Friday, October 23, 2009

Honoris causa

Trying to not manipulate visitors who are just stumbling upon Omnium, I do - for the beginning - but ask to read this post and the comments, and afterwards let the author, his commenters and me know your thoughts, your opinion.

After having slept thrice, I shall let you know my thoughts.
Until then,
the peace of three nights.

Four days later (October 23rd)

Why would I wait even four days?
Well, once again in the deepest den of my heart suddenly the snakes Irony and Sarcasm woke up - or rather were awaken* - and since they were darting, trying to lure my fingers to squirt their venom via keyboard into the blogosphere. And no one and nothing able to becalm these creatures.
* Honestly I am against honor crimes but this time I really don’t feel sorry for her I agree with u Nas ….. allah gave us brain to think and consider our actions ….. but I just don’t understand why the boy friend don’t get the same punishment …. Why it’s always the girl ?
My quest to withstand the tempters seemed almost lost, when fortunately I heard Karl Popper whispering:
To attack a man for talking nonsense
is like finding your mortal enemy
drowning in a swamp and
jumping in after him with a knife.
And although Sir Karl - out of sheer politeness, or did he think a man would for no reason think of stabbing a woman with a knife, let alone with a sword? - did not speak of utterly stupid women talking nonsense, - both snakes cuddled close, coiled up, fell smilingly asleep, and I knew: It's over - for this time.
Well, and apart from this, it was not my intention to write about certain mathematics teachers' wealth of mental poverty. The more as some commenters did it, and ... the mathematics teacher proved she could at least put two and two together and decided to not post a fifth comment.
Still, I ask you to keep above's quotation in your mind.

End of the beforegoing.

Learning his unwed daughter is pregnant, a father takes his sword and kills her and the unborn creature.
It happens every day. Those who know me a little, know what I think and thus would not expect me to post about such a singular case. And right they are.
Rather I found interesting that a blogger would focus and repeatedly insist on the victim's stupidity / ignorance.

And as I am part of "anyone else" (#27):
this is not being used to justify anything. my opinion is simple on this matter and it is outlined in comment #5. you dont run in to a burning building without the knowledge that there is a high chance of getting burnt, even if your purpose is a noble one.
What an interesting mindset.
Translating it:
I don't support honour-killings - actually, I really don't like honour-killings, but in this very case the victim should have known better. Thus, it's (also) her fault.

Quite! And cynism is the intellectual cripple's substitute for intelligence.

Following this kind of logic, the Anna Politkovskayas, Hrant Dinks and José Carrascos on this planet ought not to complain in their coffins, hm? They should have known better, hm?

And the barber in Pakistan whose throat has been cut about two years ago was an absolutely silly sod to open a shop in an area where quite a few men consider the shaving of beards a sacrileg, hm?

And those women (gang-)raped in Kongo and elsewhere: If they don't consider sweet
and honourable to getting (gang-)raped for their country*,why would they not take a plane and leave the war area, those unpatriotic bitches, hm? They should (have) know(n) both that (gang-)raping is part of war culture, and that it is part of our culture to consider a woman who would allow one, five or twenty heroes to rape her disgustingly befouling the honour of her family and their honourable neighbours, hm?

Do I hear a mother sadly nod and murmur? "Praised be our culture. Imagine I had not circumcised her. She might have wished the pleasure to never end."

End of the beforegoing.


And herewith I am approaching the essential interior inherent essence which - as is well known - is hidden in the roots of the kernel of everything, and thus in this blogpost, too.

1. Murder is murder is murder ...

2. Traditions are not good, per se.

How to overcome traditions which rather than being good are harmful?
[...] fighting honor crimes is to identify why people believe what they do, and those beliefs are inherently attached to locations, origins and local culture. [...]
Hört, hört! Who would have thought this?

1. Honour crimes (would honourable people commit a crime?) are no cultural accomplishment.
2. Neither they belong to those traditions (like f.e. hospitality) which are worth to be conserved, and where (almost) lost worth to be revived.

Ergo: When people claim killing in order to revive (sic!) what they call their honour to be a cultural accomplishment, a tradition, at best it is a harmful cultural accomplishment, a harmful tradition; a tradition that like FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) once upon a time has been conceived by men to demonstrate and assure their superiority.
Literally - and I hope you will not mind the following aprosdoketon - we thus are talking about fucking machos.

Well, how to overcome harmful traditions? À la General Napier?
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
Well, as long as such a threat is not empty, is able to convince.

Rather I'd prefer to positively convince.
It is possible.
I remember Rupert Neudeck telling about a project in Ethiopia. It took years of burning patience. At the end the men decided that from now on (in their tribe) no girl, no woman should get circumcised, anymore.
And there had no gallows been erected to convince them.
It is possible!

So why should not be possible to convince at least the vast majority of those who think it's a matter of honour to kill ones daughter, sister, niece for this and that reason?

As for the rest: They should be given the chance to contemplate - in prison. For a couple of years. And if then they are still convinced it was their legitimate right to kill, well, then they may stay where they are. And I wish them a long life, and both slowly and painfully rotting testicles.

Oh dear, whereto has my taciturnity disappeared?

And who am I to globally criticise certain local cultures? A bloody degenerated Westerner who would let his opinion build by all those liars of the mainstream media?

Oh, yes! It's my own fault. Didn't I know the risk? Didn't I know what might happen when writing such a blogpost? :)

Yes, I know ... but ...

A beautiful rhetorical gem, isn't it? And certainly not a local one. You would find it in any language. Correct me if I am wrong.

I have nothing, absolutely nothing against foreigners, but ...
Nothing against education, but ... it's nothing for women.
Honestly I am against honor crimes but ...
What you say sounds plausible, but ...
I see your point, but ... you are comparing apples with oranges.

Ha ha ha, just coming to think of
what my dear Turkish seanachie once wrote - fully aware, by the way, of the risk that he might go to hell when defending the bikini:
why does that preacher think that a bikini is a more serious challange against Allah rather than taking the life of another living creature? why just cant he simply preach that a true muslim should not stare at those women who wear bikini instead of totally trying to curse the bikini.
Such a lovely end, would you agree?

Thus I shall stop - not end - here, smilingly retreat under the rocks of Seanhenge and silently ponder about ... this and that.

But :) a final remark:

Those who feel offended, are meant.

And for connoisseurs an old Chinese saying:

"Those who feel insulted by others confess to their mental / intellectual inferiority."

The peace of the night.

9 comments:

  1. I am getting used to this kind of stories..((
    Culture relativism?
    Kindest
    hans

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  2. Ach the bottom line it was murder.. whichever way one looks at it

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  3. Hans,
    it's not a matter of culture;
    and never shall I get used to this kind of "stories".

    Jams,
    quite!
    You put in one sentence what certain bloggers would hardly be able to put within 50. :)

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. You said it all, Sean.

    The perpetrators of honour killings are dangerous psychopaths. People who blame the victims are mentally ill.

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  6. Claudia,
    quite.
    And, to begin with, states like Canada, Germany and others should be very strict against (potential) importers of harmful traditions.

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  7. I hope that Canada courts will be very strict with the man (helped by his son) who strangled his 16-year-old daughter, on Dec.10, 2007, for not wearing hijab.

    The Canadian Islamic community calls it an act of domestic violence, not a religious honour killing.

    How many fathers (in my country) would kill a daughter for wearing the clothes all young Canadian girls wear? It was religious fanatism that killed Aqsa Parvez. Her death might have been prevented if people (teachers/friends/Muslim religious leaders) who knew which problems the young girl was facing, had confronted her father.

    What happened is very frightening. We hope the two murderers get the maximum sentence. As much as we wish, in my country, to welcome immigrants warmly, we do not want barbaric traditions to be imported and accepted in our free land.

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  8. I agree with jams. It was murder and that is that. Here in Italy recently a man killed his daughter for reasons of "Honour", then the mother said she forgave him because the girl was in the wrong. [Her "crime" had been having an Italian boyfriend.] I keep wondering if the woman was brainwashed or had been threatened in somw way. "Honour" is a much-abused word, isn't it? The mafia commits crime in its name. Murder is murder and no one should be allowed to hide behind their culture or "religion" because these killings are a travesty of religion. A courageous post.

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  9. Claudia and Welshcakes,
    sorry for replying so late.

    Claudia,
    as said / written above: States like Canada, Germany and others should be very strict against (potential) importers of harmful traditions.
    We do have more than enough harmful traditions ourselves that we ought to get rid of.

    Welshcakes,
    not to repeat what I wrote above:
    Yes! What you, what we are talking about: the abuse of the word "honour".

    Well, ... and thanks for considering my post "courageous".
    Isn't it a pity that you / anyone could think of that this post was courageous?
    I am looking forward to the day that posts like mine are ... not necassary.

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