I think I understand now. While I can certainly empathize with the indignation Muslim women must feel (BIG understatement), I’m really sorry that it’s being couched as- or directed into, feminism. It’s a very destructive path. Their misery doesn’t justify it & it’s just (imho) trading one misery for another.
I’m sorry that any Egyptians have been taken in by it. “We” (not all of us, literally) have caused them enough trouble by meddling in their business.
I don’t see how someone can speak of human dignity & yet debase themselves; sacrifice their own dignity, in such an extreme way while they’re doing it. Thinking about the Persian women I interacted with online during the whole Green Movement thing, these women retained their femininity & expressed their independence (I would say) beautifully. I imagined that even as they were beaten & arrested & tortured, to a great extent, they maintained their dignity. I’m sure they were considered “horrible” by their tormentors. I’m also pretty sure it contributed to the vicious brutality they endured & some lost their lives to. The pasdaran could take their lives, but they could not take their dignity.
It’s true that the Lord Paid special attention to those who needed Him most & we should do our best to live by His example, but we don’t have His discernment. God Knew how Paul would turn out. The same could be said of David. We don’t have that power. And things are different now. Acting crazy & being outrageous “to make a point” is a pretty modern thing & highly frivolous, no matter how grave the subject. It is no different than a toddler who pitches a fit when his mother won’t let him have what he wants: make enough of a scene & people will go along. How crazy is it when an adult- someone who should know better, does the same thing?
Think about it. The left employs this method more than any other.
There is a third choice: to be honest & strong & rational. The odds that their culture will hear them & respond appropriately are pretty much nil. But doing outrageous things (Let’s face it. This was WAY beyond the pale, in any culture), puts it in the mullahs’ (or whoever) power to actually say that the actor (or actress, in this case) must be crazy. To actually make a convincing argument (in their culture, at least) that women must be controlled because God Only Knows WHAT they will do, otherwise. It was counterproductive (another understatement).
I’m not sorry to say that. We’ve let it go too far here in the US. We’re too tolerant of it. (I’m not saying “crack down” on it, but people who do crazy stuff were shunned, once upon a time.)
Would Jesus accept this? I honestly can’t say. But much of His advice was how to stay out of trouble & not go looking for trouble. I would think that He would see this woman as possessed or suffering from illness & Help her.
From what I know of you, butter, (what you’ve written on FR), you are a good, earnest person. Be careful that you’re not taken advantage of in your empathy for their circumstances.
Feminism and atheism are understandable responses for these women. That’s not where I want them to end up though, and neither does the Lord. When somebody has truly been abused or has been stuck in a cult (both of which are true for women in Islam) it is a sign of hope when they begin to fight back. It’s that point of desperation where the worst thing that could happen is nothing. Something HAS to change.
It takes steps to bring somebody to healing after something like that. They have to crawl before they can walk, walk before they can run, and run before they can fly. Yes, there is danger of them getting caught up in the bitterness of feminism - but finding that the Christian “god” (and I say it that way because this is not the REAL Christian God) is just like the Muslim demon-god who hates them and wouldn’t lift a finger to save them... will only push them farther and farther from the Lord who died to save them.
Right now, decades later, Christians are still trying to explain to the Jews how we could stand by and allow millions of them to be carted away to the concentration camps. How could we do it? We didn’t want to make waves but wanted to keep our own lives comfortable and not have to see what was really going on all around us. We are no different than the German people. We don’t know what to do to stop the evil we sense is all around us, any more than this woman knew what to do. She knew she had to do SOMETHING, and I can really relate to that even if I would not do the particular thing she did.
What this woman did was a jab at ISIS and I’m sure they will find her and kill her for it, which may be her strategy after all. But I think even more than being a message to ISIS, it is a message to everybody who cowers in the corner hoping this cup will pass if we just appease the beast and mind our own business. After centuries of doing just that, the bitter cup has NOT passed by the Muslim women. This beast will not be appeased. Cults never are, and we are dealing with a massive, worldwide demonic cult that turns people into animals.
And she is saying, in the best way she knows how, “Make my day.”
Unless the rest of us learn to stand up just as boldly, the whole world will be in the same boat as the lowliest woman in ISIS territory. We have to decide what is worth dying for because our time is coming. Everybody over there is saying that. African Christians who have come to America as refugees have been saying for a long time that if we don’t stand up to fight this enemy the last refuge will be gone.
If what she did is beyond the pale, then what is stoning a woman because her husband wants her dead and no court will listen to evidence? Or because she went into public without a man because she is a widow? Or because she drove a car? Or because she was 14 and her uncles gang-raped her? We hear these stories over and over again and we say it’s terrible and then we forget all about it. It’s “none of our business”. What can we do from half a world away? And yet we who are half a world away are the only ones outside the cult who can actually change anything, if we only would.
It’s one thing for a spoiled brat to throw a tantrum. It’s another thing for a child who’s been abused to within an inch or her life to scream - especially when she’s been conditioned her while life long to simply take “what she’s got coming”. As uncomfortable as the scream is to those who think she’s throwing a tantrum, it may be the only sign of life she can muster, and it’s a miracle that she has mustered it. The response MUSTN’T be to blame her for being loud - but to find out what’s really going on.
This is something that’s weighed heavily on me for a long time. As I’ve said, every time I receive a kindness from a man my heart aches for the women who have only known abuse from men. I’m tired of just being thankful that it’s somebody else and not me. I’m tired of crying for these women and then forgetting about them without lifting a finger to help them. I have behaved far more shamefully than this woman has, because I’ve been given so much and have done so little. I’m disgusted and want to know what I can do to help.
Somebody, please help me know what I can do to help.
That was a well thought-out post, IMO.
Yes, butterdezillion is certainly earnest in her views and her passions. But I myself also recall that she was given a temporary vacation by the forum’s owner for nutcase conspiracy theories, and for arguing relentlessly that Freepers, even moderators, are Obama plants.
I believe these breathless posts comparing the gross actions of this woman to Jesus Christ, and holding her up as some kind of saint who’s waging an effective war against Islam, is equally misguided.
A simple search for info on Elmahdy reveals that she is, as she describes herself, an atheist and a feminist who loves stripping in public. Yeah, she despises Islam...good for her. Join the club. But degrading herself on a flag is about as effective as NFL players wearing pink shoes in October.