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| Blogs > rm_debluvz2fck > Another Whisper In The Dark |
Ultra-Orthadox Entry into the Idiocy Arms Race (or A Step Too Far)
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Ultra-Orthadox Entry into the Idiocy Arms Race (or A Step Too Far) To say that I am incensed about the article I just read underpens the nuclear reaction I had to it. No one died. No one was mutilated. But the sexism of the statement was a cert for entry into the Idiocy Arms Race. An what better choice for my two hundredth blog posting here? Hamevaser, newspaper serving an insular ultra-Orthodox in Israel, chose to digitally remove German Chancellor Angela Merkel from the iconic pictures of world leaders marching in support of the families and country rattled by the mass killings in Paris. To be fair, they also digitally removed all evidence of all female political leaders in the pictures. Chancellor Merkel was not singled out. As the mind contemplates why women should be excluded, as no one is as open about discussing how women are treated in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities as they are in similarly restrictive Muslim ones, the reason for their exclusion had to be considered. Why, after all, were they excluded? Were they wearing pants? Were their skirts too short? Does the community consider a woman in public with an uncovered head disrespectful? Why? The answer was perhaps more alarming than I had initially posited. Women, quite simply, are not to be seen in public without being considered immodest. The ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspaper chose not to offend the families viewing the paper with pictures of women who were, by appearing in public, being immodest. Young might see women, after all! Heaven forfend! And it could tarnish the memories of those who died in the attacks. Was the Taliban this restrictive? Not even appear in public without offending people? Now, while I could accept that traditions may be archaic and misogynistic in their practice, I would argue that the use of the pictures was not required for the stories if the paper was in any way offended by the presence of women in them. Don't crop out women in a pretense that they don't exist or aren't active in society. If your will be harmed in some way by seeing prominent leaders who make a difference in the world who happen to have two X-chromosomes instead of your natural and misogynistic preference for XY- chromosomal combinations, perhaps that harm will be that they won't be traditionally misogynistic? Wouldn't that be a delight? My official thought on the digital removal of women from the pictures? I wonder why female circumcision only occurs in Africa. Oh, right. For Jewish males, it shows a greater bond with God that women don't have. Guess female circumcision would mean we could be in the pictures. Not worth it. Oh, and if I were the photographer who owned the rights to the picture and the paper didn't contract for the right to alter the image, I'd sue. They should pay for their narrow minds. Just as a short post script, I will add that al Jazeera did not exclude the German Chancellor or any other female policitians from their publications. They called some of the other marchers out on their domestic policies regarding journalists (the Egyptian delegate comes from a country that jailed 200 journalists last year alone), but no one was deleted. Guess we don't only need to focus on Sharia law as a concern regarding the treatment of women. |
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