From: S.J. Van Sickle (sjvan@csd.uwm.edu)
Date: Thu Sep 13 2001 - 08:55:56 MDT
On Thu, 13 Sep 2001, Damien Broderick wrote:
> At 06:24 PM 9/12/01 -0500, S.J. Van Sickle wrote:
>
> >Isn't this a bit like say "but if she hadn't been wearing that miniskirt
> >in that part of town, she wouldn't have been raped"? This may be true in
> >a strict sense, but hardly excuses the rapists.
>
> Oh god, I *really* don't want to get into this, but no. From the viewpoint
> of the perps it's surely more like: "If she hadn't gone driving through
> that part of town once a week machine-gunning the shops, schools and
> churches, she wouldn't have been raped."
Good point. I will have to ponder this some.
I do think, however, that there is an element of blaming the victim
involved in any such arguement. I could buy this in the bombing of the
barracks in Lebanon and Saudi Arabi, and the attack on the USS Cole,
and even many of the attacks on civilians over the years, but I
can't help but feel that there is something inherently different about
the events in New York and Washington.
I also can't help but fear that this has now changed from tit-for-tat to
war to the knife, and I am sick because of it.
> Rape is a particularly inapropos image, of course, since the mind-infected
> lunatics are driven in part, as scerir noted, by a disgustingly
> misogynistic fantasy reward: the 72 compliant virgin houris they'll be
> fucking in heaven for eternity.
>
> Cf: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/june01/2001-06-26-suicide-usat.htm
>
> In return for "martyrdom," Hamas tells the youths that their families will
> be financially compensated, their pictures will be posted in schools and
> mosques, and they will earn a special place in heaven.
>
> They also are promised something more risqué: unlimited sex with
> 72 virgins in heaven. The Koran, the sacred book of Islam, describes the
> women as "beautiful like rubies, with complexions like diamonds and
> pearls." In one of the passages of the Koran, it is said the martyrs and
> virgins shall "delight themselves, lying on green cushions and beautiful
> carpets." Since the time of Mohammed, martyrs have always been considered
> those willing to die defending Islam.
>
>
> For some young Muslims, that offer is too much to turn down.
>
> "I know my life is poor compared to Europe or America, but I have
> something awaiting me that makes all my suffering worthwhile," says Bassam
> Khalifi, 16, a Hamas youth leader in Gaza's Bureij refugee camp. "Most boys
> can't stop thinking about the virgins."
>
> But in the end, says Shaked, the Israeli terrorism expert, most
> of the bombers don't sign up for martyrdom for the promise of unlimited
> sex. "They join because of their absolute devotion to God and their desire
> to die with Jewish blood on their hands," he says. "It's not a heroic
> thing, it's a holy thing."
>
> ===============
>
> And for a blow-by-blow inspection of the salient suras, etc (from a
> convenient site that's nonetheless rather unpleasant in its own terms; this
> character has serious problems with the idea of homosexuality):
>
> http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate/heaven.html
>
> Damien Broderick
>
>
>
>
>
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