Tea Party

[purejuice]

The Tea Partiers are not, as I deduced from a previous NYT story, boomers out of work. There's a new NYT poll which explains who they are.

I am ready to consign them to the scrapheap of history I shall dub The Racist Backlash Against the 1965 Voting Rights Act That LBJ Said Would Last 50 Years. Five years to go. Buh-bye.

I must say, I think the blogosphere pundits' Gotcha, argue with every word uttered by every asshole on the planet, attitude, is counterproductive. Ignore them, deprive them of a venue, do not repeat or listen to what they say, and they will go away.

Comments

[panjianlien.livejournal.com]

Mostly, my view on all forms of hijab is that it is complicated and I don't thoroughly understand it and I have been paying a fair bit of attention to Muslimah feminists for about 10 years now, since I discovered Fatima Mernissi.

In light of this, I feel obligated to resist the tendency, on the part (mostly) of Western non-Muslims, to decide that they know everything there is to know about it and what it is and what it means and whether it is Good or Bad For Women.

What I do know, and what history knows, is bad for women: not allowing them to be autonomous human beings with meaningful decision-making power in their own lives.

Including how and whether they wish to cover their bodies or clothe themselves.

There are people, male and female, on all sides of the hijab issue who are more than happy to deprive women of their autonomy. Some want to make sure women wear hijab. Some want to make sure they don't. Either is bullshit.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

what of fatima's should i read?

[panjianlien.livejournal.com]

The Veil and the Male Elite and Islam and Democracy, together, for starters.

After that, Dreams of Trespass and Scheherazade Goes West, also taken together.

The recent Les Sindbads marocaines, but I think it's only available in French.

And then anything else that appeals.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

oh yum. and yay. and thanks.