American Hypocrisy

I just read an interesting blog:

http://www.zeropartypolitics.com/2011/02/bill-maher-using-lara-logan-sexual.html

The author was very critical of Bill Maher and his "bigotry"*.

It was interesting to me because the author is very intelligent. He is an Arab American man and was obviously deeply hurt when Bill Maher implied that Middle-Eastern Theocracies were not ready for Democracy because of their poor treatment of women. In addition, Maher said Americans treat women better than Arabs, which the above blogger took as a personal insult.

I, of course, agree with Maher. I think he spoke too generally, though, and wasn't clear enough about what he meant. I too saw Lara Logan's gang rape as evidence of Arab hatred of women, especially American or Jewish ones. Logan is neither an American or Jew, but apparently a chant of "Jew", "Jew", was yelled by her attackers during the rape.

Does this mean all Arab men hate women? Of course not. I would venture to guess most don't. I don't think that is what Bill meant.

Gang rapes occur all over the world, and that only the individuals who committed the crime should be admonished, not an entire culture. When an All-American football team commits gang rape, aren't there actions too, driven somewhat by culture? A culture that aggrandizes sports heroes and makes them feel above the law?

It is not crazy at all, or racist, to say Islamic culture has some "issues" with women. Just like Americans have "issues" with materialism and addiction to money and oil. Americans need to be willing to look in the mirror, but so do people living in Islamic Theocracies.

I am not so sure the revolutions in the Middle-East are a move away from Theocracy, but I hope the blogger above is correct that they are.

That said, I can see how Americans also treat women terribly. The debate over which culture treats women worse, seems ridiculous, as in many Middle-Eastern Theocracies the term "women's rights" is an oxymoron. In most Western Democracies, or in our case a Republic, equality of the sexes supported by the laws of the land. In this sense, Maher is correct, Western Democracies and Republics are morally superior to Middle-Eastern Theocracies in their support of women's rights.

Cultures, races, and religions don't commit sex crimes...people do. All humans carry within the ability to do good or do bad. I really do not believe Maher meant that all men of Arab or Middle Eastern descent treat women worse than all American men. I think he meant that the governments, laws, and cultures in the Middle East are more oppressive to women than the laws of Western Democracies. This would be true.

His dating comment was over- the- top and hurtful. I think he was in pain and grieving for his friend. We all say things we don't mean sometimes when we are hurting.

What exactly are racism and bigotry?

If I say, many Jews are wealthy, this may be true. If I say Jews love money, you might call me a bigot.

If I say, many Middle Eastern men treat women poorly, this may be true. If I say Arab men are misogynistic, I am making a generalization, and being unfair to all who are not.

What if we make a statement like: Americans are hypocrites. Well, as the above blogger points out, this is true if we are referring to our thirst for oil and our support of a brutal theocracy (Saudi Arabia). We are putting economic gain first, at the expense of supporting human rights.

But by that logic we should not trade with China at all. Their human rights abuses are horrendous.

It gets very complicated.

I think of racism not as noticing how a certain individual of some race behaves, but believing they behave a certain way BECAUSE of their race.

Or sexism as...that human being is unable to hold a job down BECAUSE she is a woman, and we all know that women aren't smart.

So, was Bill Maher just making an observation? One of: Women are treated worse in the Middle East than they are in the West.

Or, was he saying Middle Eastern men are predisposed to treating women badly because they come from the Middle East? Or more specifically, Arab men treat women badly BECAUSE they are Arab.

You can say, wow, most of the people in this poor neighborhood are black. That is an observation. If you say they are poor because they are black, and black people are lazy, that is racism. Ironically, many Liberals fall into this category. They don't even realize they are being racist.

The men that treat women badly are white, black, brown, etc. They don't treat women badly because of their race.

They treat women badly because they believe in ideas about women that are false. In the Middle East, oppression of females is supported by the laws of many of the governments.

In the West, many people still believe is misogynistic ideas, but the law punishes them if they act on them.

So is Bill Maher a bigot? I certainly don't think so. I don't think he cares what race, religion, or sex his friends are. I don't think he believes anyone is "bad" because of their race, religion, or sex. But he does express powerful opinions, his show is set up for this.

And I am sure, sooner or later he will say something to personally offend me, that's free speech. And maybe if I was the Arab American man he offended I would quit watching too...but hasn't he ever made a mistake, or a generalization about a group of people when he was in a fearful state of mind? We all makes mistakes, and I think Bill's is forgivable.

*One definition I found of "bigot" was: forming opinions without just cause. Another: intolerant of others positions and views. Another: prejudice against the views of others.