– The following article is about certain cultural practices which I believe are destructive to humanity’s future. But, before I get into the article itself, I want to discuss the conjunction of environmentalism, multiculturalism and tolerance that this article draws us to consider.
– There’s been a debate for some time between myself and some of the folks I correspond with over the subject of multiculturalism. In general, I have no objection to the idea and I believe that we should respect and preserve all the world’s cultures. But, I would qualify that by saying, “within reason“
– There are two obvious questions that follow a statement like that The first is, “What exactly do you mean, ‘within reason'”, and, “Who will decide such things, if you are suggesting limits?”
– Good questions and tough questions, both. To understand what I mean by ‘within reason’, you must understand first that I strongly believe humanity should adopt a new, conscious and intentional number one priority for itself if it intends to survive here without destroying itself and the biosphere. It is:
Humanity should adopt, as its number one priority, the goal of getting into a steady-state non-destructive balance with the biosphere so that we (and the other members of the planet’s biosphere) can survive here on Earth indefinitely.
– An associated and relevant idea is that basic logic tells us that we cannot have have two or more number one priorities.
– Therefore, when something comes into conflict with our chosen number one priority, we must choose against it.
– To make some crude but effective examples, if Abdul wants to wear a funny hat (funny to my eyes, perhaps) and decorate his camel with flowers and lead it in circles under the full moon chanting loves songs to his ancestors – I have no objections so long as none of it is destructive to our shared biosphere. But if Juan, in the Amazon rain forest, wants to slash and burn three square acres of forest, plant it and harvest crops on it for several years until the soil is depleted and then move on to the next patch of forest, then I say, “No, sorry, that’s just not consistent with what’s best for our joint survival – you are going to have to stop.”
– Of course, the problem arises when we ask the natural follow-on question, “Well, who is going to make these decisions about which cultural practices are benign and which are toxic to our joint futures?” And I wish I had a good answer but I don’t.
– I can tell you that the democratic process is breaking down here. The majority of people, either through lack of education or lack of intelligence, don’t care about such remote and abstract ideas so in those societies (which many of us consider to be our best societies) where our joint directions are suppose to be decided by democratic processes, it is obvious that not much is going to happen any time soon – to all of our detriments.
– Now with regard to this article, I believe that men and women are fundamentally equal and that any culture which practices discrimination against women is damaging to us all. But, aside from the obvious unfairness of such discrimination, it has been clearly shown that women with less education, with less economic power and with less control over their reproductive decisions contribute inordinately to the planet’s population problems which is itself a major driving force behind much of the coming Perfect Storm.
Imagine – requiring a woman reporting a rape to have to come up with four male witnesses to the crime, or face prosecution for adultery.
Press on dear readers … you comments are welcome.
——————————————-
Pakistan’s six-party opposition Islamic alliance is threatening a campaign of countrywide protests over amendments to the country’s strict rape laws.
The MMA alliance says its members will resign from national and provincial assemblies after MPs voted that rape should no longer fall under Sharia law.
President Pervez Musharraf in a television speech said the Islamists were isolated on the issue.
The Sharia laws have been widely criticised by human rights groups.
The lower house of the parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to amend the controversial Sharia law that dates back to 1979.Until now, rape cases were dealt with in Sharia courts. Victims had to have four male witnesses to the crime – if not, they faced prosecution for adultery.More… ➡