Becoming Blonde

The Swedenising of Egypt

The Guardian has reviewed a brouhaha that has erupted over some non-PC remarks by novelist, Joyce Carol Oates.  Apparently that particular curmudgeon had the temerity to suggest that there was a causal connection between Islam and violence against women.  Many, apparently, were outraged at the very idea.

Here are the remarks of Oates, as reported in the Guardian:

Author Joyce Carol Oates has sparked a social media ruckus with a series of tweets linking rape culture to Islam, drawing a stream of responses from other writers and users of the site.  Oates is not the first high-profile writer to stumble into the political arena, but her choice of timing, topic and media were particularly incendiary.  Oates's 140-word political tweet-bombs began by remarking: "Something dispiriting about 'Brotherhood' political parties – wonder what it is."  And drove on with "Where 99.3% of women report having been sexually harassed & rape is epidemic – Egypt – natural to inquire: what's the predominant religion?"

This was a bridge too far for her fellow travellers.   One writer tweeted:

Writer Edward Champion (@drmabuse) replied "80 sexual assaults in one day, @joycecaroloates? Try 720 in one day in the US…"

. . . which amounts to a rather strange kind of moral equivalence.
  The 80 sexual assaults in one day in Egypt had been in the news recently because they had occurred during the demonstrations in Tahrir Square against the now-ousted President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.  Who knows how many sexual assaults occurred throughout the entire nation of Egypt in that particular day?  But in some strange kind of Alice-in-Wonderland world, the US is equally guilty of sexual assaults against women, if not much worse because they have 720 in one day, not eighty.  Mind you, one sexual assault anywhere is one too many.

Another objected to Oates's remarks as follows:

Journalist and novelist Lorraine Adams (@lorraineadams) added: "Violence against women is rampant across almost all cultures since time began. Why is that so hard to understand?"

Oh, that's OK then.  It's a general human problem.  Whoa--better be careful with that line of argument.  Since our culture is decidedly evolutionist in its outlook that line gets mighty close to an endorsement of the practice: what's normal is natural, and what's natural is right--right?

But one suspects this superficial and ignorant characterisation of universal human history masks a deeper cause--to defend Islam at all costs.  Meanwhile we ask, Why is it in Egypt that reportedly more than eighty percent of women have had clitorectomies--not at the command of the state, but of their husbands?  Now the Western Islamic apologists would say, the clitorectomy is a cultural practice common throughout North Africa; it existed prior to Islam.  Let's grant that for a moment.  But Islam has been the dominant, if not exclusive religion, in Egypt ever since Muhammad began having visions-- nigh on one and a half thousand years.  Yet it has not managed to stamp out this practice.  Maybe, just maybe, that's because Islam endorses it.  Either that, or Islam is a most pathetic, ineffectual religion, unable to rid a society it dominates of evil cultural practices it helplessly condemns. It's one or the other. 

Why does the West have such difficulty seeing the elephant in the room?  It's because there is a larger meta-narrative to which the Commentariat and the chattering classes are wedded.  Egypt (and the Middle East in general) is oppressed by Western imperialism.  All will be put right when that particular oppression ends.  In that day, Egypt will shuffle off the cultural coils of oppression of women, polygamy, violence, rape and murder.  Islam will be transformed to resemble Swedish secular humanism.  That's why the Commentariat called the first "revolution" in Tahrir Square the Arab Spring.  It was the beginning of new life, a new era.

And as for the recent victims of sexual assault, the Western sub-text is, Don't worry girls.  You cannot make an omelette without breaking a few egg-shells.  It's all in a greater cause.  Western imperialism is being overthrown.  Islam is going to be Swedenised.  You are all going to become blondes.  Isn't all that worth a bit of rape?