Alternate Universe - I remember
Alternate Universe - I remember interviewing members of a local "radical" group, the U of M's Progressive Student Organization, on my old talk show at KSTP back in the mid-eighties. I had a distinct impression that I was chasing a greased pig - it was impossible to get a hand on the argument. They and I were in two very different worlds. The vocabulary, geography and history each of us observed were completely different. I said "Lincoln freed the slaves", they said "Lincoln opened up opportunities for Jim Crow".
Lileks has it pretty much figured out this morning:
One of the speakers quoted in the article said we’d insulted Arab cultures: “Long after the Gulf War was over, we had arms depots outside of mosques, American servicewomen dressed inappropriately for where they were.” So women shouldn’t be in the military? No, of course they should serve. So they shouldn’t be posted to the Middle East? No, they should have the same opportunities as men. So they should wear the veil while they’re on the base? No, but we have to understand that their presence upsets the local culture. So you support overturning the governments that impose strict miserable sexist regulations on females? No, we just have to realize how they see us. And then we do what? I don’t understand the question. Once we realize that they see us as a Godforsaken culture that lets women drive cars AND planes AND wear shorts and thongs, AND dance with someone they just met five minutes ago AND have a day job operating machine guns, then what? Well, we enter into a cross-cultural dialogue that enables a syncretic process aimed at facilitating strategies of coexistence. Yes, but what if they want to kill us because we actually think that their concepts of female servitude are negotiable? Well, I don’t accept your definitions; I think we have to change the terms of the debate so violence is never an option. It’s an option for them. It’s Job One, as the Ford ads used to say - oh, look, it’s a fellow with a bomb-belt, running towards us. Should I shoot him? Violence never solves anything. It’s about to solve you, ma’am. It’s about to solve you for good.
And that more or less sums it up.
It's like arguing an overly smug fundamentalist (you pick the religion) - when cornered, a simple "Read the (Torah, Bible, Quran)" or "Violence never solves anything" or "Dialog! Dialog! Dialog!" usually ends the conversation, as far as they're concerned.
Posted by Mitch at
January 27, 2003 06:45 AM
