self expression (though these things are certainly important to developing a sense of identity and feeling less constrained). I’m not only referring to Muslim cultures. In addition to Muslims, Orthodox Jews and various Christian sects as well as members of the FLDS engage in such practices in the United States. Orthodoxy, fundamentalism, extremism (whatever you want to call it) often breeds sexism. Whether women are encouraged (or often forced) to wear head coverings, wigs, or wear their hair in non-sexual styles, the theme of not tempting men with long, lustrous hair is repeated. Men have a biological attraction to long hair on women. Healthy hair, in general, is a sign of fertility and men will have a response to this. It’s encoded in their DNA. A woman’s curves have a similar effect. This is natural! Women should not hide who they are! They shouldn’t be made to obscure themselves so that men won’t be tempted to have their way with them. Girls should not be made to iron their breasts or undergo female genital mutilation in African and Middle Eastern countries because men might desire them or rape them. How is this the reality we live in? How is this accepted? None of this should be allowed to continue. None of these sexist practices should be perpetuated. I know, I seem so intolerant. How dare I compare wearing a hijab or a long, shapeless skirt to a young girl’s clitoris being cut off and/or her vagina sewn up? One is minor; the other barbaric, right? I don’t care. I’m sick of being silent. I’m sick of being politically correct. The message beneath any practice that alters who a woman is so that she protects herself from the animal instincts of men is abhorrent. As a society, we should disavow such practices immediately. It is disgusting that women in Orthodox communities in Brooklyn are made to feel unclean when they have their periods because of an ignorance perpetuated by men who are so fearful of any upheaval of the status quo that they relegate women to the status of sub-human animals. They routinely treat women as filthy. Men want women to remain uneducated, to be servants, to be subservient to men. The U.S. law doesn’t intervene in such practices because it protects “religious freedom”. How about human rights? I am of the firm belief that individual dignity trumps religious freedom. Even when taking religion out of the equation, entrenched sexism constantly surfaces. A similar ethic of women as second class citizens or as weak or merely as things to be objectified is illustrated by the oft-repeated “bitch, make me a sandwich” line or the ubiquitous use of the word “pussy” in the male vernacular.

I’ve been called a cultural imperialist. I think I’ve proven that I believe Western and American culture has a long way to go and is far from perfect. I certainly don’t think I’m living in a utopia in which gender is not a source of prejudice and ill treatment. Human beings have the faculty of reason and the capacity to practice ethics. We have laws. Men can certainly control themselves and must do so. Women should not live in fear and should not have to take extra precautions against the animal instincts of men. If anything, it is the men who should be constrained, not the women. I believe that we live in a world in which everyone should be treated equally.

Women have to deal with all kinds of sexism. The last place women should have to worry about this is to have it written into the law.

Imagine…

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What an incredible miscalculation on the part of the PNAC to assume that a strong United States would be forged from preemptive military strikes, and that military might is the main component for sustained world power in the 21st century. Perhaps the PNAC was working off of the mythology that a strong military built up the United States in the 20th century; however, it was not primarily military power, but economic power, that fueled–and then cemented–the position of the United States as a world power. From overtaking Britain and Germany in manufacturing at the turn of the 20th century to the birth of the mass production industry with Ford and his ilk through World War II, the all-important Marshall Plan, Bretton Woods, and post-war developments through the Cold War and the technological miracle of the end of the century, economics has been the main component of American success. In an increasingly Internet-based world where the word “innovation” is thrown around almost as often as the pejorative “Obamacare”, it is imperative that the US remain an engine of economic growth. The financial crisis has created a climate in which depressing statistic after depressing statistic is ubiquitous and a feeling of hopelessness pervasive.

What is especially frightening is the theme among many Republicans that a supersized military and preemptive strikes against Iran are not to be questioned. According to this view, no “patriotic American” would want to risk the country’s safety and security in such a dangerous world. Never mind that this mentality is akin to a wrecking ball. Ron Paul, the sole dissenter of this view, in the remaining field of Republican presidential contenders, claims that the Russian foray into Afghanistan bankrupted the Soviet Union and helped lead to the USSR’s demise. What he fails to mention, however, is the amount of money Russia spent on excessive military technology and the unsustainable empire it built in an age when colonialism was dying out everywhere else in the world. At this time, the US could better afford to engage in an arms race with the Soviet Union.

If our country is to live up to its credo of “the shining city upon a hill”–another phrase seemingly every Republican contender has invoked since the beginning of the race–then our strategy should be to take meaningful steps to mitigate humanitarian crises around the world. We can start with Syria. Libya provided a good example of how lives can be saved when the world intervenes. The no-fly zone proved indispensable to the Libyan rebels. Now, when Syrian rebels are calling for a no-fly zone, stricter UN action, and a credible set of observers, the US should take these pleas seriously. Without Russian and Chinese support, the UN Security Council is rendered impotent. Does that mean the US should do nothing more than what it already has? No, it doesn’t.

Unfortunately, probably very little will be done in Syria or anywhere else in the next year because it’s a presidential election year. When President Obama is criticized on every aspect of his foreign policy in repeated right wing talking points (even though Obama has been “strong” on most foreign policy initiatives), it is highly unlikely that the White House will do much anywhere else. And the Congress? Congress can’t even pass the simplest of routine domestic bills.

It is disingenuous and dangerous for Republicans to talk about “living within our means”, spending cuts, not nurturing a “dependency society”, and promising things like “bringing foreign aid down to zero”, when the same people will not provide direct assistance to the citizens suffering at home and insist on growing military and all kinds of national security expenditures. The Project for a New American Century model has failed, and has helped bankrupt the United States, aiding in the depletion of one of our country’s greatest assets: our economic success. And this money is not a vague, detached concept. It is due to the hard work and cooperation of generations of Americans, the same people Republicans would like to bleed while insisting on tax cuts for the wealthiest and building up, as Romney terms it, “a military so strong that no one will think to mess with us” (or some rhetoric to that effect). This is all proudly proclaimed and echoed by others not on the stages at debates while claiming that people in genuine need of help–whether that be around the world–or in their own backyards, are not “our problem” and these people (who include the vast majority of American citizens) should take care of themselves.

The United States can adapt right now, and need not succumb to naysayers’ insistence that the golden age of America is over. At the same time, spending exorbitant amounts of money on an aggressive foreign policy and unchecked defense spending while not taking care of US citizens is not a viable–or ethical–path forward. If for no other reason, voting for a Republican for president (and, yes, that includes Ron Paul, who lives in a fantasy world where everyone takes care of the sick by collecting money at church, never mind the fact that not everyone goes to church and even fewer people are either that giving or have the means to care for their neighbors), is an irresponsible and ignorant decision. Imagine a better world.

Wei Ji

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A few days ago, CNN ran a story on historian Niall Ferguson’s take on the fall of the West and the rise of “the rest” (a catchy little term he coined to refer to all of the world that isn’t Europe, the United States and Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most recently Japan). As he explained on a recent appearance on “The Colbert Report”, the idea of the Western and Eastern blocs, was so 20 years ago. In the post-Cold War period, regions aren’t as clearly defined. The strength of the so-called West in every measurement from greater life expectancy to scientific and technological breakthroughs—and especially in economic output—is very clearly defined, however. Ferguson claims that for the last (approximately) 500 years, the West has been lightyears ahead of the rest. He attributes this rise to 6 “killer apps”, which he says the rest have begun to copy and successfully implement, while the West is simultaneously deleting them. Is Ferguson trying a little too hard to seem cool? Maybe, but he seems to have a point. He has just written a book on the subject, so he’s making the media rounds. If you’re interested, you can check out his quick CNN interview here: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-03/opinion/opinion_ferguson-west-economic-decline_1_westerners-chinese-share-global-economy?_s=PM:OPINION

After watching Ferguson declare the fall of Western economic predominance, I felt (understandably) demoralized. The idea that we, as Americans–and, to a larger degree, as so-called Westerners–are the envy of the rest of the world is the kind of ethic that has been ingrained in us from a very early age. Part of this is a kind of not so unique nationalism–every country has its national narrative. Another part of it, though, is based on the truth that the countries of Western Europe (and Oceania), and the United States, in particular, attracted people from all around the world. This region served as a kind of magnet for the dreams and aspirations of people from varying backgrounds. Culturally, the West is definitely still dominant, and probably will continue to be so for years to come. Ferguson mentions Asian shopping malls, but if we take a closer look at fashion, American and European brands and styles dominate the global market. Globalization has even been likened to Americanization on the culture front. Ferguson makes the claim that iPhones are designed in California and made in China, but this is not the way of the world. Really? The West still serves as the place for ideas. The prevalence of Apple copyright infringement in China, for example, is telling. The West is in trouble, though. Following is a list of Ferguson’s “killer apps” (directly quoted from the CNN story):

1. Competition. Europe was politically fragmented into multiple monarchies and republics, which were in turn internally divided into competing corporate entities, among them the ancestors of modern business corporations.

2. The Scientific Revolution. All the major 17th-century breakthroughs in mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology happened in Western Europe.

3. The rule of law and representative government. An optimal system of social and political order emerged in the English-speaking world, based on private-property rights and the representation of property owners in elected legislatures.

4. Modern medicine. Nearly all the major 19th- and 20th-century breakthroughs in health care were made by Western Europeans and North Americans.

5. The consumer society. The Industrial Revolution took place where there was both a supply of productivity-enhancing technologies and a demand for more, better and cheaper goods, beginning with cotton garments.

6. The work ethic. Westerners were the first people in the world to combine more extensive and intensive labor with higher savings rates, permitting sustained capital accumulation.

If you’re still reading at this point, I thank you for your patience and your interest. =) I know this a long blog post. I’m going to offer my suggestions on how the United States might strengthen its advantages using Ferguson’s formula. Sure, there are many factors at play, and the US economy is nowhere near being fixed tomorrow, but I thought I’d list some ideas that came to me while writing this.

Competition: Obviously, political circumstances make the advent of investing in innovation difficult right now, and it’s interesting to note that Ferguson does not list “democracy” as one of the “killer apps” that he believes led to half-millennial Western supremacy. He does, however, list competition as one of those apps, citing the fierce competition between early monarchies. European history has also highlighted the large role religious feuds took in shaping societies (Protestants vs. Catholics, anyone?). And what could be more like that than the current situation in Washington? Yay for competing ideologies! This isn’t really a solution, but it’s something of a silver lining the current political morass. Maybe, just maybe, if political competition could then lead to some sort of even limited cooperation, progress could happen within the country. And after that…well, the possibilities are endless!

The Scientific Revolution: This is one of my favorite parts of history because it combines science and a dramatic leap forward in human accomplishment! The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment enabled one of those seismic shifts in societal development akin to the evolutionary shift that took place because of the extinction of the dinosaurs. Yes, I love history and science so much I can’t help but use them both in a metaphor. Anyway, the answer to this piece of the puzzle is, perhaps, the most straightforward. Invest in science! We may not have another Scientific Revolution, but the United States has lead on technological innovation from PC development to cybersecurity to nanotechnology and all that other fun Silicon Valley stuff. NASA is still, by far, the most advanced tool we have as human beings to learn about space, and is the symbol of scientific achievement. Many American government-run programs have yielded tremendous advances in science and everyday technology, DARPA being the most well known. Basically, the US should stop cutting NASA’s budget, stop lowering grants to scientists, embrace a serious effort at developing alternative energy technologies (which means not giving up on the entire solar power effort because of what happened with Solyndra), and the government should sponsor more local science exhibitions like the USA Science and Engineering Festival held in Washington, DC. The national festival is fantastic. That model should be replicated. Encouraging science both inside and outside the classroom is all the more important now that NASA has retired the space shuttles and it will be several years before US astronauts launch from Cape Canaveral again.

The Rule of Law and Representative Government: Oh, Locke, this is why the Political Science world loves you, for your incredible contribution to the modern world vis a vis private property rights. I don’t know that much about eminent domain and private property rights, in general, but not foreclosing on the poverty-stricken seems like a positive step. The system of profiting off of people in dire straits is also not only unethical, but not good for the country in the long run. We’d do much to examine the factors of rising economic equality in this country, but back to representative government and the rule of law. Most would agree that the United States’ judicial system is preferable to that of many other countries. While it is far from perfect, and decisions from that in the Casey Anthony trial to the “corporations are people” outcome of Citizens United, sometimes make me question things, I think we should view our system as a strength. The issue of closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay (as well as the myriad of other secret prisons the United States has overseas) has practical implications, but it’s pretty difficult to profess ideals of fairness a model system for the rule of law when indefinite detentions and questionable practices occur in such places. Put simply, it doesn’t make America look very good and it undermines the country’s character and integrity. The United States should also lead on issues of obvious human rights violations, such as the mass killings in Syria, and not just when it serves the country’s interests. Iran has many issues—let’s not only focus on the nuclear aspect. The fact that the country’s leadership grossly abuses human rights should be talked about just as often. Like much of the rest of the Western world, the United States should also abolish the death penalty. There are so many issues pertaining to the death penalty that I would need an entire additional post to scratch the surface of this issue. There are thousands of other reforms that could be made to advance the rule of law. Limiting the amount of money in politics, making races more transparent, and encouraging interest in the political processes are all ways of improving the system of representative government. The electorate is largely uninformed and apathetic. I welcome any suggestions on how remedy this because I think it would serve the interests of all citizens. Sending out clear and concise messages to people (as I mentioned in my first blog post, “Communication is Everything”, could, hopefully sway at least some people to make decisions not to vote against their own interests, a pretty pervasive problem in today’s politics.)

Modern Medicine: Remove barriers to stem cell research! The idea that health care is a necessity—and a right—for all people shouldn’t be a controversial one. Create systems in which insurance companies don’t run the show and medicine and non-emergency care such as mental health and physical therapy treatments are not astronomically unaffordable for people. Much is made about the dangers of modern diets. Organic and vegetarian and vegan options in supermarkets should be subsidized so that being healthy (as well as environmentally conscious) does not have to be an elitist thing, and does not have to belong to only the gentrified or those able to afford the “luxuries” of tofu and vegetables.

The Consumer Society: This extension of this may have led to our undoing. I’m a materialist and I heartily encourage people to spend money. If companies could reinvest more, as opposed to those at the top being so greedy, that would be helpful. The demand for cheap consumer goods coupled with the desire for ever-increasing profit has led to outsourcing and worker abuses. I wish I knew how to fix this problem. I definitely don’t think taking away collective bargaining rights and vilifying unions is the right thing to do, though, and I’m glad that Ohio voted a few hours ago to rectify this.

The Work Ethic: To begin with, I’d like to say that the I think the idea of “welfare queens” and their ilk is terrible myth that has been perpetuated. Most American people work very hard, and receive much shorter vacation periods, benefits, and social programs such as maternity and paternity leave with pay and childcare options, than many of our European counterparts. Even before the recession, raises were dwindling and many people were getting laid off, while career demands became even greater. More burdens and fewer incentives and recognition do not a happy worker make. Unhappy workers equal lower productivity. I think it’s less of an issue of weak work ethic as it is less appreciation for workers that needs to be addressed.

Let’s not write ourselves off yet. There is no reason why our generation can’t be prosperous in an increasingly globalized world. It doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Of course, certain things are easier in China with a single party system, government-controlled censorship, and unfailing crackdowns on displays of dissent. That is not a positive model for any country or its people. We can seriously address weaknesses in our system, and strengthen those things that are working. Let us take this moment of crisis and make it into an opportunity.