[Verginius Rufus]

This attitude about being seen naked is very ancient in that part of the world--see Genesis 9.20-27 (story of Noah's drunkenness and cursing Canaan because Canaan's father Ham had seen Noah naked) and Herodotus, The Histories, Book I, Chapter 10.

Herodotus points out that in Lydia and other barbarian nations, it is a source of great shame even for a man to be seen naked--contrary to Greek practice, of course, since they engaged in athletic contests naked.

[Timmy]

Although I am disgusted by those pictures and believe someone needs to be held accountable, I really don't see why we should be so sensitive to Arab mores, when they condone things as suicide bombers, blood libel of the Jews, and:

"Ignoring the pleas of his 14-year-old daughter to spare her life, Mehmet Halitogullari pulled on a wire wrapped around her neck and strangled her--supposedly to restore the family's honor after she was kidnapped and raped."

This from an AP story discussed in Taranto's Best of the Web column. I thought we were going over there to redeem the culture, not appease it.