• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Michelle Obama forgoes a headscarf and sparks some twitter user backlash

Status
Not open for further replies.
H

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
soul creator said:
Why is she shitting on the beliefs of millions of people /s
Click to expand...
Saudi Arabia is one of a handful of Muslim countries that force women to wear the head scarf. So why appease the Saudis when their practice isn't anywhere close to being universal amongst Muslim countries?
 
S

soul creator

Member
Heshinsi said:
Saudi Arabia is one of a handful of Muslim countries that force women to wear the head scarf. So why appease the Saudis when their practice isn't anywhere close to being universal amongst Muslim countries?
Click to expand...

FYI, I wasn't making a "all Muslims do this" comment. "Millions of people" do live in Saudi Arabia, and if we could hypothetically do a worldwide poll, I'm sure there would be "millions of people" who would think forcing head scarves on women to be fine, even if that still would be a minority of all self-identified Muslims.

And I was also making the sarcastic reference to this thread, where the OP was criticized for "shitting on the beliefs" of people because he had the nerve to disagree with the majority and post his thoughts on a message board. By that logic, Obama is "shitting on the beliefs of millions of people" by not following the strict traditions of the country she's in.

(needless to say, I actually don't think any of these practices are "shitting on the beliefs" of anyone)
 
B

Barzul

Member
They must have known it would cost some backlash. Probably just weighed the advantages vs disadvantages and then went with it.
 
M

Mista Koo

Member
Mimosa97 said:
Headscarfs aren't a muslim thing. My grand-mother was very catholic and when she got old she started wearing headscarfs. Nuns do too. I know jewish hassidic women here in Montreal who cover their hair. So please tell me, how is that a muslim thing ?

And yeah it's optional in the Qu'ran. Nowhere is it written that muslim women have to cover their hair. It's more of a cultural thing.
Click to expand...
They aren't exclusively Muslim, but they are a Muslim thing. Keep in mind that Islam succeeded Judaism and Christianity (in Islamic belief at least).

And it's written in the Quran in this exact verse:
PetriP-TNT said:
From Wikipedia so this might be false but:
And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their khimār over their breasts and not display their beauty except to their husband, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their (Muslim) women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. (Quran 24:31)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

FZZpure said:
That's what optional means.
Click to expand...
When I said not forced I meant just like how praying or fasting is not forced.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Poodlestrike said:
That can't possibly be a real thing.
Click to expand...

Alex Jones has covered it. Basically take the lack of pictures of Michelle when she was young, and the fact that the name Michelle is very close to the name Michel, and then start connecting the dots between random people and documents until you get your "proof".

Mostly it died down after Michelle's yearbook picture came out, but at that point there's always someone that will claim photoshop conspiracies.

I always kind of feel guilty bringing dumb stuff like this attention, but I can't help but find it simply fascinating.
 
A

afternoon delight

Member
bengraven said:
Seeing her naked hair makes me want to do revolting, illegal acts against God.
Click to expand...

obama_thumbsup.gif
 
A

ASIS

Member
Uhhh.. As a Saudi this hasn't been controversial, like at all, inhere. Foreign diplomats aren't forced to wear headscarfs, but they do it out of respect. So yeah, that's my take on it. Twitter's gonna tweet I suppose.
 
R

RustyNails

Member
ASIS said:
Uhhh.. As a Saudi this hasn't been controversial, like at all, inhere. Foreign diplomats aren't forced to wear headscarfs, but they do it out of respect. So yeah, that's my take on it. Twitter's gonna tweet I suppose.
Click to expand...

It's people wanting a spectacle. There isn't one at all. 1500 tweets out of a country over 20 million now is a..."backlash"?

Let's now put an end to the discussion about Michelle Obama. She did absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, the claim that her attire and performance created a firestorm in Saudi Arabia is plainly false. By some counts, there were some 1,500 tweets with the Arabic hashtag #ميشيل_أوباما_سفور, which means roughly #Michelle_Obama_Unveiled. That is hardly a Twitterstorm, considering that Saudi Arabia has more than 5 million Twitter users.

Second, the first lady followed protocol. Saudi law does not require foreign visitors to wear a hijab, the Muslim headscarf. This was no protocol breach, and it was also not an unusually courageous move on her part. Countless prominent women have appeared in public meeting Saudi royals without wearing headscarves. We've seen Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Angela Merkel, among others, visit the kingdom in Western attire.

Finally, that handshake: The King would not have shaken hands with Michelle Obama if he had not wanted to do so. In fact, we saw an endless parade of dignitaries shake the President's hand and walk right past the first lady, bluntly, rudely, ignoring her. That is a breach of etiquette. But it was not committed by the first lady or by King Salman.

So it looks like this is the scandal that wasn't. A non-tempest, if you will. But there was a teapot.
Click to expand...
CNN
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
I knew she was kinky!

twitter is now 'outrage'.

1500 users in a population of 5 million saying 'fuck bro' while taking a shit is outrage now. technology is so impressive.
 
A

ASIS

Member
RustyNails said:
It's people wanting a spectacle. There isn't one at all. 1500 tweets out of a country over 20 million now is a..."backlash"?


CNN
Click to expand...

Pretty much. I mean this is the internet, people will hate on anything. But guys don't think that this is what the society was thinking about yesterday, let alone discussing it. It's a complete non-issue.
 
N

Nander

Member
It's interesting how media can frame the same story in such different ways. The largest Swedish newspaper has the headline "Michelle Obama without veil echoes on Twitter", and writes "Michelle Obama's initiative was met with a large number of positive reactions on Twitter", followed by two examples of positive tweets. The only negative tweet highlighted in the article is one from the Twitter account "Women&ChildrenFirst" who apparently thought it was reductionist and orientalist to praise Michelle Obama as a freedom fighter for simply not wearing a veil.

http://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/michelle-obama-utan-huvudduk-gav-eko-pa-twitter/
 
M

Mimosa97

Member
Mista Koo said:
They aren't exclusively Muslim, but they are a Muslim thing. Keep in mind that Islam succeeded Judaism and Christianity (in Islamic belief at least).

And it's written in the Quran in this exact verse:



When I said not forced I meant just like how praying or fasting is not forced.
Click to expand...

Your translation is somehow incorrect when it comes to covering the hair. And someone already gave you the link of an article written by a very well-respected muslim scholar who proves that the Qu'ran doesn't force women to cover their hair. But yeah fasting and praying are mandatory which isn't the case for wearing a headscarf.

Here is the link : http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_351_400/quran_does_not_mandate_hijab.htm

But again, you chose to go with the interpretation of the Qu'ran that suits radical islamists. So basically you're saying that they are the ones who understand the Qu'ran and not " moderate" muslim scholars. And you're not the first one to criticize the Qu'ran all the while validating the interpretation that's most popular among radicals. By this you're pretty much indirectly siding with them.

I'll just finish by saying that i'm not muslim nor am i defending the Qu'ran or any holy book whatsoever. There's a lot to say about Islam which is a religion that i criticize a LOT and I have lengthy discussions with my muslim friends but I still don't like this habit of siding with radicals and forget the work of all the other scholars, just because they seem too moderate to your taste and give you less " room " to criticize said religion. Religions are already bad in their " not-radical " versions, no need to make them look even worse.
 
F

FZZ

Banned
Mista Koo said:
They aren't exclusively Muslim, but they are a Muslim thing. Keep in mind that Islam succeeded Judaism and Christianity (in Islamic belief at least).

And it's written in the Quran in this exact verse:



When I said not forced I meant just like how praying or fasting is not forced.
Click to expand...

I already provided a a link with a much more thorough analysis RIGHT AFTER the post you quoted. Cmon man.
 
N

NYCmetsfan

Banned
Mimosa97 said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL7rFEYtM_M&feature=youtu.be
Click to expand...

dan2026 said:
This seems like an incredibly rude thing to do to a diplomat.

Also good on Michelle Obama. Oppression of women is disgusting.
Click to expand...

They didn't censor anything

http://antiviral.gawker.com/michell..._source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

This whole campaign seems like a people looking to confirm their stereotypes. Criticize Saudi Arabia for its real fault not fictional censorship.

Lucky Forward said:
Well, how about that!

Ted Cruz Gives Rare Praise To Michelle Obama
Click to expand...

Ted Cruz doesn't know what the hell he is talking about and continues to demonstrate that much of GOP opposition to sharia isn't based on any love of human right but racist stereotypes about islam and muslms
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
I don't get all the high five-ing in here.
Aren't most of our (western countries) obscenity laws prohibiting someone to walk around bare ass naked, rooted in religious beliefs?
 
N

NYCmetsfan

Banned
UrbanRats said:
I don't get all the high five-ing in here.
Aren't most of our (western countries) obscenity laws prohibiting someone to walk around bare ass naked, rooted in religious beliefs?
Click to expand...

Most western countries don't have rules requiring more than the covering of genitalia. Even toplessness is legal for both sexes in a lot of the US.

Indecent exposure isn't just clothing but intent and behavior and its not really religiously motivated but a cultural prohibition that as changed and generally isn't anywhere near this countries standards
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indecent_exposure#United_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indecent_exposure_in_the_United_States
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Saudi Royal Decree on Easing some rules on Women Guardianship
15
2K
TheRealTalker replied
No Watch Dogs 2 release at listed Gulf countries because "cultural sensitive content"
32
13K
hemo memo replied
PlayStation Saudi Arabia - "Ready For October"
2 3 4 5
233
32K
Despera replied
  • Locked
Women's role in islam: The story
2 3
120
7K
SoulPlaya replied
Top Bottom