Frontpage Magazine has published an article of mine: Burqua Prejudice. You can read it here, with interesting comments by readers following the article.
I must say, I like the ambiguous photo that FPM has put up of the Fabulous Four. If I were a Muslim (and even not), I wouldn't want the women in my culture to dress and look the way they do. We don't have to be Muslim to be modest.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Riley's Story
Who is to blame?
Riley Fox
I watched a heart-wrenching 20/20 story last night about the abduction, rape and murder of the three-year-old Riley Fox in Wilmington Illinois. The case was straightforward. The father was initially accused of the murder for a variety of reasons - one was that the police had manipulated a confession out of him, and had made him do a lie detector test under duress, which he failed, so they didn't want to admit their mistakes. The father served eight months in jail, but was later released since DNA evidence pointed to another man.
But, I wasn't interested in the murder story as much as in the family dynamics. What first caught my attention was how Riley's young parents met. Melissa Fox says she met her future husband Kevin when she was a high school freshman and he a junior at a volleyball game. Kevin then interjected and said she asked him to the prom. He accepted, they dated, and later married. Riley was their second child at the time of her murder, with an older brother Tyler.
Strike #1. I kept that subtle reversal of roles of who asked whom for a date in mind as I decided to follow the story.
The night the little girl was killed, Melissa was away for the weekend on a breast cancer awareness walk in nearby Chicago.
Strike #2. A mothers who leaves her real life, dependent children behind for a woman-power weekend.
Kevin, on his part (his guys night out) attended a rock concert that night, and left his children with their grandmother for the evening.
Strike #3. Competition between the parents about nights out away from family and children, initiated by the wife. I think men are much less happy about staying home while their wives have nights out than is normally admitted.
Kevin was probably a little tipsy and tired when he picked his children up and took them home late that night (or early at 1 in the morning). He put them to sleep in the living room in the front of the house, with Riley and one sofa and Tyler on another. He went to sleep in his and his wife's bedroom. This made me cringe. The two young children were literally in the line of fire in the living room, which is the front room of the house. Their parents' bedroom is behind the living room.
Strike #4. Mothers are often the ones who make sure their children are safe and secure, with tucks and good nights. A father, especially one like Kevin who is tired and impatient, would only think of "let's get them to sleep." I don't think mothers, who are more prone to worrying about the smallest dangers, would ever let their children sleep in the front of the house, close to the entrance.
A robber was doing his rounds across the street when he decided to try out the Fox's house too. He found the Fox's house wih a broken gate, and an unlocked front door. The Fox's knew about this problem, but it was Melissa who would secure the locks and windows before the family went to sleep (as she recounts here). These are the small details that mothers attend to before turning in to bed.
Strike #5. No mother in the house to secure the small details.
And the rest is a murder story.
But, it doesn't end here.
What I write below are purely my speculations, and the accusations and conclusions I make are my own.
Melissa comes back from her ridiculous female empowerment weekend to find a destroyed family. I wonder how she reacts? I wonder who she blames? I would say that she failed. She failed to use her superior female instincts and behavior to provide a safe environment for her family. She unduly caused marital competition by leaving her husband and going on a trip unrelated or not beneficial to him or her family, causing him to plan a night out also, which left him too tired and mildly drunk to take care of his children. She left her husband to fend for things that she would have normally taken care of, in a much more superior and efficient manner.
My instincts is that she blamed her husband. I say this because they are now separated. "How could you let the children sleep in the front room?" would be her incredulous question. Kevin was only being as efficient as he knows best; a bed is a bed, he was tired, and it was late.
But, it all started with that spunky girl in high school, who thought she could turn things around, and follow all those girl power cliches. Well, yes, she asked her husband out, but she also, by my speculation, caused the marital breakdown. And all for a weekend out with her girlfriends, based on a false and dangerous premise of "girl power." Was it worth it all?
 |
I watched a heart-wrenching 20/20 story last night about the abduction, rape and murder of the three-year-old Riley Fox in Wilmington Illinois. The case was straightforward. The father was initially accused of the murder for a variety of reasons - one was that the police had manipulated a confession out of him, and had made him do a lie detector test under duress, which he failed, so they didn't want to admit their mistakes. The father served eight months in jail, but was later released since DNA evidence pointed to another man.
But, I wasn't interested in the murder story as much as in the family dynamics. What first caught my attention was how Riley's young parents met. Melissa Fox says she met her future husband Kevin when she was a high school freshman and he a junior at a volleyball game. Kevin then interjected and said she asked him to the prom. He accepted, they dated, and later married. Riley was their second child at the time of her murder, with an older brother Tyler.
Strike #1. I kept that subtle reversal of roles of who asked whom for a date in mind as I decided to follow the story.
The night the little girl was killed, Melissa was away for the weekend on a breast cancer awareness walk in nearby Chicago.
Strike #2. A mothers who leaves her real life, dependent children behind for a woman-power weekend.
Kevin, on his part (his guys night out) attended a rock concert that night, and left his children with their grandmother for the evening.
Strike #3. Competition between the parents about nights out away from family and children, initiated by the wife. I think men are much less happy about staying home while their wives have nights out than is normally admitted.
Kevin was probably a little tipsy and tired when he picked his children up and took them home late that night (or early at 1 in the morning). He put them to sleep in the living room in the front of the house, with Riley and one sofa and Tyler on another. He went to sleep in his and his wife's bedroom. This made me cringe. The two young children were literally in the line of fire in the living room, which is the front room of the house. Their parents' bedroom is behind the living room.
Strike #4. Mothers are often the ones who make sure their children are safe and secure, with tucks and good nights. A father, especially one like Kevin who is tired and impatient, would only think of "let's get them to sleep." I don't think mothers, who are more prone to worrying about the smallest dangers, would ever let their children sleep in the front of the house, close to the entrance.
A robber was doing his rounds across the street when he decided to try out the Fox's house too. He found the Fox's house wih a broken gate, and an unlocked front door. The Fox's knew about this problem, but it was Melissa who would secure the locks and windows before the family went to sleep (as she recounts here). These are the small details that mothers attend to before turning in to bed.
Strike #5. No mother in the house to secure the small details.
And the rest is a murder story.
But, it doesn't end here.
What I write below are purely my speculations, and the accusations and conclusions I make are my own.
Melissa comes back from her ridiculous female empowerment weekend to find a destroyed family. I wonder how she reacts? I wonder who she blames? I would say that she failed. She failed to use her superior female instincts and behavior to provide a safe environment for her family. She unduly caused marital competition by leaving her husband and going on a trip unrelated or not beneficial to him or her family, causing him to plan a night out also, which left him too tired and mildly drunk to take care of his children. She left her husband to fend for things that she would have normally taken care of, in a much more superior and efficient manner.
My instincts is that she blamed her husband. I say this because they are now separated. "How could you let the children sleep in the front room?" would be her incredulous question. Kevin was only being as efficient as he knows best; a bed is a bed, he was tired, and it was late.
But, it all started with that spunky girl in high school, who thought she could turn things around, and follow all those girl power cliches. Well, yes, she asked her husband out, but she also, by my speculation, caused the marital breakdown. And all for a weekend out with her girlfriends, based on a false and dangerous premise of "girl power." Was it worth it all?
Friday, June 11, 2010
The Thinking Housewife
Portrait of a Thinking Housewife
I love it when bloggers show us their photos. An important member of the blogging community has posted her portrait. It will be a pleasure to associate the posts at The Thinking Housewife with the intelligent, thoughtful and kind face of Laura Wood.
I love it when bloggers show us their photos. An important member of the blogging community has posted her portrait. It will be a pleasure to associate the posts at The Thinking Housewife with the intelligent, thoughtful and kind face of Laura Wood.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
All About Ayaan
Cross-posted at Our Changing Landscape
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the most famous Muslim-turned-atheist, is doing the rounds to promote her new book Nomad. Initially, she had planned to write a philosophical discourse which she had decided to title Shortcuts to Enlightenment. But she abandoned this project to continue with her roster of memoirs and autobiographies, and wrote the memoir Nomad instead. I've written before that this approach is probably more financially lucrative, and anything she says will be attributed to her opinions or her "personal story" and therefore cannot be refuted by scholars or historians. Welcome, therefore, to the Ayaan Hirsi Ali franchise, replete with adultery, and family and political betrayals - she did abandoned Holland in the midst of the country's grips with the murder of its citizen Theo Van Gogh. What happens to an ex-Muslim atheist who's out of the limelight? Well, she gets forgotten and ignored. And since Ali has never been one to stay out of the limelight, she seems always to have a dramatic comeback.
What is interesting about this new book, whose pages are filled with steamy family portraits and provocative chapters like "School and Sexuality," is its subtitle: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations. As usual with Ali, everything is about her. Wafa Sultan, another former Muslim, and much less egotistical, is the one who alluded to the phrase "clash of civilizations." But Sultan, in her wisdom and understanding, claims that there is no clash of civilization, but a clash between the backward Islam and the civilized Christian West. Here is her elaborate explanation:
That was what came across in her interview (or promotional stop) at the Colbert Report. Here is the video of the interaction. At one point, Colbert, the liberal, refuses to accept Ali demonizing Islam. But, perhaps he is less of a liberal than he makes out (TV shows are notoriously left-leaning, and he has to "play the game" to keep the ratings up). What Colbert does, unprecedented in other shows and interviews I've watched, is to invite Ali to Christianity, after having made her admit that she's an atheist. Partly, I think it is his way of telling her to put her money where her mouth is, since she is telling Christians to proselytize to Muslims, and get them to convert to the "better religion" Christianity.
At this point, Ali goes all out in mocking Christianity, which she has no intention whatsoever of joining. She makes fun of the Eucharist, brushes aside the notion of hell in Christian theology, and denounces Jesus Christ, saying she prefers the Enlightenment philosophers to him. Colbert did keep pushing her (in the guise of talk-show humor) until she reached this vocal and hostile condemnation.
Another revealing moment in the show was when Colbert asked her if she is now a Westerner. Her answer was, "I'm becoming one." After close to two decades in the West, including holding important political positions in a Western democracy (the Netherlands), what is there to work out? A forthright, "Yes I am a Westerner" would have been a welcome answer.
What makes Ali undermine Christianity so confidently ? Well, on the front cover of her new book, there is an endorsement by none other than the high priest of atheism, Richard Dawkins himself, who wrote, "This woman is a major hero of our times." And riding on the boldness that other atheists like Christopher Hitchens display, Ali has no qualms about publicly disclosing her religious (non) affiliations.
I wonder how Ali will be received in America? I get the feeling she will just circulate around the neo-cons and right liberal elites, writing her articles and possibly throwing out a book or two for the liberal vultures who love seedy stories about Third World "victims." I suspect she will get quite wealthy in the process. America, though, is not the "progressive" Europe. Religion in America hasn't been abandoned, and Christianity still informs the lives of the majority of Americans.
Ali also has her AHA foundation to promote and upkeep. Perhaps that's why she was hesitant to proclaim her uncontested Western affiliation; her foundation's primary concern is the defense of Muslim women abused by the Islamic culture and religion.
Finally, this is neither here nor there (perhaps - although I do hold a strong attachment to physical appearances), but Ali looks like she's lost quite a bit of weight. Her sordid personal life; living in a country that is not as liberal or religious-free as Europe; and resorting to the lowest denominator to promote her thoughts (writing a memoir rather than the philosophical discourse she had originally planned), must be taking their toll.
 |
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the most famous Muslim-turned-atheist, is doing the rounds to promote her new book Nomad. Initially, she had planned to write a philosophical discourse which she had decided to title Shortcuts to Enlightenment. But she abandoned this project to continue with her roster of memoirs and autobiographies, and wrote the memoir Nomad instead. I've written before that this approach is probably more financially lucrative, and anything she says will be attributed to her opinions or her "personal story" and therefore cannot be refuted by scholars or historians. Welcome, therefore, to the Ayaan Hirsi Ali franchise, replete with adultery, and family and political betrayals - she did abandoned Holland in the midst of the country's grips with the murder of its citizen Theo Van Gogh. What happens to an ex-Muslim atheist who's out of the limelight? Well, she gets forgotten and ignored. And since Ali has never been one to stay out of the limelight, she seems always to have a dramatic comeback.
What is interesting about this new book, whose pages are filled with steamy family portraits and provocative chapters like "School and Sexuality," is its subtitle: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations. As usual with Ali, everything is about her. Wafa Sultan, another former Muslim, and much less egotistical, is the one who alluded to the phrase "clash of civilizations." But Sultan, in her wisdom and understanding, claims that there is no clash of civilization, but a clash between the backward Islam and the civilized Christian West. Here is her elaborate explanation:
The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilizations...It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality.Ali, in her supreme self-centeredness, cannot see through this description. After all, in her eyes, the clash is not between these two opposites, as Sultan explains, but between her (Ali) and the rest of the world. In fact, she has now decided that she, in her lofty conclusions, will clash with the very element that has made the West a formidable foe to Islam; she will fight Christianity.
That was what came across in her interview (or promotional stop) at the Colbert Report. Here is the video of the interaction. At one point, Colbert, the liberal, refuses to accept Ali demonizing Islam. But, perhaps he is less of a liberal than he makes out (TV shows are notoriously left-leaning, and he has to "play the game" to keep the ratings up). What Colbert does, unprecedented in other shows and interviews I've watched, is to invite Ali to Christianity, after having made her admit that she's an atheist. Partly, I think it is his way of telling her to put her money where her mouth is, since she is telling Christians to proselytize to Muslims, and get them to convert to the "better religion" Christianity.
At this point, Ali goes all out in mocking Christianity, which she has no intention whatsoever of joining. She makes fun of the Eucharist, brushes aside the notion of hell in Christian theology, and denounces Jesus Christ, saying she prefers the Enlightenment philosophers to him. Colbert did keep pushing her (in the guise of talk-show humor) until she reached this vocal and hostile condemnation.
Another revealing moment in the show was when Colbert asked her if she is now a Westerner. Her answer was, "I'm becoming one." After close to two decades in the West, including holding important political positions in a Western democracy (the Netherlands), what is there to work out? A forthright, "Yes I am a Westerner" would have been a welcome answer.
What makes Ali undermine Christianity so confidently ? Well, on the front cover of her new book, there is an endorsement by none other than the high priest of atheism, Richard Dawkins himself, who wrote, "This woman is a major hero of our times." And riding on the boldness that other atheists like Christopher Hitchens display, Ali has no qualms about publicly disclosing her religious (non) affiliations.
I wonder how Ali will be received in America? I get the feeling she will just circulate around the neo-cons and right liberal elites, writing her articles and possibly throwing out a book or two for the liberal vultures who love seedy stories about Third World "victims." I suspect she will get quite wealthy in the process. America, though, is not the "progressive" Europe. Religion in America hasn't been abandoned, and Christianity still informs the lives of the majority of Americans.
Ali also has her AHA foundation to promote and upkeep. Perhaps that's why she was hesitant to proclaim her uncontested Western affiliation; her foundation's primary concern is the defense of Muslim women abused by the Islamic culture and religion.
Finally, this is neither here nor there (perhaps - although I do hold a strong attachment to physical appearances), but Ali looks like she's lost quite a bit of weight. Her sordid personal life; living in a country that is not as liberal or religious-free as Europe; and resorting to the lowest denominator to promote her thoughts (writing a memoir rather than the philosophical discourse she had originally planned), must be taking their toll.
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