-
Website
http://randythomas.org/ -
Original page
http://randythomas.org/2008/02/26/revolution-in-iran/ -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
Top Commenters
-
Jonathan
139 comments · 3 points
-
donbeeson
12 comments · 3 points
-
mdturner77
18 comments · 1 points
-
Matt_V
17 comments · 1 points
-
editorgal
65 comments · 4 points
-
-
Popular Threads
Joking aside, this is good to see.
:)
Joking aside, this is good to see.
:)
or a woman, or a journalist, or someone who values freedom...
What is worse, I think, is the psychological damage that comes from being forced to abide by the extreme mandates of that society (being targeted by modesty police for example) and not being able to protect yourself from violence or ill treatment at the hands of men unless (or in spite of) living a life completely within the confines of your own home only to leave in the company of male relatives. I wonder what the effect of damaging half of the population that way will ultimately be. Especially since it's the half raising the children.
or a woman, or a journalist, or someone who values freedom...
What is worse, I think, is the psychological damage that comes from being forced to abide by the extreme mandates of that society (being targeted by modesty police for example) and not being able to protect yourself from violence or ill treatment at the hands of men unless (or in spite of) living a life completely within the confines of your own home only to leave in the company of male relatives. I wonder what the effect of damaging half of the population that way will ultimately be. Especially since it's the half raising the children.
First, I like your whole comment and point taken. In an attempt to briefly answer to your question... I actually think we are seeing what will happen to a society when the women are abused and mistreated.
A friend of mine, Janelle Hallman, once said that Biblical gender identity is very complex but one of the complementary attributes that women and men have toward each other is that women represent power and men authority.
One without the other is a tremendous societal force but they will never succeed (as a society) without the appreciation of each other distinctly and interdependently (with all gender complementary attributes, not just the one I highlighted above.)
This has been going on in the Middle East for ages and as hyper unchecked "authority" (masculine trait according to my friend's hypothesis) crushes true "power" (feminine trait according to my friend) the apparent result in this case is small minded relationally deprived and ignorant fascists that do not value life or community.
God was so magnificent to create male and female, equally, in His image. They reflect God wonderfully within their own gender but together, they reflect God in a way that neither can do alone.
That's why, as a man, I find it horrific the way they treat women over there. It breaks my heart to see women tortured and walking about in black from head to toe.
"I actually think we are seeing what will happen to a society when the women are abused and mistreated." You are right, this type of treatment has been occuring for longer than the Iranian government has been around. Essentially we are seeing, in many countries, the accumulation of hundreds (or thousands)of years of aligning their societies around the suppression of women.
"It breaks my heart to see women tortured and walking about in black from head to toe." But if Muslim societies have erred on the side of too much male authority and enforced "modesty," which I think is really the enforced hiding of female beauty, then has our society adopted the opposite traditions and turned out right? I think that right now women have become completely obsessed with proving they are better than men (which is a silly and perhaps impossible thing to do) at the expense of both gender's happiness. And women have mistaken sex and sexiness for beauty, leading them to act in ways that are really damaging to them.
I completely agree with you on all points. Without complementary interdependence the war of the sexes will continue. Since we don't live in perfection until we are with Christ, we can look forward to allllll kinds of manifesting problems in all of humanity. Not just limited to the brief hypothetical glimpse of my bad paraphrase of a good friend as applied to the middle east.
We in the west have done the same disservice as those in the middle east in the sense that instead of head to toe isolation of the female image and oppressing her power, there is this head to toe sexual objectification of the female image (and the beginnings of the same for men.)
At the same time I would say that we in the West are better than the middle East with regard to complementarity interdependence. I don't know what you mean by "right" as a society...that is a big scope of a word where a large society can't be perfectly "right." That said we do have respected women in leadership on every level in public and private sectors. I think that is a great sign of a healthy society.
Plus, we in the west aren't just limited to men abusing women ... women can be abusive toward men too.
Anyway, didn't mean to get all into that but I am enjoying the conversation. Thanks Ellie.
First, I like your whole comment and point taken. In an attempt to briefly answer to your question... I actually think we are seeing what will happen to a society when the women are abused and mistreated.
A friend of mine, Janelle Hallman, once said that Biblical gender identity is very complex but one of the complementary attributes that women and men have toward each other is that women represent power and men authority.
One without the other is a tremendous societal force but they will never succeed (as a society) without the appreciation of each other distinctly and interdependently (with all gender complementary attributes, not just the one I highlighted above.)
This has been going on in the Middle East for ages and as hyper unchecked "authority" (masculine trait according to my friend's hypothesis) crushes true "power" (feminine trait according to my friend) the apparent result in this case is small minded relationally deprived and ignorant fascists that do not value life or community.
God was so magnificent to create male and female, equally, in His image. They reflect God wonderfully within their own gender but together, they reflect God in a way that neither can do alone.
That's why, as a man, I find it horrific the way they treat women over there. It breaks my heart to see women tortured and walking about in black from head to toe.
"I actually think we are seeing what will happen to a society when the women are abused and mistreated." You are right, this type of treatment has been occuring for longer than the Iranian government has been around. Essentially we are seeing, in many countries, the accumulation of hundreds (or thousands)of years of aligning their societies around the suppression of women.
"It breaks my heart to see women tortured and walking about in black from head to toe." But if Muslim societies have erred on the side of too much male authority and enforced "modesty," which I think is really the enforced hiding of female beauty, then has our society adopted the opposite traditions and turned out right? I think that right now women have become completely obsessed with proving they are better than men (which is a silly and perhaps impossible thing to do) at the expense of both gender's happiness. And women have mistaken sex and sexiness for beauty, leading them to act in ways that are really damaging to them.
I completely agree with you on all points. Without complementary interdependence the war of the sexes will continue. Since we don't live in perfection until we are with Christ, we can look forward to allllll kinds of manifesting problems in all of humanity. Not just limited to the brief hypothetical glimpse of my bad paraphrase of a good friend as applied to the middle east.
We in the west have done the same disservice as those in the middle east in the sense that instead of head to toe isolation of the female image and oppressing her power, there is this head to toe sexual objectification of the female image (and the beginnings of the same for men.)
At the same time I would say that we in the West are better than the middle East with regard to complementarity interdependence. I don't know what you mean by "right" as a society...that is a big scope of a word where a large society can't be perfectly "right." That said we do have respected women in leadership on every level in public and private sectors. I think that is a great sign of a healthy society.
Plus, we in the west aren't just limited to men abusing women ... women can be abusive toward men too.
Anyway, didn't mean to get all into that but I am enjoying the conversation. Thanks Ellie.
"Plus, we in the west aren’t just limited to men abusing women … women can be abusive toward men too." That was one of my points. Because of feminism, it seems that the idea of competing with men, slurring and belittling them, and trying to get everything we can in order to make up for years of 'patriarchy.' has had a huge impact on the way young males view their role in our society. Witness the male:female ratio in college enrollment as one example.
Also, I would like to point out that this is proof that people can carry on a meaningful conversation about a topic on which they mostly agree. So many blogs wind up with huge arguments about controversial subjects and no comments on posts where it would be possible to have a positive conversation. Which is just depressing.
"Plus, we in the west arenât just limited to men abusing women ⦠women can be abusive toward men too." That was one of my points. Because of feminism, it seems that the idea of competing with men, slurring and belittling them, and trying to get everything we can in order to make up for years of 'patriarchy.' has had a huge impact on the way young males view their role in our society. Witness the male:female ratio in college enrollment as one example.
Also, I would like to point out that this is proof that people can carry on a meaningful conversation about a topic on which they mostly agree. So many blogs wind up with huge arguments about controversial subjects and no comments on posts where it would be possible to have a positive conversation. Which is just depressing.