« More Specifics | Main | Danube Water Everywhere »

April 19, 2006

Well, If This Statement is True

"I am very optimistic, this is a time of hope in the kingdom. Things that have been happening under King Abdullah are amazing," said Dowayan, who hails from the relatively relaxed Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia on the Gulf.
...then I'm afraid he's probably not long for this world.

UPDATE: A related "wow" in the extended section.

I just found the most interesting board discussion and I wanted share a snippet. The last paragraph is jaw-dropping. It shouldn't be, knowing what we read online and see on the telly every day. But it is.

It never ceases to astonish me how twisted Islam and Koranic interpretations can be.

Dear Michael:

I have to say you raise a very interesting topic. The government in Iran claims that it gives women many rights. Somehow they think it is something of theirs to give and giving women the few rights that they have should be counted as a positive thing in favor of the government, especially when they compare themselves to the neighboring Arab and Islamic countries.

What they fail to understand and what is most troubling and painful to many Iranians, is the fact that we are culturally different from our neighboring countries and our women demand and struggle to achieve equal rights with men and not just a few more rights! So when more people start responding to your questions, you may see some supporters of the regime trying to compare us to our neighbors claiming how much rights we have in our country. And when I say “we” I’m counting both women and men, because I feel it’s both genders responsibility to stand for equal rights.

Interestingly enough the mentality that the Mullahs (the religious clergy men in power) is not only degrading towards women, but also towards men! They see men as animals unable to control their sexual urges and behavior. And it is for this reason that they ask women to cover themselves and it is for this reason that the system in Iran unfortunately blames rape victims as well for not adhering fully to all the rules and regulations in every second of their lives.

Amir Women's rights 2 10/3/2004 7:47 PM

But for you to understand how much respect women have in Iran I will only present you with an interesting part of the Islamic law in Iran:

DIEH in Islamic law means blood money. In certain cases, say manslaughter or injury, the person founded guilty has to pay DIEH to the victim or victims family. Now a MAN’s DIEH is ONE FULL DIEH. A WOMAN’s DIEH is ONE HALF of a man’s DIEH! Surprisingly a man’s left ball (if injured say in a fight) is worth 2/3 of a full DIEH. Now I’m sure your math is very good and you can tell that 2/3 is higher than 1/2. Therefore you can assume that a man’s left ball is even worth more than a woman’s life as far as the Mullahs are concerned! (And please don’t ask why the left ball! I gave up trying to figure these people a long time ago!)

…and I leave you with that.


Posted by tree hugging sister at April 19, 2006 11:49 AM

Comments

I wonder how much the right ball is worth...

Posted by: Kathy K at April 19, 2006 02:57 PM

The other 1/3, apparently.

Posted by: Ken Summers at April 19, 2006 06:46 PM

Once you lose one, there goes your bargaining power, huh?

Posted by: tree hugging sister at April 19, 2006 11:15 PM