Thursday 27 August 2009

[Bonus/final round] Victimhood Poker: The World Series

In case of a tie-break (see earlier post), the bonus/final round will be based on a very finely balanced snippet, such as this.

The president of Mali has announced that he is not going to sign the country's new family law, instead returning it to parliament for review. Muslim groups have been protesting against the law, which gives greater rights to women, ever since parliament adopted it at the start of the month. President Amadou Toumani Toure said he was sending the law back for the sake of national unity.

Muslim leaders have called the law the work of the devil and against Islam. More than 90% of Mali's population is Muslim. Some of the provisions that have proved controversial give more rights to women. For example, under the new law women are no longer required to obey their husbands, instead husbands and wives owe each other loyalty and protection.


One side holds the cards for 'African traditional culture', 'Islam' and 'group rights'; the other holds the cards for 'Feminism/women's rights', 'Modernity/Rule of Law', 'International Human Rights' and 'Oppressed Minority'. I reckon even Joseph Harker would struggle here.

3 comments:

James Higham said...

I've seen enough examples of Muslim logic over my way in the past few days to last a lifetime.

Rob said...

I love the BBC's blithe description of giving rights to women as 'controversial'. Would they merely label opponents of such rights in Britain as merely 'controversial', or would they give them both barrels?

You know the answer, of course. I guess that for the BBC the rights of black women aren't quite as important as those of white women in England.

Mark Wadsworth said...

JH, keep up the good work at yours. I read your posts but by the time I've finished, I'm usually too disheartened to respond.

Rob, you're missing a step there, I'm afraid. You have to follow The Rules on a step-by-step basis.
Simply comparing 'black women' with 'white women' would give you completely the wrong answer, as superficially, the former would trump the latter.

Remember that white men in western countries rank bottom, so obviously white women rank above them. Conversely, the rights of Africans and Muslims trump women's rights. That's how you get to the right(eous) answer.