Posted on 01/28/2015 10:41:01 AM PST by SeekAndFind
She didn’t do anything that Laura Bush didn’t do (although Bush did once don a scarf in Jeddah when a group of cancer survivors presented her with one), but as the west’s elite slowly assimilate Islamic norms on blasphemy, affronting the Kingdom by eschewing a scarf feels more transgressive than it used to. I wonder if she’ll be the last FLOTUS to maintain this tradition. If the future must not belong to those who would slander the prophet of Islam, presumably it also shouldn’t belong to women who would offend his inheritors by their immodesty.
On Twitter, Saudis used a hashtag that translates to #Michelle_Obama_Immodest or #Michelle_Obama_NotVeiled to chastise the first lady for being disrespectful to Saudi traditions.
Saudi Arabia has a strict dress code for women, who are instructed to wear black robes and head coverings at all times in public, though visitors to the country are not required to abide by the dress code.
The headscarf is a less restrictive version of the veil but, per Ayaan Hirsi Ali, they’re both badges of inferiority:
The veil deliberately marks women as private and restricted property, nonpersons. The veil sets women apart from men and apart from the world; it restrains them, confines them, grooms them for docility. A mind can be cramped just as a body may be, and a Muslim veil blinkers both your vision and your destiny. It is the mark of a kind of apartheid, not the domination of a race but of a sex.
Hirsi Ali once made the point in an interview that the veil forces women to take responsibility for men’s sexual self-control. It’s too much to expect men to resist temptation around a woman who’s displaying her hair or more; forcing them to cover up reduces the male urge to sin. The headscarf is a smaller concession to the same belief in a country where a woman who’s been gang-raped can be punished with 200 lashes for riding in a car with a male non-relative. And while it’s true that foreign women aren’t required to wear the scarf, there’s obviously some pressure for them to do so — even at the highest levels. Via Jane Parent, here’s a charming encounter from Condi Rice’s memoir about the late King Abdullah:
When Rice visited Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah, he presented her with a gift. “I opened the package and realized that it was … the black robe and veil Saudi women traditionally wear,” Rice wrote. “‘I had it made especially for you,’ he said tenderly. ‘Our women wear them.’ Yes, as a sign of oppression, I thought. But it was so dear, and he meant well.”
That’s the guy who’s been celebrated the past week as a Saudi reformer. Michelle Obama, having caused a ruckus in Saudi social media by passing on the scarf, slyly reminded everyone of how far reform has to go. I wonder how much the politics of all this drove her decision and how much of it was a pure comfort/tradition/fashion thing. And why skip the scarf today if she was willing to wear one in Indonesia in 2010? Maybe she’s become more sensitive over time to the oppression of women in Muslim countries. Or, more likely, maybe it was a pure protocol thing: The Indonesia trip involved a visit to a mosque whereas today’s visit was just a meet-and-greet with the new Saudi king. That distinction is thin — apart from the Vatican, there’s no state in the world whose civic institutions are more enmeshed with religion than the Kingdom — but a White House that’s too “sensitive” to even use the term “radical Islam” anymore to describe terrorists surely is too sensitive to violate Islamic customs at a mosque. Whether FLOTUS wanted to or not, she was wearing that scarf.
Point taken. But I don't think going bareheaded can be compared with smoking in someone's home. It won't make you sick.
Even though the new king of Saudi Arabia has been in office for less than a week, he’s already ordered four beheadings for crimes against Allah. Two of the death sentences were merely for selling illegal drugs.
So imagine how angry the blood-thirsty new King — a seventy-nine year-old in the early stages of dementia — must be at Michelle Obama for not covering her head in his presence.
Speculation that Michelle was trying to stand up for Muslim women is absurd, since she has never done anything on behalf of Muslim women, not even deigning to appear with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the spokeswoman whose mission is to make the world more aware of Muslim women’s suffering.
Michelle and her husband are just blundering fools. From chewing gum during a solemn ceremony in India, to taking a selfie during a ceremony to honor Nelson Mandela, and now Michelle appearing bareheaded during a diplomatic trip to improve relations with Saudi Arabia by honoring its new king with a visit, the Obamas are destroying America’s relationships with important allies.
Post of the day!!! I love it. Where else would I keep it?
Hillary converted many years ago. A lot of top Dumbocrats converted in the 80s and 90s — led by Jimmy Carter, who was the first high-profile DemoRAT to do so.
Precisely.
There is no comparison.
It’s funny how the second sock always disappears but the mantilla always remains. Mine have been in the drawer since 1964.
The point is, if it is your house, I should respect your rules even if I don't agree with them. If I feel so strongly about your rules that I just CAN'T respect them, then I should politely decline to go.
This is just a sign that Moochelle is just really pissed of Obama and this is her passive agressive way at “getting even” with him.
I only wish she had been carrying a big fat Bible.
Call me when the media praised Laura Bush for doing the same thing.
BO's wife does it and the media wet themselves in praise.
Pathetic.
There is no rule, law, edict, etc for non-Muslim foreigners to wear head coverings in Saudi Arabia.
And if the House of Fraud is/was so concerned, we should "gently remind them" we have a rule against them financing people to fly into our buildings & kill our people.
Since you obviously strongly object to women wearing head scarves, my first suggestion would be - don't go to Saudi Arabia. As an American, you have the right to not wear a head scarf. But you do not have a "right" to go to Saudi Arabia - they allow you to go as a guest. And if you are a guest in someone's home, I think you should try to respect their rules and traditions as much as you can - or don't go. That simple. No one forced her to go to Saudi Arabia, and no one forced her to attend the funeral...
This was not done to show our freedoms. She has worn veils in these types of situations in the past, including for the Catholic Pope at the vatican.
This was simply a deliberate insult to the Saudis.
I have a suspicion as to why, but no evidence. And I don’t think it has to do with the recent refusal to cut prodcution of oil.
I totally agree. Well said........;)
......Well with the wide open GOP field, if she even decides to run.
Good for Michelle. Certainly better than W’s hand holding or Barry’s bowing.
This is one very rare moment indeed, in which I’m actually praising Michelle Obama. For one brief, shining moment someone finally said, “up yours, Islam.” If muslims are offended, well, too f***ing bad.
Hillary ululating.
Eff the arabs. They need to be told to treat our First lady whoever she is with some modicum of respect. If it was not for our protection the House of Saud would already be toast. Somebody needs to inform those sick pedeophiles about who has the power.
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