Greetings, Salvador,
Many thanks for your email. I only wish I spoke Spanish as well as you
speak English!
> I am not an English speaking person, as I guess you know. My knowledge of
> your language is very limited. That's why I am curious about the
> meaning of
> an expresion you use recurrently and (I guess) in a pejorative sense:
> western male.
I don't mean 'western male' in a pejorative sense, but in a descriptive one,
and, yes, I was criticizing western males on the point of their cultural and
cognitive certainties re. Muslim practices. Of course, that is a
generalization and there are many western males who do not hold to such
certainties, especially when they are questioned.
> I thought that Lawrence is a male name but I may be wrong.
> Excuse me for asking, but are ayou a female? Because "western male" sounds
> to me as a feminist adjective. Only curiosity.
Yes, I am a western male and so was referring broadly to a group that I
belong to. I was raised in Europe, live in the US, am limited to four
languages, and don't travel or read as much as I should.
> By the way, are there significant differences between western males and
> eastern males, or western females, in terms of certainty? Is the answer a
> certainty itself?
I focused on western males because we were talking a Muslim and female
practices of dress. I do suspect that on other issues, we would find
western females, and eastern males and females full of their own (blind and
ignorant) certainties. I suupose that it is an age-old practice of all
cultures to assert how right they are and how wrong everyone else is. It
just saddens me to see this unfortunate pattern repeat itself here on this
wonderful Internet. I have just come from a three-day seminar with a dozen
founders of personal computers, the Internet, and the World-Wide Web. Their
hope has been that these technologies would enable us to build a better
world. It is dispiriting to find medieval hubris creeping in, even here.
> I think more or less the same way as Christoph Reuss regarding nuns habit
> and choice. And I am also a western male.
And what is your thought and experience with covered Muslim women? If it is
possible for nuns to choose their concealing clothing (and Catholic women
generally to do so when they enter a church), might it not also be the case
that Muslim women make such a choice?
> Another anecdotical contribution: the neighbourhood where I live in Mexico
> City is the most important jewish gettho in the country and I see a lot of
> hassidic (hope it's well written) kids playing football o riding bikes
> dressed in their gloomy (from my point of view, of course) black
> suits, with
> their old fashioned gangster-style black hats and the curls. Many
> times I've
> seen these kids watching non jewish kids (as my son, 14 yo) dressed as
> normal (statistical meaning) young people: soccer shirts
> (Manchester United,
> Roma or, much better, Real Madrid), pants or jeans, sport shoes... and I
> think that they would gladly change if they had the freedom to do that. Of
> course I may be wrong, it's a hunch not a (western male)
> certainty. But this
> "uniform", as long as you can not choose how to dress, seems to me
> comparable to the burkas, ("portable prisons", what a good expression).
> If you tell me that these kids choose to dress that way I won't
> say nothing,
> but I doubt it.
Salvador, I invite you to re-read your own description of these Hassidic
kids. "Gangster-style" blackhats? If, as I believe is the case, Hassidic
practices predate Chicago gansters by several centuries, might it not be
more fair and more accurate, to accuse gangsters of wearing Hassidic-style
hats? You see what I am getting at, of course....
> I haven't ask because it's not easy at all to speak with
> these people when you are not one of them.
You might be surprised over how easy and how rewarding it might be to talk
with Hassidics about their practices. I think that you (or anyone else) who
did so might come away with a greater understanding of another culture, and
of how the world works. As with the case of Muslim women, I can suggest a
couple of ways that you could do this, if you wish to have any suggestions.
Wouldn't it be great if everyone reading our corrspendence here decided to
approach members of the cultural group that seems most strange to them, and
to sit down and explore each other's worlds?
> You can also argue that the
> clothes my son wear are also a uniform, and it's true, but he can at least
> choose the color of his shirt and his hairdressing.
> Burkas has many forms and are closer than we use to accept.
I am missing your meaning here: Burkas are closer than we use to accept?
I am delighted that you are on this list, and hope you will participate as
much as you wish to.
Best regards,
Lawry
