Comments on: Can’t we all just…? No, we can’t.

By: OB

OB — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 03:42:55 +0000

Hmm. Well, fair point, I suppose, Elliott, but she did spend her first four years in Uganda. (I agree that she does sound very Canadian though!)

By: Elliott

Elliott — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:46:35 +0000

With the utmost respect, OB, Irshad Manji is as Canadian as I am, and when she speaks, she sounds even more Canadian than I do.

Of course, I blame that on Marjorie Purvey, and the Toronto School of Radio Drama . . . ;)

By: OB

OB — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:12:29 +0000

No, Richard, they’re not. Ask some non-Western women. Ask Maryam Namazie, Marjane Satrapi, Meera Nanda, Homa Arjomand, Irshad Manji, Shirin Ebadi; ask the countless women who work for women’s rights organizations in India and Pakistan and elsewhere. Ask dalit groups; ask Amartya Sen.

The values are obviously not universal in fact, which was my point, but they’re not universal in the west either; but they are universal in principle, they are universalizable. Am I optimistic about the prospects for that? No, especially not in the near term. But do I think it’s inherently impossible? No again.

By: Richard.

Richard. — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:32:40 +0000

Realisticly O.B.are these values not just western values rather than universal values?,living in hope that they will spread reminds me of Samuel Johnsons view of second mariages(a triumph of hope over expereance)!

By: OB

OB — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:29:12 +0000

Thanks, G. It’s good to be back.

“That seems not to be the case”

That’s for sure. ‘But at least we can all agree that torturing children is wrong,’ people exclaim. No – torturing children is exactly what ‘exorcists’ do, not to mention child soldiers in Uganda and Congo and elsewhere, child carpet-weavers in Pakistan, child brides, FGM – child torture isn’t even rare. ‘But we can all agree that murder is wrong?’ No – of course not – obviously not.

And as for female equality or women’s rights – don’t make me laugh.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:37:42 +0000

Dealing with “the fact that there really are people (lots of them) who truly don’t share our commitments to human rights or equality or women’s rights or whatever it may be” is a lot like dealing with the problem of Evil in the world. I’m at a total loss. You’d think that by the 21st century people would have been able to agree on at least the most fundamental values. That seems not to be the case, and so the demise of civilisation is starting to seem possible (what with ecological collapse, permanent war and whatnot).

Glad to hear from you again, G.

By: G

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:07:01 +0000

Hmm. I feel like I wasted twenty pages or so explaining the fundamental logical flaw at the heart of Judith Butler's Gender Trouble fifteen years ago, since Derbyshire just served up a very nice summary of the fundamental conflict between postmodern extremism and any sort of politics, progressive or otherwise.

Ah well, I got an 'A,' and I learned something from the effort, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Glad to have you back, OB. Teh interweb just wasn't the same without you.
:-)
G