Do you have things that infuriate you, but no one else seems to care?
Everyone has at least one friend who is forever outraged that Star Wars didn't win for Best Picture. Everyone has a friend who's convinced that U2 is the worst band of all time and rants about it if anyone says otherwise. Our pet peeve isn't as momentous as those two. We are pissed off about Shaira; the savage form of Islamic justice that was just declared law in Somalia. And in a big chunk of Pakistan. That's in addition to existing systems in Afghanistan, Libya and Sudan, parts of Nigeria and, sort of, Great Britain. In fact, the only place in the Muslim world where Sharia doesn't seem to be on the rise is Iraq.
Is it some twisted form of multiculturalism that keeps Americans from being more outraged this? Are we just too busy with our domestic problems and taking a little break from what goes on in the rest of the world? Let's take a look, shall we at the Top Five Reason Why Sharia Sucks.
Sisters aren't doing it for themselves.
The way some Islamic societies treat women is simply appalling. Forget voting, how about not being allowed to drive a car? Forget driving, how about not being allowed to choose who you marry? Or legally wear pants? And there is also that whole "honor killing" thing, where wives and daughters are killed by their own family members for the crime of not being a virgin.
By the way, the oppression of women has terrible economic consequences. Think about it. You make laws that say half your population can't get an education, can't even work outside the home, and you pretty much ensure that your economy will be half of what it is in Western nations.
Otis, the Town Drunk, would be publicly whipped.
What kind of people still use the lash? People who do not like alcohol. In 2003, a Sharia court in Nigeria ordered a man be caned 80 times for being intoxicated. And, sadly, "getting caned" doesn't have anything to do with doing coke. It means getting whipped, and not in a "Halle Berry as Catwoman /sexy dominatrix" way, either.
This is a far cry, of course, from how we treat alcoholics in the United States. Our society prefers the infinitely more humane, and much more entertaining method of putting drunks on Reality TV shows so they can mud-wrestle for the chance to have sex with a celebrity.
"Milk" would not have won the Oscar.
Under Sharia, being gay is punishable by death. Death! Yet, you don't hear the gay community, so outraged about Prop 8, get mad about gay rights in the Muslim world. That would require a "strange bedfellows" alliance with neo-cons and Christian conservatives. Still, it would be nice to see the gay and lesbian communities advocate not just for their own right to marry, but for the right of gay people in Muslim lands to, like, not be thrown in jail or killed.
They cut off thieves' hands.
In what has to be the least subtle symbolism ever, Sharia courts sentence thieves to have their hands cut off. In 2002, Amnesty International said they knew of at least 39 amputations for theft in Saudi Arabia alone. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase one armed-bandit.
Please, no wagering.
In 2005, in the Indonesian province of Aceh, fifteen men were publicly caned in front of a mosque for gambling. And you thought the NBA was rough on Tim Donaghy. Seriously, can you imagine anyone trying to impose Sharia on the US; where not betting in your office's March Madness pool is considered a little bit rude.
Getting stoned for adultery.
True, this might sound like a lot of fun, especially if you like good weed and are unhappy in your marriage. But this is a differnt kind of stoning and it's much, much less fun. Did you ever read Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"?
