sacha wrote:another lurker wrote:The FTB commenters are so divorced from reailty.
I remember a post on OB's blog from back in August - a commenter was shitting all over us westerners for having the gall to refer to FGM as 'female genital mutilation.
See, we should have known, even though such information was not available to us, that use of the word 'mutilation' upsets indigenous African people, and that we should use the term 'cutting' instead.
Yeah, cuz you know, all those African villagers who read FTB and the Slymepit et al. will be so fucking offended at our choice of terminology!!
Srsly, wtf is wrong with these people???? And she was really really really angry and hostile about this!
Boggles the mind it does.
psychological distance from the horrific reality of a practice, is how otherwise rational people can commit atrocities, with FGM, add another layer to that, they have been convinced they are doing the right thing out of love for their daughters.
"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities" -Voltaire
One cannot march into a village and shout accusations of mutilation and abuse if they would like to see an end to FGM.
PC police and SJW do not understand the nuance of this. The reason not to offend them about FGM is so they don't see you as attacking their culture and their love towards their family, and that is the only way to have a chance at having a calm, rational discussion that may lead to a few women seeing FGM very differently, and they will discuss that with others, and hopefully the people of that culture will decide for themselves to stop.
Empowerment is the only solution.
This does not mean FGM should be treated with respect when speaking about it to those that
agree it is barbaric, and certainly not to those who have no idea what it entails.
That only perpetuates the view that the rumours are exaggerated, and it isn't that bad, which makes less people interested in stopping it.
Is there anything the PC police and SJWs do that actually helps instead of hinders?
I wanted to discuss this here with Skep Tickle quite a while ago when she mentioned foot binding and why it is no longer practiced. The psychology of why things like this are accepted to begin with, and the psychology of how to end the practice it is quite interesting.
You are correct and I agree with your viewpoint. I was only complaining about the fact that the person on OB's blog (she worked for the WHO) was seriously -hostile- about the fact that we used the term 'mutilation' when talking amongst ourselves on various blogs. Seeing as how we are not directly interacting with the people who practise FGM, I would suspect that it is acceptable to use the term 'FGM' amongst ourselves. If I was over in Africa trying to change things, well duh, I would work my damndest to use the right words and not offend people.
Regarding Matt Dillahunty, a couple points:
1) he seems to be quite the prima donna. I caught the start of a TAE show once, where he was yelling and screaming at the production crew, and bragging about how "I am a famous atheist, any show would love to have me, so don't be so incompetent."
and
2) either it was TAE or the non-prophets, I cannot remember, but I think it might have been Russell Glasser who said that it was entirely -acceptable- to mutilate baby boys. He sincerely felt that as long as you're a baby, your parents have the right to mutilate you. My jaw dropped. What utter bullshit. In case you haven't guessed, yeah, I am against male circumcision too.
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And lastly, sorry for making heads explode with my elevatorgate question. I got it all sorted a few pages back with Eucliwood. In case anyone missed, I explained that I was essentially trying to give RWatson the benefit of the doubt. To be charitable. And the subtext, from what I had read, is that the the Elevator-Guy was in fact some sort of creep. I imagined him standing over her, breathing heavily on her hair, and asking for coffee, in the sleaziest way possible. Now, under -those- circumstances, her reaction would seem perfectly reasonable.
Someone made the point that where RWatson went wrong was that in assuming every woman would react the same way. In assuming that all men are all creeps all the time, and that all women are all scared and cowering, all the time. As an example, I love the show 'Citizen Radio'. But even they, imo, go a bit too far with the whole 'rape culture' thing. The woman on the show was horribly offended when a New York cabdriver (or something) made a comment that he 'loved her'. And that this was just another example of rape culture rearing its ugly head.
The way women are treated in India = rape culture. Being harassed for personal info, being groped, having upskirt pics taken = example of rape culture. A guy cat-calling or saying 'you're hot' is not rape culture, imo.
Before anyone jumps on me for my thoughts about what and what doesn't constitute rape culture, please bear in mind that I try really hard to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I would like to learn from people, and to consider everyone's viewpoint, before making blanket statements. My views are -never- set in stone. I honestly just want to understand the world better!
