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All monsters gret and small
Jun. 2nd, 2011 05:38 pmI need to start WRITING again. So in lieu of anything better some commentry in the news.
The 20th century began and ended pretty badly all told. It started with the British developing concentration camps to keep the Boers under control during their scorched earth policy. The last hoorah was either the Rwandan genocide or the Bosnian war. As a stupid 14 year old I didn't really take in Srebrenica, grim addition to the list of loaded place names. Likewise I was ignorant of the name of Radko Mladic though when he was caught a little googling was enough to make me rejoice at the news.
Then I heard that Serbian nationalists were protesting against the arrest. One awkward fact in this whole dismal affair is that the Serbian army hid him for a long time and he seems to have been found at a mighty convenient time.
I haven't had much dealing with Serbs and I'm not sure what to say. We had some Serb lads at Framlingham residential course and they were not popular, they were aggressively boisterous and one kept making extremely sexual remarks to a young Spanish girl which he might have though were merely amusing but she was most upset by. It was in the wake of Karadzic's arrest which might have influenced us somewhat. The previous year I had a Serb student who said he liked the Russians because they backed Serbia during the Kosovo issue. While one should not judge a whole country by its teenage boys (a rather vile species at the best of times) these impressions did not leave a nice taste in my mouth. Rebecca West loved the Serbs, in Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, she praises them for being the bastions of Christendom against the Turks. While one has to be careful to read it in the light of the anti-Nazi tract it is, the defends the Serbs for their love of their past.
Love of the past and identification with the nation. Therein lies the problem as it seems to me. It suits governments to have individuals see themselves as part of a greater whole, the problems start when one has to take into account that society is heterogeneous. of the 20th century monsters Hitler is probably the only one who gets all the vilification he deserves. Unfortunately after the war this tarred all Germans with the same brush (and still does). While It is no bad thing that Germans are aware of their role in helping to perpetuate evil by 'negligence, weakness and their own deliberate fault' as the prayerbook hath it, it is hardly fair. Meanwhile other nations (with the possible exception of South Africa) continue to ignore or deny their pasts. Russians still look at Stalin as a kind of God, Ditto the Chinese with Mao. Britain doesn't take full responsibility for its callous attitude towards its colonies in the days of empire. To criticise the past is to insult people today.
Let's see. I am ignorent of Serbia and the war was hell for everyone. I hope that that the people of the region will learn not to hate each other, not lay collective blame and ultimately forgive.
Rebecca West praised the Yugoslavs for their manliness. She attributed it in part to living in a society where 'Homosexuality was entirely unknown'. No comment. All I will say is I saw a documentary about a young Serb Gay man who, on coming out to his parents, was told by his mother that she would rather he have been a rapist. In fairness this is a comment one could here over much of the world alas. It occurred to me (while hanging out my laundry!) that the reason violence against women is not treated with the ruthlessness it deserves is because we have become de-sentitised. I don't know if it is an anti woman prejudice n a conscious sense, rather an 'oh well, that's how things are'.
Bu what of when the system is on her side? the case of Ameneh Bahrami is an uncomfortable one. For those not in the know she was blinded by a spurned suitor who threw acid in her face. The courts in Tehran have decreed that under shirah law he should be blinded too. It's a barbarous judgement and I am naturally opposed to it. But this very excellent article makes one see the ambiguities http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-an-eye-for-an-eye-is-proper-justice-2285055.html .
It points out that in many countries of the region acid attacks against women are not uncommon, especially when a woman has proven herself immune to the charms of the attackers' offer of his dick. It also points out that the attackers get frighteningly low sentences, if they are even convicted.
I like the quote of a doctor in the article "What Ms Bahrami seeks can be described as justice, even if it is also barbaric."
It is justice in a way, and maybe a signal to violent men. But is it? The death penalty over the course of thousands of years failed to eliminate murder. The murder rate will go down when people are more prosperous and society at large favours non violence. By dealing with this monster in this way is it really going to make Iranian society a better place for women? When according to this ms Bahrami, her attackers mother told her "She said her son was a man and if he wanted me, he would have me" (from the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13578731). In a society where men are taught they can get what they want, what hope is there? While the punishment is barbaric I think it is interesting that it still hasn't been carried out. I don't think punishment acts as a deterrent for society. Generally punishment is closing the door after the horse has bolted. The real solution is to try and promote women's rights and to make men realise we are not theirs. Is it too much to realise chaps?!
The 20th century began and ended pretty badly all told. It started with the British developing concentration camps to keep the Boers under control during their scorched earth policy. The last hoorah was either the Rwandan genocide or the Bosnian war. As a stupid 14 year old I didn't really take in Srebrenica, grim addition to the list of loaded place names. Likewise I was ignorant of the name of Radko Mladic though when he was caught a little googling was enough to make me rejoice at the news.
Then I heard that Serbian nationalists were protesting against the arrest. One awkward fact in this whole dismal affair is that the Serbian army hid him for a long time and he seems to have been found at a mighty convenient time.
I haven't had much dealing with Serbs and I'm not sure what to say. We had some Serb lads at Framlingham residential course and they were not popular, they were aggressively boisterous and one kept making extremely sexual remarks to a young Spanish girl which he might have though were merely amusing but she was most upset by. It was in the wake of Karadzic's arrest which might have influenced us somewhat. The previous year I had a Serb student who said he liked the Russians because they backed Serbia during the Kosovo issue. While one should not judge a whole country by its teenage boys (a rather vile species at the best of times) these impressions did not leave a nice taste in my mouth. Rebecca West loved the Serbs, in Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, she praises them for being the bastions of Christendom against the Turks. While one has to be careful to read it in the light of the anti-Nazi tract it is, the defends the Serbs for their love of their past.
Love of the past and identification with the nation. Therein lies the problem as it seems to me. It suits governments to have individuals see themselves as part of a greater whole, the problems start when one has to take into account that society is heterogeneous. of the 20th century monsters Hitler is probably the only one who gets all the vilification he deserves. Unfortunately after the war this tarred all Germans with the same brush (and still does). While It is no bad thing that Germans are aware of their role in helping to perpetuate evil by 'negligence, weakness and their own deliberate fault' as the prayerbook hath it, it is hardly fair. Meanwhile other nations (with the possible exception of South Africa) continue to ignore or deny their pasts. Russians still look at Stalin as a kind of God, Ditto the Chinese with Mao. Britain doesn't take full responsibility for its callous attitude towards its colonies in the days of empire. To criticise the past is to insult people today.
Let's see. I am ignorent of Serbia and the war was hell for everyone. I hope that that the people of the region will learn not to hate each other, not lay collective blame and ultimately forgive.
Rebecca West praised the Yugoslavs for their manliness. She attributed it in part to living in a society where 'Homosexuality was entirely unknown'. No comment. All I will say is I saw a documentary about a young Serb Gay man who, on coming out to his parents, was told by his mother that she would rather he have been a rapist. In fairness this is a comment one could here over much of the world alas. It occurred to me (while hanging out my laundry!) that the reason violence against women is not treated with the ruthlessness it deserves is because we have become de-sentitised. I don't know if it is an anti woman prejudice n a conscious sense, rather an 'oh well, that's how things are'.
Bu what of when the system is on her side? the case of Ameneh Bahrami is an uncomfortable one. For those not in the know she was blinded by a spurned suitor who threw acid in her face. The courts in Tehran have decreed that under shirah law he should be blinded too. It's a barbarous judgement and I am naturally opposed to it. But this very excellent article makes one see the ambiguities http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-an-eye-for-an-eye-is-proper-justice-2285055.html .
It points out that in many countries of the region acid attacks against women are not uncommon, especially when a woman has proven herself immune to the charms of the attackers' offer of his dick. It also points out that the attackers get frighteningly low sentences, if they are even convicted.
I like the quote of a doctor in the article "What Ms Bahrami seeks can be described as justice, even if it is also barbaric."
It is justice in a way, and maybe a signal to violent men. But is it? The death penalty over the course of thousands of years failed to eliminate murder. The murder rate will go down when people are more prosperous and society at large favours non violence. By dealing with this monster in this way is it really going to make Iranian society a better place for women? When according to this ms Bahrami, her attackers mother told her "She said her son was a man and if he wanted me, he would have me" (from the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13578731). In a society where men are taught they can get what they want, what hope is there? While the punishment is barbaric I think it is interesting that it still hasn't been carried out. I don't think punishment acts as a deterrent for society. Generally punishment is closing the door after the horse has bolted. The real solution is to try and promote women's rights and to make men realise we are not theirs. Is it too much to realise chaps?!
