Yoshie had written:
> > Clothing doesn't change anyone's life.
me:
> tell that to a teenager!
Yoshie:
But we are grownups, aren't we?
you think? me:
> and don't you think that being committed (either voluntarily or > involuntarily) to wearing a hijab would change your life? (It sure > would change mine!) Sure, it's the commitment that counts, but the > clothing also plays a big role here.
Yoshie:
I don't think so. Adopting other peoples' customs temporarily is what an anthropologist does professionally, and that doesn't necessarily make her really "one of them."
going to a seminary (which is what you were talking about when I brought up the hijab) is not the same as going on an anthropological expedition. And contrary to the anthropologists' pretensions, if they have them, such expeditions change them and their lives (while of course not making them "one of them").
One can certainly take interest -- even profound interest -- in other peoples' beliefs, customs, etc. without adopting them as one's own.
right. That's why I don't see you as an apologist for Tehran the way some do. You're just studying it.
In fact, that's what thinking persons should do. "One seeks a midwife for his thoughts, another someone to whom he can be a midwife: thus originates a good conversation," said Nietzsche. Those who already think like you can't be a midwife to your new thoughts.
nice quote, poor source. -- Jim Devine / "Self-exhaustion in war has killed more states than any foreign assailant." -- BH Liddell Hart.
