Friday, July 07, 2006

The Difference, Part 3

In our continuing effort to determine whether there exists any significant difference between America and the rest of the world, our quest today takes us to Africa. While many Canadians and Europeans have apparently convinced themselves that "religious extremists" have taken control of the US government—and good luck setting up a Sunday School meeting in a public school by the way—it would appear that Muslims in Somalia are being forced under actual threats of death by the authorities to attend prayers. Imagine that.

Travelling further, we discover that "breast ironing" to stunt girls' budding sexuality is common in Cameroon and indeed throughout West Africa. So common that it's routinely applied to one girl in four, despite such side effects as "severe pain and abscesses, infections, breast cancer, and even the complete disappearance of one or both breasts". Oh well.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

For anyone who believes this country has been taken over by extremists, I have two words: female circumcision. Think about it. We are not the ones using broken glass on the genitalia of little girls.

Syl said...

Oh, but, we love our guns. That's even worse in some quarters.

gumshoe said...

MHA -

"The Difference, Part 4"

i looked in vain
to find a quote i'd read earlier
this evening,(from AFP or Reuters or AP),describing how the kidnapped Israeli soldier was being treated "according to Islamic rules" of "humane treatment"...
with the exception that
*he would be killed* if
the PA's Hamas-led-gov't's demands of the Israelis
weren't met.

no word from the ACLU/Human Rights Watch/Amnesty Int'l/Red Cross yet.

when i find the article again
i'll post the excerpt.

truepeers said...

Terrye, since female circumcisions and burka-wearing are allowed in North America today, one might say we have been taken over by extremists, of a certain stripe. As for the Canadians who think the US has been taken over by "religious extremists", approximately the same percentage think Canada's government has also been taken over by religious extremists and that Harper has a secret agenda to return the rule of Christendom. Oh well, better that than Burkas.

Unknown said...

truepeers:

Oh they just like feeling persecuted, it makes their lives oh so exciting. If a real honest to God religious fanatic started to seriously mess with them they would find out the difference.