Posted on 05/29/2005 4:33:03 PM PDT by Graybeard58
Edited on 05/29/2005 5:45:46 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
I remember as a little girl, seeing pictures in the National Geographic magazines, and new stories on TV, about Africa and Asia, and other countries with "weird" customs and disgusting poverty....
Even as a child I wondered how I was so blessed to live where I did, in a house so wonderful, going to school, with clean clothes...etc...
Amazingly, 40 years later, I read this article and wonder the same thing....just, so sad....
[insert gratuitous & grotesque Michael Jackson reference]
Please elaborate.
I don't see this having much to do with modern western feminism. There aren't any comparable customs in Western Culture. Western world feminists aren't notable in their criticism of such practices - emphasis on 'notable' - while I am certain many of them find it as deplorable a custom as I do, they aren't at the vanguard at all about publicizing and combating this type of stuff.
Why are females so hated (or is it feared?) in Africa and the Middle East?
An adolescent view of sex and sexuality most likely, and not so much hatred or fear or women necessarily (though the worldview might certainly lead some to hatred and fear). The idea that a non-virgin bride is somehow permanently spoiled, for example, is something most westerners have tossed away quite a while ago.
The fear of being cuckolded and replaced by a superior male is also likely a big motivator - it takes a certain kind of whacked-out mentality to place a cheating spouse on the same moral tier as a murderer or thief, for example. For some, the penalty for adultery is death - that's just crazy and has been wholly rejected by the West and again, has been rejected for a while.
I think Muslim males have a problem - chest pounding and exhortations about 'being a man' aside, I think they tend to exhibit many of the qualities of a chronic victim: always an excuse for sub-par performance, and exerting the little power they do have to absurd lengths.
---The answer lies in civilizing these tribals, through conversion to Christianity. It is a simple prescription, but has worked for 2000 years. Exisitence of such savage behavior is directly proportional to the absence of Christianity.---
They already are Christians. These sorts of customs have prevaled wherever life is short and uncertain.
ping
I don't care where you live or what your education level might be. This story is cruel and heartbreaking.
It is their custom to not tell these babies what lies ahead of them? I would guess they are too ashamed to tell their child what they are doing to them.
I have. It goes like this, "Africa is Bush's fault."
Just out of curiosity, where do they get these numbers?
"At this point we leave Africa, not to mention it again. For it is no historical part of the World; it has no movement or development to exhibit. Historical movements in it-that is in its northern part-belong to the Asiatic or European World. Carthage displayed there an important transitionary phase of civilization; but, asisNahoenician colony, it belongs to Asia. Egypt will be considered in reference to the passage of the human mind from its Eastern to its Western phase, but it does not belong to the African Spirit. What we properly understand by Africa, is the Unhistorical, Undeveloped Spirit, still involved in the conditions of mere nature, and which had to be presented here only as on the threshold of the World's History." [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, 99.]
I don't think their conversion, if any of these people were actually personally converted to Christianity, made them abandon their previously barbaric or anti-Christian behavior. It sounds similar to the weird brand of Catholicism that some in Latin America (e.g. Dominican Republic) practice, which fuses pagan witchcraft and the like with Catholic rituals.
Also, to say that "Ethiopia is Christian" is a meaningless statement, just FYI. Being a Christian is about a personal relationship with Christ, not something you inherit because you are born into a "Christian" country. To say Ehtiopia is Christian is like saying Hollywood is Christian.
Bottom line, these people need the gospel preached to them in their native language, then need education so that they can read the Bible and understand the folly of their ways. This is an ongoing process.
Faith is sustained through hearing and reading and living by the word of God, not through birth in a tribe labeled as Christian.
I call them "rectal estimates"
It's not necessarily a bad thing. Marriages that are arranged that young are not consummated. In a sense the husband takes on a kind of parental role until the girl is older.
From everything that I have heard, arranged marriages work out just as well, or perhaps better than, marriages in which the man and woman choose each other.
There's a tradition in early Judaism and Christianity that although the parents arranged the marriage, the bride or groom could say "no." The marriage of Rachel to Isaac is typical. The whole thing is arranged and she does not see her husband, but she is given a chance to consent.
I have a problem with this article. The statistics stink. It considers child-brides to be anyone under the age of 18. Now I was married at 16 and never considered myself a child bride.
Many cultures have girls who are married off early. In many cultures girls are women at 12 and 13. Only in wealthy cultures is there enough money to support children beyond puberty...and sadly in the poorest culutres, there isn't even that much money.
And Jews in subculuturs here in the US still arrange marriages. So do Indians from Asia and a number of other cultures. It is not necessarily a bad thing. Just a different one.
Growing up my neighbor was bethrothed to a young medical student. She was 13.
Are you saying you are for arranged marriages and/or the weddings of little girls? Please tell me this is not what you are saying.
Most 16 year olds that I have known, both male and female, were not mature enough to take on the responsibilities of marriage and a family.
I am sure you "grew up" fast after marrying at 16. Some do, some don't.
I saw the movie 'Osama' last week and it broke my heart.
Growing up my neighbor was bethrothed to a young medical student. She was 13.
And I grew up and lived in one of the wealthiest suburbs of Connecticut.
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