Our mornings are pretty loose, but ritualistic. Rob gets up before I do, brings in the newspaper, lets the dogs out, starts the coffee and his day. By the time I reach the kitchen, the coffee is hot, the cats are waiting to be fed, and my beautiful grapefruit is begging to be sectioned. I glance at the newspaper, go through the email, then get out the laptop and take a look at my favorite news sites.
But there are some headlines not fit for breakfast viewing. Not fit for any viewing at all. And these are the ones I feel compelled to read because they underscore the shocking contrast between democracy – even when it’s shrinking, even when the Bill of Rights is being rendered irrelevant – and theocracy. Here was the headline that made me read:
Saudi woman beheaded for “practicising witchcraft”. Or here.
In a statement issued by the SPA state news agency, Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar was executed in the northern province of Jawf for “practising witchcraft and sorcery.”
What does this mean, exactly? None of the articles I read explained the specifics of her “witchcraft.” Did she reveal her knees to a man who was not a relative or her husband and, thus, lure him into temptation through the sorcery of her flesh? Did she read cards for a friend? Did she concoct some sort of Harry Potter brew for her neighbors? Did she treat an ailment with herbs?
Years go, we had a friend who owned a mystery bookstore in Fort Lauderdale. He had spent years in Saudi Arabia teaching English to the locals. He went there because the pay was fantastic and he didn’t have to pay U.S. taxes. But his stories about the country and culture were chilling. I remember one in particular: that it was illegal to offer weather forecasts. Yes, you read that correctly. In the Saudi worldview, weather forecasts – at least back then – were considered to be prognostication, telling the future, so they were forbidden by the kingdom laws.
So was this woman, perhaps, offering her version of a weather forecast? Is that considered to be such dire sorcery that you’re beheaded for it?
It’s shocking that in a democracy that prides itself on freedom of expression, we do business with a country like Saudi Arabia. It’s even more shocking when you consider that the majority of the 9-11 hijackers were Saudis. In Saudi Arabia, women aren’t permitted to drive, to leave home unless accompanied by a male relative, have to cover themselves and on and on. We recently mentioned Saudi women in another post – Plan B.
I read stories like this one about the beheading and about a Saudi woman who was raped by a male cousin, then released from prison with the suggestion that she marry the guy, and I get angry. Can’t help it. Then I look at the Republican candidates for the 2012 presidential election and realize they aren’t so different from their Saudi brothers.
Keep women oppressed.
Maintain control over women’s reproductive systems.
Make them pay for their poverty, their single motherhoods, it’s all their fault, they didn’t please their guy.
In China, another one of our staunch business allies, hearsay contends that female babies are often killed because females babies are less desirable than males.
And on it goes. These kinds of stories drive me nuts. And if the law of attraction works on a grand scale, then my focus on the repression of Saudi women suggests that I could end up as a Saudi female in a future life. Oh shudder, please, no. Anything but.
Okay, now I’m turning the newspaper page to something fluffy, about a dog that found its way home.
Most of my news comes from my computer, and from a very wide range of sources; sites; blogs, newspapers, etc etc etc. I’m not a “FOX viewer”, guys. I DO think we do well to keep ourselves informed from as many sources as we possibly can. Some of those sources will certainly be less informed, certain will be more informed. But NONE, in my humble opinion, is ALL BAD or ALL GOOD all the time. We have to use common sense with this, and if we are to use common sense, then it stands to reason that information should be accessed through as many venues as are out there. This way we can gain a more objective, less subjective idea about what’s truly happening in the world and across the street. Again, just my thoughts. I consider myself to be pretty much as informed as most. If I’m not, I have only myself to blame for not checking out all available information.
Here’s a story about a study that shows Fox News viewers are the least informed cable/network news viewers. Interestingly, it’s the seventh such study to do so!
https://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/11/22/374434/fox-news-viewers-misinformed-study-jon-stewart/
Not sure I agree with the consensus view of FOX news, although I understand that puts me in a serious minority here. However, sometimes I tend to think FOX puts the real perspective on issues and doesn’t try to sugarcoat the worst of the worst. I certainly am not a fan of FOX, but neither do I think it is the anathema that many others do. Just a difference of opinion and not trying to be argumentative. There are commentators on FOX I despise, along with their delivery, but there are also commentators on other networks that, for me, are as bad or worse. Just a matter of my individual opinion, and it coincides with my oipinion that there are decent Republicans just as there are decent Democrats; decent Catholics and decent Atheists, and that this rule is applicable within any group of folks. I don’t like to lump all persons within any group or organization into a single pigeonhole, because to me that isn’t fair. There are,as well, horrible people in all organizations and groups. So, I tend to look at the individual and not at what particular affiliation that person may have, listen to what the person may be saying, and weigh and balance that with my own thoughts. Just me, weird that I am. An example, and I’m sure this would bring fire and brimstone down on my head from literally millions: I cannot bear to look at the face of evangelist Billy Graham. Just looking at him has always disgusted me. But to millions worldwide, he’s practically the Second Coming. So….we each think and believe as we are led, in every aspect of our lives including politics and religion, the two bug-a-boos. As long as humans exist, there will be such vast differences of opinion, and without them, we would be a world of robots, I think.
Debra, it seems to me that evil IS rampant currently, whether one watches FOX news or not. Every night before going to bed we watch our local NBC or another affiliate, and there is literally NOTHING in the local/national/international news except for murders, arsons, beatings, child abductions and abuse and molestations, police brutality, cleric sexual atrocities, etc etc etc. Last night I told my husband that it seems the entire world has gone insane. And this causes me to have a crazy thought of my own: wondering if something is being sprayed invisibly into the air we breathe or put into the water we drink that is gradually turning us into a species of criminals. It’s so sad, and so disturbing. If ever we needed a paradigm shift, that time is NOW.
But Fox news seems to always find the absolute worse spin on everything.
There’s a strong synchro in this story for me. During the past several months, my cardiologist and I have been having what he refers to as a “pleasant joust” regarding religion, specifically Catholicism, to which he is attempting (gently) to convert me…like that’s going to happen, right? Anyway, just yesterday I showed him a page in the King James version of The New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verses 34-35:
“LET YOUR WOMEN KEEP SILENCE IN THE CHURCHES, FOR IT IS NOT PERMITTED UNTO THEM TO SPEAK; BUT THEY ARE COMMANDED TO BE
UNDER OBEDIENCE, AS ALSO SAITH THE LAW. AND IF THEY WILL LEARN ANYTHING, LET THEM ASK THEIR HUSBANDS AT HOME, FOR IT IS A SHAME FOR WOMEN TO SPEAK IN THE CHURCHES.” Need I say more?? Even in this country, especially here in the southern U.S. states, women continue to be treated with a negative deference, meaning that many of the southern men actually believe women have no minds to think, that we must be “protected”, that our ideas are worthless, that our “place” is in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant and raising a “passle” of their kids. It’s a disrespectful kind of respect, if that makes sense. Controlling. Reminds one of GONE WITH THE WIND, of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Yep. Even now, in the 21st century, there are many, many men who think this way in these southern states. They are male chauvanists and treat us accordingly. Some things have never changed, and probably never will. And THIS isn’t Saudi Arabia!!! It’s America….Land of the Free????????? Equality is not extended to women. My heart doctor, whom I truly love, has attempted to pull me into a conversation with him about abortion and birth control. I refuse to go there, nor will I, for very obvious reasons. It’s an intriguing “joust” he and I are sharing.
Trish,
I don’t think you have to worry about a future lifetime as a Saudi woman. God gives us free will and I believe we get to choose each lifetime we live on earth. The choices could be limited, though. As in, the soul of Dick Cheney having to live another life but only getting to choose a life in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, or Liberia where the chance of being forced into being a child soldier is very real. This would be based on the accruing of negative karma in his current life (the best description I’ve read of reincarnation is: “first you create the experience, then you experience the creation.”).
As for Saudi Arabia…my most freakiest Google search hits (on my blog) are from Saudi Arabia. Based on my very limited sample, I’d say that there is a lot of sexual deviancy going on in that desert kingdom. I’ve heard stories, too. Hypocrisy and sexual deviancy appears to be the norm. There seems to be a connection between extreme religiosity, conservative political views, and sexual deviancy. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if someone like Rick Santorum had some skeletons in his closet that he would be embarrassed about. He seems a little too obsessed with homosexuality, as he talks about it more than any other politician.
Santorum does seem a bit obsessed about homosexuality. He’s weird.
Bearing all the above topics in mind,this movie I would highly recommended viewing –
ANGORA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbuEhwselE0
“Set in ancient Egypt under Roman rule, ANGORA follows the brilliant and beautiful astronomer Hypatia who leads a group of disciples fighting to save the wisdom of the ancient world, as violent religious upheaval spills into the streets of Alexandria. Among these disciples are two men competing for her heart: the witty, privileged Orestes and Davus, Hypatia’s young slave, who is torn between his secret love for her and the freedom he knows can be his if he chooses to join the unstoppable surge of the Christians. Stars Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella, Michael Lonsdale, Oscar Isaac, Rupert Evans”
Great! A new link Thanks, Daz.
I was reading an article in the latest edition of NEXUS magazine
https://www.nexusmagazine.com/
(not that I believe everything I read in NEXUS,either…maybe about 50%)
and on page 14 there is a sub-article titled “The State of Qatar”
(another “friend”of the Empire) .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar#Qatari_law
It touches on Qatari law and human rights and basically quotes what’s in the above link under Qatari law ;
“In common with other Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, sponsorship laws exist in Qatar. These laws have been widely described as akin to modern-day slavery.The sponsorship system (kafeel or kafala) exists throughout the GCC, apart from Bahrain, and means that a worker (not a tourist) may not enter the country without having a kafeel; cannot leave without the kafeel`s permission (an exit permit must first be awarded by the sponsor, or kafeel); and the sponsor has the right to ban the employee from entering Qatar within 2–5 years of his first departure. Various governmental sponsors have recently exercised their right to prevent employees from leaving the country, effectively holding them against their will for no good reason. Some individuals after resigning have not been issued with their exit permits, denying them their basic right to leave the country. Many sponsors do not allow the transfer of one employee to another sponsor”.
So it sounds like modern day slavery is alive and well in the world.
I wonder if Qatar has a Hotel named “California”,because it sure sounds like you can checkout,if you’re lucky…but never leave.-)
Nexus is a good magazine…thanks for the link. Yeah, it does sound like slavery is alive and well, doesn’t it?
Let’s see…. and how many billions of dollars of jets did we just sell to them? Of course we will be fighting them in the future. In the meantime, Obama quietly signs the legislation that the President has total control over whether or not people can be held without due process. We’re not far away from Saudia Arabia’s control over its women. Our government is whittling away at our rights. It’s only a matter of time.
These stories make me I’ll. Beheading? How barbaric. Why are women so hated and demonized?
Ugh,.
another great thought-provoking post, trish – one filled with so much angst – we have come such a little way in such a long long time – and in some instances, such as this, no way at all, even – the bottom line of a male dominated world power hierarchy in which greed and evil reign rampant –
now, to just find a big juicy red grapefruit! 😉
Sigh.
It is horrible that women are repressed , and it is the condition of the majority of women all over the world.
When I first met my future husband (we’ve been together 20 years this past December), he used to talk to about the state of civil rights for black people (of which he is one). He once said to me that I couldn’t understand what repression felt like because I was a white woman.
We agreed to look at these issues together. He learned that women haven’t been fully accepted— even in our own country. He saw our women of America had to fight to keep the rights they have gained. We still have to fight (at least with votes, letters to the Senate, & where we put our money).
Some of the current frontrunners for president of the US are racist, and sexist. They want to move backwards in regards to these issues. That’s scarey to me. Who wants some arrogant good-ole-boy telling you wether you are fully human or not? Poverty in America is women’s issue as much as it is a race issue. Example: the fastest growing homeless population is female war vets.
I ‘ve often wished that women all over the world would unify in someway to help raise all women (and their children) above these oppressive politics. Together we would have a strong voice. But that’s the idealist in me…
The majority of the candidates are sexist and racist. I didn’t know this about female vets, Debra. I wonder how black women vets are faring when compared to white female vets? My hope is that the paradigm shift will bring about the end of
all sexism and racism. These days, I’m finding politics to be a joke. The idea that anyone could possibly take Rick Santorum or any of these wackos seriously is pathetic.
One of my neighbors is an older single woman who is struggling financially. She is voting for Santorum or Romney (she wanted Palin). I asked her why she is voting against her own best interest. She said that she needed to help America get away from the evil that is currently rampant. {She only watches Fox news, of course.}
Here is just one of the many articles on female vets:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/17/rise-in-homeless-female-v_n_928842.html
Thanks for the link. It’s pathetic that people vote against their own self interest. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of not connecting the dots that are right in front of you!
You know I don’t have anything to say. I guess that is what happens when stupidity and hatred is on such a grand scale that nothing I could think of saying would really express it appropriately. Just wanted to let you know I read your post and that I am happy for the dog.
Thanks, Cole!
ditto, cole! i have to catch the doggies coming home stories, too, just to maintain my own sanity – such as it is!
It’s horrific what is happening in Saudi Arabia. It made me cringe when I used to see Tony Blair and our UK Prince Andrew cuddling up to them. But, unfortunately, this will no doubt continue – wealth and oil seem to rule. I don’t know what the answer is but surely we have to, at the very least, raise objections and concerns at the highest levels. We are not likely to intervene in other ways.
I used to cringe when I saw Bush holding hands with that saudi prince. I know just what you mean, Mike.
Hi Trish, Both my son and my daughter lived in Shanghai, China for 5 years and they’ve said that there’s a whole generation of young men coming of age there who will never have a wife unless they “import” one from another country, as there are so few available females in that generation. I wonder if they’ve unwittingly created a culture where females will be valued more than men now. It’s interesting how nature tends to balance itself as it could also bring about a decline in their population growth.
(also curious to know if your morning grapefruit plucked from your own tree? That would be my idea of heaven!)
We do have a grapefruit tree, but the fruit is mostly good just for juice! My grapefruits are store bought. But delicious.
How interesting that you lived in China. Do you speak Chinese??
No Trish, I don’t speak Chinese but my daughter was working with the local people so she learned enough of the basics to be understood…it’s a very difficult language and one word can mean many things depending on the tone used when speaking.
We have a friend who speaks madarin…I figure that’s got to be a tough one to learn!
Isn’t the Chinese policy to control population growth by allowing only one child per couple? This is why we hear those stories of girl babies allegedly being killed. They have created their own problem, rather than nature.
Mike, yes you’re quite right about the Chinese policy of one child and the resulting female infanticide. I never meant to imply that nature was working with the Chinese government or the Chinese people, to control the population. It was just a matter of my typing fingers not being fully engaged with my brain to more clearly explain what I was trying to say!
I do include humanity as being a part of nature rather than separate from it (although not all of humanity sees it that way), but I was simply musing that the end result of this practice has brought the people of China to an interesting place.
I am reading “The Bookseller of Kabul,” which is about the state of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban and afterwards. It’s chilling, also. I saw that headline about the Saudi woman being beheaded. Women everywhere must have felt as we did when we saw that. What did she do? She went against some guy who decided she didn’t deserve to live. Thoughtful post, Trish. I wish I knew what to say.
I wish I could ignore these stories.