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Du'a Khalil
A discussion partly inspired by Joss Whedon's blog post continues here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/2
Sadly, my first reaction to Du'a Khalil's story in the news before Western bloggers started highlighting it was: Well, that's religious misogyny for you. It's brutal but hardly new or all that rare, it is old as time and there's no religion (maybe 'cept Wicca?), not even Buddhism, that is free from certain parties (ahem) trying to argue for the innate inferiority of women. Still, different cultures and religions have differing levels of acceptance/rejection of that argument, that result in gender equality (or lack thereof). I don't really know if I have a point. Assholes will always exist - it's the still-irrefutable Asshole Theory. I just wish for more non-assholes to combat Assholism. And, if people are responsible for creating heaven or hell on earth, and they clearly are, how the heck do the religious people who create hell on earth, with such brutality and lack of empathy for other beings, think they are getting rewarded with heaven for their behavior?
Anyway, now putting religion aside, I don't get the reason for bully-ers posting handphone-captured schoolyard beatings (or any beatings) on YouTube. Worldwide there seem to be high school kids doing this as extreme psychological torture for the victim, or for approval/fame, or all of the above. I can't understand the mental/emotional reward for bullying, myself, but obviously some people get off on it, and to further encourage them, they seem to be rewarded for showing off their exploits online. (Maybe there's too much celebration of crap online?) I think the videos need to be pulled at first view and given to the police. The same goes for animal abuse vids. Because who on earth is looking to watch this shit? YouTube can do whatever it wants, of course, but methinks it could be a better force for good if it reported assaults rather than helped stroke the egos of people who practice and post it. I would try to make that a higher priority than removing those NBC shows from there...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/2
Sadly, my first reaction to Du'a Khalil's story in the news before Western bloggers started highlighting it was: Well, that's religious misogyny for you. It's brutal but hardly new or all that rare, it is old as time and there's no religion (maybe 'cept Wicca?), not even Buddhism, that is free from certain parties (ahem) trying to argue for the innate inferiority of women. Still, different cultures and religions have differing levels of acceptance/rejection of that argument, that result in gender equality (or lack thereof). I don't really know if I have a point. Assholes will always exist - it's the still-irrefutable Asshole Theory. I just wish for more non-assholes to combat Assholism. And, if people are responsible for creating heaven or hell on earth, and they clearly are, how the heck do the religious people who create hell on earth, with such brutality and lack of empathy for other beings, think they are getting rewarded with heaven for their behavior?
Anyway, now putting religion aside, I don't get the reason for bully-ers posting handphone-captured schoolyard beatings (or any beatings) on YouTube. Worldwide there seem to be high school kids doing this as extreme psychological torture for the victim, or for approval/fame, or all of the above. I can't understand the mental/emotional reward for bullying, myself, but obviously some people get off on it, and to further encourage them, they seem to be rewarded for showing off their exploits online. (Maybe there's too much celebration of crap online?) I think the videos need to be pulled at first view and given to the police. The same goes for animal abuse vids. Because who on earth is looking to watch this shit? YouTube can do whatever it wants, of course, but methinks it could be a better force for good if it reported assaults rather than helped stroke the egos of people who practice and post it. I would try to make that a higher priority than removing those NBC shows from there...
