I don’t think so. Pointing out that this woman exists in a world which limits her choices is not saying she’s entirely innocent or that she’s entirely guilty for her actions. It’s pointing out mitigating circumstances for her actions.
Are you aware of all the evidence yourself then, do you know something I don’t about her circumstance that you care to share? I don’t think you do either. I agree that none of us are aware of the full circumstances of this woman’s life here.
So maybe we can narrow down what we actually DO know. Will that satisfy you?
What we do know is that she is a TV host, who promotes what is essentially the state line on women’s modesty. I don’t think any of us disagrees on that. This makes her a mouthpiece of the regime.
her picture was taken drinking a beer (banned in Iran) and going about without her head covered (also banned in Iran)
people are calling her a hypocrite (both in English and in Farsi).
there is a history of misrepresenting Iran in the Western media
So that’s what we know. What we don’t know:
her personally held views on modesty and drinking (we can infer that she doesn’t believe it perhaps, because she’s been seen drinking and uncovered in this picture).
what her actual relationship is with her employer, the conditions of her employment, and her families relationship to the regime in general.
if she is doing what she thinks she has to do in her job to ensure the safety of her and her family
if she is an active participant in shaping the message she presents on TV
Do you wish to add or change anything that I put here? Feel free.
Which is why I’m not willing to assume that there are mitigating circumstances that excuse her obvious hypocrisy. For the Nth time, I’m willing to allow for the possibility, but I won’t presume it to excuse someone’s behavior.
Does that satisfy you? Because I feel like we’ve covered it here, to be honest.
We also know it’s remarkably easy to not become a national television host. People generally don’t get forcibly conscripted for that job - there is always a very long line of very willing candidates for a handful of positions. This alone very strongly indicates the collaborative nature of the arrangement and hence the harmful hypocrisy.
Conservative Iranian television host spotted drinking beer in public without hijab
Notice that her gender isn’t even in the original headline except by implication. While i agree that this story has most likely blown up largely because of the misogyny that infects both Iran and the west, misogyny is not the only factor at work here.
Can someone clarify if it is islamic at all to demand women to wear that kind of clothing and totally refrain from alcohol? I personally know a handful islamic women who do not adhere to any of those principles, but still recognise themselves as muslim, and I have had my share of beers with muslim men.
I think Boingboing here is propagating some really bad shit about islam that most modern muslims don’t live up to.
One more time: Boing Boing isn’t saying Muslim women must wear headscarves and refrain from alcohol. I know a lovely Iranian-American Muslim woman who almost never wears a headscarf and served wine at her own same-sex wedding ceremony. The subject of this story is the one saying that Muslim women must wear headscarves and refrain from alcohol.
Since @Brainspore answered the second part, i’ll do my best to answer the first. Whether the head covering is mandatory seems to be somewhat sectarian, as the Koran itself seems to only call for modesty.
As you’ll see if you look at the similar part of the Wikipedia article for the niqab, face-covering is much more controversial
Alcohol seems to be more firmly against the rules, although i don’t know of another authoritarian religion that acknowledges real life the way that Islam does
This is the “law of necessity” in Islamic jurisprudence: “That which is necessary makes the forbidden permissible.” (from here)
And, people being people of course, just as with all other religions, there are congregations that adhere less to those rules they consider less useful.
For hypocrisy? For whatever reason she wants to make up. It does not really matter. If there is no confidence in her she can’t be effective in her job as a propagandist.
That, in her off hours, she’s not a strident asshole?
Or that, 24-7, she’s a strident asshole?
And who outed her? Conservatives-- who want to make sure everyone who drinks the kool-aid love the taste? (and perhaps are focusing on women, because they “shouldn’t” be broadcasters in the first place?) Or liberals-- who want to out hypocrisy and demonstrate a corrupt system?
You like myself are interested in former Communist regimes. As you know people in these regimes had choices not unlike those in theocracies – you could become an actual dissident (at great risk to oneself and one’s family), you could actively work for the regime as a spokesperson or enforcer, or you could take a third choice (which was the most popular) – you could devote yourself to a career and hobbies that had little or no bearing on the regime and try to stay out of notice by the authorities. The first choice was the noblest, and the third the most practical, but the middle choice of actively working for the regime was held in contempt by most people. Particularly those apparatchiks who enjoyed Western goods off limits to the common people.
If you’ll allow me to change that to the government of Iran, at whose pleasure this person works, yes, lets. They are living under a religious theocracy. Anything that highlights the cracks in their facade of bullshit helps break that down, same as here in the states. It’s not the US vs. Iran, it’s reason vs. oppressive dark ages religious bullshit, worldwide.
My first thought was not about hypocrisy. I have spent enough time in Dubai and Bahrain to see that there are times when even the most devout Muslims are “off the clock”. I cannot blame her for not wanting to wear one of those black coats in a less repressive part of the world. And of course she presents the news on the State network from a fundamentalist perspective. it is a serious offense to do other than “propagate and promote genuine Islamic culture and sound ethical principles”. She is employed by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, the head of which is appointed by the Supreme Leader. I cannot blame her for the message she propagates any more than I blame Ri Chun-hee for her promotion of the Juche ideal. Neither of them has much choice.
My thought was concern about what they are going to do to her when she gets back.
Why do you keep making it sound like the only alternative this woman has to propagating bullshit theocratic nonsense that makes others’ lives worse is to join the resistance at the potential cost of her life? It just seems like this huge excluded middle.
So… once you take up a job with NKVD, no one can blame you for, say, torturing political dissidents? Because it would be a serious offense not to fight the capitalist reaction with all fervor in your position?
Even people living in theocracies got to eat and pay rent.
Eat, pay rent… and go for holidays in Switzerland?
Not all citizens of faraway countries are living on the brink of starvation. You may benefit from reconsidering your own stereotypes.
“Caught in the middle” is understating Western culpability to a rather extreme degree.
Working backwards:
There’s a lot more than that, of course. The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in the 1940’s, Napoleon in Egypt, the Royal Navy wreaking havoc across the Med for hundreds of years, etc.
Islam covers a wide range of beliefs. There are groups who do demand that women cover themselves for modesty and that both men and women refrain from alcohol and in some cases even tobacco.
For Americans who are more experienced with Christian denominations there is a parallel in that there are many different groups who have different requirements for their members. And even in America there exists very conservative churches that are particular about what women wear or even what church members eat. This behavior is not something unique to Islam, you will find it in many religions of the world.
Criticizing out dated cultures that treat women unfairly is completely within our right, and it is not meant to be an attack on Islam as a whole.
And on the other side you have the conquest of North-African Christian kingdoms, conquest of Persia, conquest of the Iberian peninsula, conquest and destruction of the Byzantine empire, conquest of the Balkans, repeated sieges of Vienna, piracy of the Barbary corsairs etc.
This conflict has not been one-sided and has been going on for roughly 1300 years.
