Hey, guys -

Imagine going to restaurants, movie theaters, shops, even on most streets, and never seeing one of the most fundamental entities you take for granted here in the States, or any fucking place else on planet Earth -

a chick.


No female store owners, no girls chillin' at the park, not even a nasty, aging waitress serving you your Moons Over My Hammy.

Cuz that's what these uber-freak Islamic fundamentalists experience on a daily basis in countries like Afghanistan. Sure, I had a decent grasp on the deplorable state of affairs concerning the sexes in the Middle East - after all, I'd expect you read newspapers, know vets, and who hasn't seen the Betty Mahamoody story 100 times?

But what gets my panties in a knot is the knowledge that there are still a lot of people out there - including a good number of guys and former servicemen - that continue to say shit like, "Well, that's their culture''.

Excuse me, but weren't we at war with these people primarily as a result of their "culture"? Most notable, the fact that a mess of these dirty morons decide their ways are proper and ''honorable'', and we're all infidels for living otherwise? Explosions? Planes?


I got all steamed over this following a discussion with a man working with me, a great and sensitive guy very immersed in military goings-on and a veteran of the Iraq war, having served both there and in Afghanistan.

We were going over differences in culture, and when I scoffed at Muslims, he explained stuff he experienced during his duty regarding the details of what makes our ways of life separate. A snippet of such:


HIM:    Women wear burquas as a sign they are married - as a result, men aren't supposed to talk
            to them, touch them, or even look them in the eye. In some areas, it's illegal for a married
            woman to go out without a male escort from her family.

            When we ate dinner with some local men in Afghanistan, they would only have men serve
            the meal, tend to our needs, etc. Women can't sit at the same table as men, or even serve
            food. It makes no difference if they're married or not. When it comes to most everything,
            women aren't supposed to be in their presence.
 
            We lost a lot of good military men due to misunderstandings in culture. These people have
            such a strong sense of familial honor, they are taught to come after you and kill you if you
            insult them.

            Unlike in our culture, you never ask a man anything about a woman. Not even how his wife
            or daughter is doing. Women in a man's family are basically off-limits in any way to anyone.


ME:    So basically, cuz men must live by their precious religious law constantly and can't jerk off,
           women need to learn to cater to their need of self-control by dressing like beekeepers. Of
           course, Allah forbid a man pop a boner checking some chick out - naturally, that'd be her
           fault, wouldn't it?

          Perhaps a fear of rejection keeps these guys in the clear when their women are made to
          wear head-to-toe shrouds because Ahmad might get sidetracked. Considering a woman
          hates her husband/marriage, she's pretty much fucked without the step of getting ogled
          first.

          It also sucks when your own citizens aren't allowed anywhere some pious prick might be
          hanging out - maybe the law should be that if it's imperative a bunch of blue-balled guys
          have to remember restraint in all things for their faith, they should be the ones confined to
          the house.

          A bunch of grade-school-aged girls died in a school fire recently not because of ash or
          debris, but cuz they weren't allowed outside without their scarves. So these men might get
          aroused by 7-year-olds, too? Considering the massive amount of sexual frustration over
          there, I would definitely believe it. I also understand women can't even pray to their own
          fucking God alongside the masses of bowing pricks there. They need to be in separate
          rooms or stuck in a corner.


VERDICT:    I guess anything is possible. With the way guys enjoy life in free nations the world over,
                      it's hard to accept there are those out there who'd simply say, "Don't like it, don't live
                      there!", or, "Don't worry, that's their country, not ours." Hmm...


I wanted to say, dude, you served tours of duty over there for the same reason you're bitching against the "Americanization" of the MidEast. There's no country out there that doesn't retain its culture and beliefs after anyone goes over there. The difference with us is, when it's all over, we get on the same page as far as shit like, you know, ensuring human rights?

That's the whole reason for fighting for freedom. Some country having their own culture, however weird, is fine - until it infringes upon the lifestyles and safety of those who want them to fuck off and take their God with them. And no, weird isn't in the context of being different - it's in the context of forcing half your population to exist with a far lesser status than the batshit insane.

That's something that renders bleeding hearts frozen in their tracks - "respecting culture" sounds really noble until someone states they refuse to respect a culture built form restrictions on freedom, rights, and dictation on one's speech, lifestyle, sexuality, etc., by placing laws on their bodies.

"It's their country" would be nonchalant if our nation brushed it off and perhaps, didn't storm the MidEast.

Thing is, the fight is on when we want to ensure it remains in their country. Cuz with nut-ass religious fundamentalists in power, it's obvious that, just sometimes, diplomacy is out the window. We've seen that when some guys in Europe drew a cartoon and for some reason, they were dictated to on respecting Muslim tenets even though they weren't Muslim, and as citizens of a free country, didn't have to give a shit. Still, it didn't matter, and their entire nation was threatened.

Same thing with that promising director who created the movie short beautifully highlighting the peril of being a woman in the MidEast. He wasn't Muslim. He didn't give a shit about Allah. He didn't have to. And he got gunned down for "doing wrong" anyway.

I don't have a prob respecting culture, long as it's understood I don't have to stand for their tenets in my life, Getting that would be what respecting culture is. Want respect? Show some. I don't remember those cheerleading chicks from the Olympics or whatever being respected for their hard work and anticipation, before being kicked off the list for showing some knee.

Neither do I remember that college professor being respected for his expertise and excellent grasp of world facts after his Muslim students - who came to this country for a proper education - became pissed at the "disrespect" of slides showing naked MidEast men suggesting that - YES - Arab countries DO have gays.



The only useful thing these people can teach me? Fundamental proof religion ruins mankind. During our Middle Ages and prior, while Europeans were dying of plague and fearing witchcraft thanks to Catholicism's stranglehold on our minds, these people were unsurpassed in the realms of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, surgery, exploration, and prosperity (Sinbad, anyone?)

But around 800 A.D. Muhammad dragged his ass up some mountain and married an 8-year-old. A thousand years later, take a look for yourself at what the planet is, compared to how low they have sunk. The tables are turned, and now the detriment to man resides in the sand.

Nevertheless, the qualms highlighted in this blog aren't simply drabbles on women's rights. In free nations, it's a guy's code (and ours) to seek out the opposite sex, broaden horizons through interaction and education, and enjoy the shit nature and life has to offer, whether it be in a garden, or in your garden-variety male or female species.

I don't think people even grasp what ''respecting'' such things entails, and considering who's at the helm over there, this could very well become a reality for YOU under some PC guise.



Hey you Muslim fundamentalists, and pretty much all religious fundamentalists:  Respect wouldn't be good for you, anyway, since respect will never be good enough. People like you can't rest until the entire planet is made of droids that believe what you do, by continuing to deny their inherent human instincts.

Repression of all things innate in our blood does NOT equate to piousness, enlightenment, or magic powers that make you superior to followers of other invisible men in the sky. It's simply a practice of suppressed human essence, a dick-measuring contest to determine who can go longest without utilizing perhaps the one and only gift we share as a species - free will and indomitability of spirit.

And as a lot of us blasphemous infidel sinners go, you don't need a booming, ethereal voice from the clouds to tell you real enlightenment comes from what we've been born into comprehending; what exists around us. You want to feel meaningful? You want to be honorable by showing self-control? Discipline? Power?

Then pull your heads out of your asses and learn something real by FACING the difficulties, challenges, and trials in life. Piety and all magic shit religious doesn't come from covering the temptations - it's in learning to handle it. Dealing with it. Surviving, growing, and learning from what you CANNOT control. Trying to counteract that by becoming some control source is being a fucking pussy.

Just remember, compared to what's truly innate in humanity? Your religion ain't shit. There will always be at least one reminding you of what you cannot control. And those are the individuals that, ironically, become your sages, prophets, leaders, and legends.



I think, therefore I am....           - Rene Descartes

I am, therefore I will...               - me :D