TIME magazine, current cover story. What's your reaction?

The photo made me think, Such a horrible, horrible thing to a human being. And how incredibly brave this beautiful woman is.

And deeper horrors were revealed in the story.

._. <- my face of not-being-surprised-in-the-least
This is what happens when an abrahamic religion has complete power over society.

And please fix your link. It leads nowhere.

@ragingloli Done. I realized that and was fixing it.

This reader’s comments pretty much sums it up for me. I don’t read the Time magazines of the world anymore for the reasons elucidated below:

In many ways the western press is doing a great service to the plight of women in Third world countries by publicising the shabby and inhuman way that they are treated. The Taliban are not alone in these practices which are to be found in the breadth of India and Pakistan and in many many African countries, but then no one is making out a case for attacking Pakistan to free the women there. It is clearly not the motivation of the Western media to uplift conditions of women in these countries, they just need to find a justification for Western armed forces being in Afghanistan, but reading these stories one comes away with the impression that America has nothing else in mind than to protect Afghani women from their men. It would not be difficult to find quite disturbing pictures of American women who are victims of domestic violence here in the US, but no one is rushing to put them on the cover of Time magazine. Domestic violence in America is quite bad and on the increase. In fact victims of domestic violence are not simply maimed but are more likely to be killed. The statistics say that every 21 days a woman is killed as a result of domestic violence in the US. My point is not to justify the poor treatment of women by people in third world countries but the idea that men are any more civilized in the US after having gone to college than the Taliban in Afghanistan who have never even gone to school is delusions off grandeur. Leaving aside the similarities of behaviour, there is a valid point that the law of the land should prosecute such behaviour rather than sanction it. In this matter the people in Afghanistan need a lot of laws to create an orderly and just society with or without the Taliban. Clearly the people who can help in doing this is not the US who have proven to have a great propensity for detroying nations than rebuilding them. This is truly the point, the Afghans need help but the US is not the white knight that can do this. In fact any one but the US would be good.

Sad, and what ragingloli said sums up why this is sad as well.

Fuck the Taliban is my response.

That woman is absolutely beautiful, and this kind of thing (and much worse) happens on a regular basis in countries where fucksticks like that have power.

Tragic thing to have happened to that beautiful woman . gotta run!

Yes. Just sad. Nothing else to say.

The suffering of mankind, perpetrated by mankind, knows no bounds.

It always has been, hopefully it will not always be.

I always say that learning is easy it is the UN-learning that is the real work.

De-programming long standing beliefs takes time, but the first step is being open to the looking.

Sigh, I am only reminded of the cruelty that exists everywhere humans live. There are horrors just as bad right in our own home town.

No one can fix the human race. We can only do our best with what we have to work with, using the one on one approach.

@kevbo That comment summed my feelings up quite nicely.

Sadness.
And if only it were so that the US and other countries’ war efforts would prevent these kinds of things from happening, then at least some good would come from it.

Sadness
And some doubt whether Time magazine sincerely had this young woman’s best interest in mind when they made that cover. I sincerely hope so and am so far willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I think the sensationalism meter is wavering at least midpoint on this.

I don’t do sensationalism, when media of any kind is involved one can expect a good amount of disingenuity.

Now that I have taken a peek here I will avert my eyes from the newstand.

I checked out of all media and television in 2000….never to return and not missin’ a thing.

Actually..not true…2001, just after the 9–11 unfolding. My mistake.

I’m sorry for the next question BUT…
Is that photo is real? There is a person who look like this?!
Is this PhotoShop only?

Sorry, I’m trying to understand what is real on this cover :-/

@Ranimi23

That woman’s husband cut off her nose and ears because she ran away from his (and his family) constant abuse.

My answer:

This is why Abrahamic religion needs to die.

Bleh, it is such a cop out for U.S. to say that the reason we must stay there is that we give two shits about the horrid sexism and its consequences that happen to women – it is scapegoating a real problem that our profit-driven military industrial complex doesn’t care about and it is pathetic that they’re using the typical cliche juxtaposition of ‘look at us Westerners and how we don’t treat people like that and look at them unable to govern themselves’ – yeah, because I remember the war being about women being abused and not, ahem, unfindable weapons of mass destruction. I chucked the issue into the garbage where it belongs with its thinly veiled neo-liberal cockshit.

Sad, sick and disgusting. I completely agree with @ragingloli & @Seek_Kolinahr

The title is, “What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan””

But he accurate statement is “What Happens While We Are In Afghanistan.”

The cruelty she suffered breaks my heart. But “we” obviously haven’t stopped it.

<<< trying to visualize cockshit haha!

edit re: below… neoliberal cockshit ;-)

@kevbo Why visualize it, it’s what our tanks look like to the Afghanis

Why is the U.S. the “go to” country for human rights? We can’t even guarantee such rights within our own borders?

@YARNLADY Amen to that.

http://www.theinsider.org/news/article.asp?id=1569

I really hate all this ‘holier than thou’ crap.

@cazzie, that story alone makes my stomach churn. Yuck.

Its both sad and infuriating at the same time. Its about time things changed in Afghanistan. Their people have suffered way to long and they deserve to live in a civilized democracy that protects their rights rather than brutally violating them.

I asked for reactions, and I got them. Thanks. I, of course, abhor the girl’s horrible disfigurement, as everyone else does. What interests me here is the deflection of blame that runs through most responses so far, even blaming “Abrahamic” religions, which, I assume includes perhaps every religion on earth except Buddism and Hinduism. Everyone so far has avoided mentioning the direct cause of the atrocity. It was committed by the adherents of Islam, was it not? Are we afraid to mention the “I” word or the “M” word? Not one person deplores Islam for doing to it’s own what it avows to do every human on earth (the infidels) Just asking…

@plethora, let he who is without sin &c.

@plethora
I agree that Islam, as interpreted by the people that did this, is horrible in allowing this to happen. It is however the excuse not the cause. These atrocities have been committed by pretty much all ethnicities in the name of any religion, at some time in their history. Religion has always served as a nice justification. Some may argue that the holocaust, for instance, was fueled by Christian religious disdain of the jewish population. Or the Crusades, or the irish famines, or the second invasion in Iraq. (George Bush stated on occasion that he felt God had revealed to him his righteousness in that war effort and used biblical references in his justification of it.)

This form of using religion as an excuse to violence is hideous. Islam seems to be used for it a lot lately.

The problem isn’t the West vs Islam. The problem is post-Enlightenment normal people vs. primitive fundamentalists.

The problem exists around the world, including the US, where we’ve had our share of bible-toting murderers.

@plethora I consider Islam part of the Abrahamic religions and the reason why I didn’t get all anti-religion on this thread is because that, to me, is understood as one of the reasons behind sexism and violence against women (when interpreted in favor of men) so I’d rather explore other angles on the story and what’s blatant is the very clear attempt by the U.S. at distracting people from what’s really going on.

@Seek_Kolinahr This is why Abrahamic religion needs to die.

My answer is the same but I would scratch the word “Abrahamic”.

@FutureMemory

I agree, but I’ve never heard of Wiccans cutting off their wives’ noses, so a clarifier seemed necessary.

@Seek_Kolinahr Yikes!!!! You and I almost agree, for once. My answer would be the same, but I would substitute Islamic for Abrahamic.

@Seek_Kolinahr, well there is this, but I would hardly say it’s symptomatic.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Oh!

All’s well that gets front page coverage, I suppose.

And look at the selfish imperialistic country that is intrusively reconstructing the girls nose after her honorable father sliced it and her ears off.

@plethora I heard the Army arranged to bring her to the USA and set it up to get full reconstructive surgery done. At least there is a happy ending to this hideous act of horror.

@ETpro I agree…that was tongue in cheek. Really wonderful that she was found, that TIME got its hands on it and gave the publicity….and in the process, indirectly, belittled and dishonored her father, pig that he is.

I agree with @kevbo….and the quote that he used.

This isn’t about this religion or that religion (though it can be fuelled by such). This is about the degradation, humiliation and subjugation of women…throughout history and throughout the world. We think we have made strides, but we have not. Not really.

Domestic violence in “civilized Western countries” is still happening and in droves. There is the honor killings happening in America by fundamentalists and the emotional honor killings by fathers who simply walk if their child is born a girl. Both are acts of violence…on different levels.

I have been a victim of domestic violence. There I said it. Which is why I am so vocal on the subject. Think it just happens to stupid, uneducated women? It does not. Or women that “must like it, if not she would leave?” No. Or women of a “certain economic status”? No…it happens to all women in all walks of life and all ethnicities, rich and poor and in between. In a million years, It happened to a well-educated, thoughtful, well- adjusted woman. Me I never thought I would find myself in that sort of situation. He was a fantastic guy, loved by his friends, loved by my friends…no one even suspected that he had this horrible dark side. And he did. What no one talks about is how maiming this sort of behavior is….especially when you are involved with a man who is emotionally manipulative and good at it. Your walls cave in. You lose touch with reality. You are embarrassed (because you “should have known better”) to tell anyone. You doubt that he is really doing what he is doing in that you watch him and wonder, “How on earth did I not see this?” You end up beating yourself up, to. You doubt your judgement, your choices—especially when you are with a guy who is “such a fantastic guy”...uh, no. Who is going to believe you? He has hoodwinked everyone…even his family. What do you do? You keep silent. Until you can’t anymore.

The silence in the world is deafening. When you look at the picture in Time Magazine…you are seeing your sister, your mother, your friends….and you may not even know it.

Don’t be quick to judge anyone in this sort of situation. It is complex. And the next victim. might well be someone you adore and love.

@DarlingRhadamanthus Very very good post. Thank you for your honesty and description of what it is like and why.

@plethora….Thank you for opening up this discussion.

Please excuse the typos in my previous answer….my computer skips at times. One sentence should have read: “In a million years, I never thought I would find myself in that sort of situation.” And another should have been: ” You end up beating yourself up, too.”

And I did get a bit emotional writing that, too, I must admit.

__“We have to free half the human race, the women, so that they can help free the other half.“__ (Emmeline Pankhurst)

It’s an interdependency….enlightened men must stand for all women’s freedom so that women can, in turn, abolish the enslavement of men and all humanity. Because, truthfully, a society that teaches men to hate women so much is an enslaved society.

What incredible opportunities for forgiveness we are all learning in this chaotic world.

@DarlingRhadamanthus

* hugs *

I’m glad we got out.

Thanks, @DarlingRhadamanthus. The tidy categorisation that people like to create needs challenging. The whole issue of ‘Look at this! Aren’t you glad you don’t live THERE!’ or ‘We’re so much better than that, because THAT would never happen HERE.’ Which seemed the point of the article…. because the righteous American’s were on the case, women would never be treated badly… HA! Sorry.. but, as I always tell my young son…. ‘It’s more complicated than that.’ The only thing that is going to stop women being treated badly is women everywhere speaking up and saying it’s NOT ok. It’s NOT our fault it’s HIS fault.