(no subject)

[trinityvixen]

Okay...what?

I'm confused by this tree of links I touched off from this article at Pandagon today. Well, not confused. More like angry. Yeah, angry.

Okay, is it bad that Pelosi's gone to Syria, seeing as she's a) third in line to the Presidency and, b) Syria's like on our international shit list (but behind Iran! Maybe we'll run out of troops before we think to invade them ::coughcoughtoolatecough::)? Israel doesn't seem to be freaking out the way don't-know-better, hate-Islam-therefore-Israel-must-be-fantastic-how-dare-you-not-be-100%-checking-in-with-them-on-every-bit-of-foreign-diplomacy right wingers are. I thought making overtures to figure out our problems with countries like Syria was part of, I dunno, the strategy to get rid of terrorism that's supposedly behind this war we're fighting in a country we didn't actually have any legit beef with (other than hurt Republican pride, that is).

Then there's this where it seems the hubbub is as much over Pelosi debasing herself with a scarf as embarrassing the country by visiting a "terrorist" nation. 'Cause if that's really it? I'm gonna hurl. Personally, I believe that, if you're going into a house of worship, even if you think the rules are fucking stupid (I do myself), you follow them. The holier the site, the more reverence you should show, if not of the mythology then at least to the faith of the people. Yes, women are targets of the restrictions in religious institutions most of the time, but still--you go to the holiest of holies (I saw a pic where Pelosi was standing next to the tomb supposed to contain the head of John the Baptist--that's pretty damn holy), you show respect by doing it according to their rules.

I say the exception is elsewhere. No, I don't want Pelosi to offend the dignitaries or whatever in Syria, but the rest of the time, were I her, I wouldn't wear that scarf for my life. Because I am all about showing respect where faith and spiritual matters are concerned. Wearing a token of subserviance outside the religious institution, even in a country where the religious and the political are pretty incestuously close, is not cool. Sorry, just wouldn't do it. Then again, I'm not the House Speaker...

Comments

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Just a little fuel for the fire, from the political insanity side...

http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2007/04/road_to_damascu.html

a few more points to add

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

You seemed to have missed (or at least not mentioned) the fact that 3 republican Reps happened to have visited Syria just before Pelosi. Also her talk with Syrian officials got a "we are willing to talk" response from them (something the administration said wasn't going to happen anytime soon because they are the way they are). Also the Syrians didn't mind her making a sign of the cross by John the Baptist's tomb at all. In short, the complaint is that she's making them look bad by actually showing some real leadership.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Sigh, I did hear about the three Republican reps that went. As I understood it, they justified the "it's okay if you're a Republican" line by saying that Pelosi is Speaker, which means, obviously, she is way more important than three representatives of our government combined. Wow.

But the point is at least held up--talking is better than fighting.

Re: a few more points to add

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I did hear about the Republican delegation, actually. I just left it out (commented way too much in a hurry, bad me).

I just followed the blog trail to the right-wing blogs complaining about Pelosi and omg-what-is-she-telling-Syria-they-can-get-away-with?! posts and wanted to hurl. Especially because of this visit to the Mosque. Which used to be a church. OMG HOW DARE MUSLIMS TAKE OVER BUILDINGS IN THEIR OWN DAMNED COUNTRY!?!

They could be making them into restaurants or just closing them down, too. But let's freak out about a holy place being kept holy just by another name...

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

As debasements go, a headscarf is quite a minimal one. Compare what Pelosi wore to what LAURA BUSH wore on her trip to the Al'Aqsa mosque, or visiting the Vatican, or what Jewish men wear, or what orthodox Jewish women wear.

This whole foofaraw is ginned up by racist, misogynist psychopaths.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

This whole foofaraw is ginned up by racist, misogynist psychopaths.

Who then turn around and scream that it is Pelosi giving it up to the misogynists with the head covering. Sigh.

What's this about Laura "Stepford Wife" Bush?

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

This is standard Marcotte-ian straw man style--no one on the mainstream right wing cares that she wore a headscarf. National Review, for example, was perfectly fine with the headscarf for exactly rthe reasons you mentioned. Meanwhile, Althouse just said,

You may not like that. I don't. But, clearly, headcovering is not just a Muslim thing. But even if it were, showing respect for the traditions of a place of worship you want to enter is completely appropriate. It's not as if she were asked to denounce Christianity to enter the mosque. The mosque was open to her as a place to worship a Christian relic, and she made the sign of the cross in there.

How Marcotte goes from this to, "Ann Althouse wants Pelosi to be a little bit more of a sexbot," is a mystery. Althouse, a moderate liberal, tears into Marcotte further here.

The mainstream right-wing complaints about her trip are just that Congressmen shouldn't be conducting diplomacy, especially in a way that conflicts with the Executive's diplomatic stance. The Constitution generally reserves diplomatic power to the president (power to make treaties, appoint ambassadors, etc.) Even if you think Bush has a tendency to overextend the executive's powers, that doesn't justify Congressmen engaging in diplomacy. Note that the amended White House press release criticized both Dems and Republicans going to Syria and chatting with Assad.

There's a reason Marcotte was pushed out of the Edwards campaign. It's because she can't adhere to basic standards of truthfulness in her blogging. This post is a stellar example of her inability to represent her opponents' views fairly.

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of conservatives are reasonable about this, but other commentators on the National Review and elsewhere are not.

All Nancy Pelosi was doing was delivering a message from Israel to the Syrians. It's not as if she's launching some huge diplomatic initiative on her own.