posted by
sigelphoenix at 10:52am on 20/04/2006 under feminism and sexism, sexual violence and harassment
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Trying this again.
Let's talk about terrorism. If you're living in the U.S. (or you receive any news media that allow you to hear us), you're likely quite familiar with the rhetoric associated with terrorism, particularly following September 11. "Use the airlines, or the terrorists will win," "We're Americans who will fight for our freedom," etc. etc. Without assigning value judgments to these statements and their implications (which is oh-so-easy to do), let's just take a look at what they're actually saying. They're about defiance - resisting the attempts of our adversaries to cow us into submission, and holding on to our supposedly God-given right to live our lives the way we want to. Sure, there's some risk - being in an airplane, a place of congregation like a sports stadium, or just a heavily populated city. But in the end, we know that it's not worth circumscribing our lives to win a modicum of safety. Furthermore, the real way to protect ourselves from terrorism is to stop terrorism, not hide from it.
( Wouldn't it be nice if we treated women the same way? )
Let's talk about terrorism. If you're living in the U.S. (or you receive any news media that allow you to hear us), you're likely quite familiar with the rhetoric associated with terrorism, particularly following September 11. "Use the airlines, or the terrorists will win," "We're Americans who will fight for our freedom," etc. etc. Without assigning value judgments to these statements and their implications (which is oh-so-easy to do), let's just take a look at what they're actually saying. They're about defiance - resisting the attempts of our adversaries to cow us into submission, and holding on to our supposedly God-given right to live our lives the way we want to. Sure, there's some risk - being in an airplane, a place of congregation like a sports stadium, or just a heavily populated city. But in the end, we know that it's not worth circumscribing our lives to win a modicum of safety. Furthermore, the real way to protect ourselves from terrorism is to stop terrorism, not hide from it.
( Wouldn't it be nice if we treated women the same way? )
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