The guy who decided he was so weak in the loins that the sight of a woman's face drove him to distraction. And all the guys who went along with that notion, however many hundreds or thousands of years ago this crap started, thus enshrining it in the cloak of "tradition" and giving it the cover to survive as legitimate practice all over the frakking modern world.

I'm an atheist, and a humanist. I think human beings are all equally worthy of compassion, education, opportunity, health and life, and freedom. I immediatly dismiss as hoohaa the notion that in order to be more "pious" in the eyes of their god, women must cover themselves in public in ways men are not expected to do. My feminism is a big part of why I gave up on religion altogether- I couldn't find a single one that didn't posit, in at least some ways, that I have less value because of the thingy between my legs. The other reason is because I could never get any of the adherents of the "God the Father" religions to tell me just how big His Holy Willy is, but I digress...

Now, I'm not going to judge women who choose to take the veil- I said I believe in freedom for all, and that includes the right to sweat like a dog in the burning desert sun covered in head-to-toe black because it makes you feel special. I can even respect the way in which such a public choice is an empowering political statement. I suspect the women in this story are among those who recoil at the penchant for torture, corruption and hypocrisy shown by their government and the crony upper classes who remain in power on the backs of hard working poor Muslims. Everything I have read about the government of Egypt pissed me off, and as political statments go, it's actually pretty cool when elite upper class youth take solidarity with their less fortunate brethren in such a peaceful and public way.

But this sort of story, versions I've read coming from "more modern" Muslim and Arab nations all over the globe, worry me. Because when the young elite decide that they don't want the luxuries of their class and align with "Islamicist" movements, the delicate balance of power in the Middle East and Islamic world is in big trouble. Don't get me wrong- nothing would make me happier than to see the poor and oppressed of nations from Egypt to Iran rise up and overthrow their decadent, hypocritical leaders and install competent government that properly distributed the national wealth to all.

But I worry greatly about what the West's reaction to such movements will be. Already, the Saudi Royalty is colluding with the Oilman's Oligarchy known as the Bush Administration to shape policy in Iraq. We all know how well that's going. The saber rattling over Iran is another example- it's helps nothing and only makes the crazy element of the fundamentalist movement over there more powerful. When one looks at the demographics of age for Middle Eastern nations, one can see that in most cases, it's only a matter of time before there is a clash between those who work with West, those who benefit from demonizing it, and those who face bleak futures in which violence seems like the only alternative. Fundamentalist revolutions are never pretty.

It's going to take a lot of work to undo the damage of the Bush administration, and one job is going to be reconvincing Americans that what we do best is export the dream of freedom, instead of the twin evils of fear and warfare. Once upon a time, most of the rest of the world wanted to emulate our freedom to rock, roll, have a Coke and shake our Levis. I will always believe that in the end, that's what brought down the Soviet Union, not fear of our superior military. There are many reasons why the world sees us differently now, and doesn't buy into that dream as much. But it should disturb everyone to find out just how many people around the globe are coming to understand all things American as "evil," even when those evils are things like comfortable clothes and pop music.