I stumbled across a blog by an American woman writing from Jordan. The title of the blog, “Terrorism Unveiled,” disturbed me to no end. Is she expecting to unveil terrorism from Jordan!! I mean, really, she seriously needs to re-visit her analysis!
One entry that I found particularly condescending and very upsetting was one entitled “not all camels and mosques” in which Athena (her pen name) says she was shocked to realize Jordanians go out at night and party.
Well, Athena, Jordanians do go out, they do party. They also fall in love, get married, go on honeymoons, arrange social gatherings and believe it or not even have barbeques. They also go to work, vote for representatives in parliament, write poetry, go to the movies, go out to eat, play sports, go on vacations and even surf the net. Believe it or not Athena, Jordanians are homosapiens.
I’m going to track back this post to give her a chance to present her side of the story.
An American Too–you are entitled to your opinion as you have so vividly expressed. You are missing the point totally. I do think Athena is correct in her assessment when the females that she has come in contact with express the GENERAL sentiment that oppression of females is accepted. Just answer that question. Is she right or TOTALLY wrong in her assessment? I am talking GENERAL oppression of women here. That is all I want answered. Thank you for your response!
OK, “An American,” being an American of Jordanian descent myself (surprise, surprise), I am not surprised at your staunch defense of Athena. It’s just par for the course for the large majority of the my fellow citizens.
Being of Jordanian origin, it is frustrating to see you say “Come on People! Lighten up on Athena” when she and you are the ones who need to “lighten up” your rhetoric and realize that the propaganda she is spreading is just as bad, if not worse, than the one she is appalled by. I actually don’t think that Athena is a racist; I just think that she is an ignorant bigot who needs to finish her education before she starts posting crap like the stuff found on her site. If she can’t help herself and feels like she must blog, maybe she needs to concentrate on her English prose skills; if she does not intend to reflect a negative image of the people she is living amongst, people who have welcomed her as a family member, then she is poor, at best, in the way she is expressing herself!
Secondly, as an American, I am frankly sick of seeing that we are entitled to use propaganda as we see fit, but if anybody else engages in such behavior then all of a sudden it is an uncivilized and anti-American behavior. I love America just as much as the next Bush supporter from Texas; however, I have in mind a different version of America than Athena does. My America accentuates the positives we have to offer and tries to work on getting rid of ignorance (Jerry Springer, Rap) and the spreading of poisonous lies (Rush Limbaugh).
We as Americans have become increasingly intolerant of any behavior that seems remotely anti-American, yet we expect others to be tolerant of our behavior even when it is ignorant and hurtful to them! Sounds like you are asking the wrong people to lighten up.
Athena is probably not a bad person, and most likely she means well; however, the light needs to come on in her head. Reading her crap leads one to believe that she is the one wearing the thickest veil of all!
Come on people! Lighten up on Athena. As you well know, she is NOT a professional blogger. She is a UNDERGRAD student who was lucky enough to get to go overseas to study something that she was interested in. She is not a journalist nor has she written a book and she isn’t an expert either. However, she is writing a personal journal and HONESTLY writing as she sees it. No, she hasn’t traveled the entire country of Jordan but the majority of females that she has come in contact with (both rich and poor) have expressed their same sentiments re oppression. I don’t think it just about honor killings (Heaven forbid there are that many) but I think the GENERAL sentiment of her female contacts in Jordan express the unfortunate “acceptance” that women are “second class” citizens. Maybe the unfortunate thing is that the empowered women of Jordan have not spoken with Athena. Either that or she hasn’t met any of them. If so, I am sure she would have stated that. She is really NOT a racist as she has been portrayed!
“Stygius”
It is one thing to critique something and another to demoralize an entire culture. When critiqueing something, the critique tends to be an expert in the field or has some knowledge of it. Unfortunately, Athena does not. She has a few Jordanian friends. Big deal. I just made a friend from Spain and spend time with his family. Does that mean what ever I hear from them represents Spain? No.
Athena did not make a generalization about some Jordanians. She used language that labeled thenm as a whole, making them appear to be animals.
Here are some of her quotes from the honor killing story she wrote:
“It signifies modesty, but it’s just a sick prison. This whole society is imprisoned. On the surface they seem to be taking so many initiatives to liberalize and pursue freedom, but deep down they prescribe to the same beliefs.” (This whole society…hmm, it seems to me she thinks this whole society is like this. Sounds more than a generalization to me.)
“These people are living lies. All the women here are veiled, whether the physical fabric is covering them or not. And the men are just as blind.” (All the women? Why not say, many or some women? The Men? She is refering to The Men of Jordan.)
Your arguement that Americans are generalized so why not do the same is so sad and weak. When I travel and people make a generalization about me, I make sure to educate them about who I, as an American, am. And just because some one makes a generalization about Americans, this does not mean we should do the same to them. Instead, if we expect any change at all in this sad world of ours, we should not live by the motto “an eye for an eye” but instead, we should reach out and learn about one another.
American too,
Thank you for your response.
Is Athena guilt of a hasty generalization? Perhaps. Does that make her a racist? No.
Athena can be addressed and conversed with in such a way as to make such points without resorting to ad hominem attacks. That fact alone not only belies the accusation of “racism”, but exposes the trivialization of the term.
It is an insult to people who have experienced and fought against racism to have the term then appropriated for such cheap use, whatever appeal to “scholars of critical theory” is then meant to impress us. Perhaps such hyperbole is one reason why critical theory has for so long remained on the margins of social discourse.
And don’t think that Athena, or any other American travelling abroad, isn’t subjected every day to mindless stereotyping about Americans. Any American that travels abroad has to expect to be subjected to bizarre rants about our country (and I have family in Canada the same way). Is this racism? Nonsense.
Self-gratifying superiority? That’s probably closer to the mark.
Do Americans rend their breasts and gnash there teeth everytime some fool sees an opportunity to hold forth about everything that is wrong with America? They may roll their eyes slightly and try to smile politely, but they certainly don’t find the nearest pedestal to start shouting about racism and the tragedy of it all.
Dear “An American” and “Sygius”
I have been and advocate for women’s rights in America ever since I learned about Feminist Theory: The belief that ALL people should be treated equal (not just women, but ALL people). Do we have that in America? Well, with what I see everyday, NO! I will give some examples:
-A woman still experiences the “Glass Ceiling” in the professional world. I am sure you know what that means.
-A woman only makes 75 cnets to every dollar a man makes in the professional world.
-When a woman accuses rape in this country, at times, like in the Kobe Bryant case, the country runs to the defense of the man, questioning the woman’s sexual history and what she was even wearing at the time of the rape.
-Black people walk into a store, and are automatically follwed around by store clerks, because they think they will steal something. Try this experiement, if you are not Black, with a Black friend and see what they go through on a daily basis.
-If you are black and are driving through a nice neighborhood, you will be known as: DWB- Driving While Black. Its sad, but police officers will stop that driver, 95 percent of the time.
I can go on forever and give many examples of racism, sexism and any other ism that exists in America. But when I do this, I do not represent this as a whole of what America and its cultural values and beliefs are. It is only part of America. This is what Athena lacks in her arguments. No way can she prove that the entire country of Jordan is like what she describes. She comes out and says every woman and every man thinks like the ways she described. This is not a critical evaluation or critique, this is negatively stereotyping an entire culture, thinking your culture is better than theirs. Ask any scholar or expert in the field of critical theories: Athena’s remarks about the country of Jordan are racist.
God forbid if an international student comes from some country to study in America, and lives in a small town in the South where the confederate flag is raised and the “N” word is used to describe blacks. This student would think the U.S. is filled with a bunch of white supremists. Or if a student came and lived in the “dangerous” parts of South Central (in LA). That student would think our country is filled with a bunch of gangs selling drugs and murdering people. (That is what would happen with a closed-minded thinker).
You see, my point here is all in the language Athena uses. I am hoping that actually, she is an open-minded person, and does not write very well. But unfortunately, what she has done is taken a negative part of Jordan, and has made it the whole representation of Jordan. Just look at the comments her audience is leaving: racist rude comments, that only perpetuate the ongoing stereotypes of ARABS and MUSLIMS.
Yes, women’s rights are lacking in Jordan and the ME. But to say it is all of Jordan that thinks like Athena says, is discrediting the women’s rights organizations fighting sexism in Jordan. Please, lets not say things that make these powerful women working for women’s rights as if they are nothing, because Jordanian culture is so sexist it will never change (that part was sarcastic).
I guess my problem is I am coming from a journnalism background, and i believe in the importance of reporting the entire picture, and not a single part of it, and manipulating that picture to represent a false whole. I look forward to one day reading a post from Athena that will write about women of Jordan who are fighting sexism and working hard for women’s rights in Jordan.
P.S. The constant statements of Athena saying there are Jordanians who are “modern” and “liberal” because they drive fancy cars, wear the newst fashions, and go clubing is a flase statement. Yes there are Jordanians who live this lifestyle. Im not disputing that. Unfortuantely, the terms modern and liberal have been stolen and rapped by our capitalistic soicety and have been globalized to refer to things like pop-culture and consumerism. If you research the words modern and liberal, their history shows that people who are truly modern and liberal are open-minded people in search of equal rights for all. That is why we can no longer call the Democratic party liberal, because it truly is not. It is a simulation of the Republican party, to say the least.
Just wanted to share that bit of info with everyone.
Well, things are not as black and white as portrayed by Athena, who insists “all women are veiled.”
Yes, there are violations of women’s rights, nobody denied that. But Jordanian women are not being chased down the streets by blood-thirsty men, an image Athena alludes to in her blog. What makes Jordanian women empowered is that they recognize these violations and are constantly fighting to improve their rights. This is real power.
Please reread your article titled Hell Breaks loose in the name of democracy. I do not live in your country but it seems from reading YOUR posts, that you see a problem with women’s rights. Maybe I am wrong and I could be because I have never even visited the region. But why post such articles if there isn’t SOME kind of problem with women and their rights? Thank you for your response!
Dear “An American,”
I don’t get your point. If you are referring to the articleI wrote earlier, then please open your eyes and realize that I, as a “brutalized woman,” was able to post my opinion, criticize the acts of Jordanian MPs and ask for adjustment in the Jordanian penal code.
If you think outside of your right-wing ultra-conservative box you will realize that “brutalized women” are likely not able to do that. They are after all brutalized!
When will you wake up and stop believing what your media (or even your one-sided blogger in this case) is feeding you!
Contrary to belief, Jordanian women are not running in the streets trying to hide from their angry brothers or fathers! They are probably the most empowered women in the whole region.
Honour crimes, which happen primarily among the poor and uneducated, occur all over the region. It is not the norm in Jordan!
The reason Jordan is associated with honour crimes is simply because the issue is no longer taboo in the country — not the case in many nations in the region.
There are currently a large number of dedicated groups working hard to eliminate this appaling beahviour among uneducated urban communities!
I mean really, “An American,” wake up!
Athena,
Why is it in your little anecdote about Malik and Sally, you choose to highlight the fact that Malik speaks English? That should not come as a surprise because most people in this region are bilingual.
Who are you to judge whether or not the entire Jordanian society is ‘imprisoned’? My dear, how long have you been there for? Do you even speak Arabic? I’ve met people like you before who show up from the United States-and it’s usually there first time even leaving the town they were born in-and suddenly they believe they are experts!
Have you spoken to every ‘hijab-wearing girl’ who you claim is willing to have sex for fear of being dumped?
It is people like you who spread misconstrued images of the Middle East. It is unfortunate you were allowed entry into Jordan and are still blind to the culture and society. And yes, as Scooby pointed out, the Jordanian society probably welcomed you with open arms. I’m sure people you met were eager to introduce you to the beautiful local culture and people. And you turn around and spread your ignorance. Shame on you.