One of the consequences of a wholesale handover of Afghanistan to the Taliban has been the recent banning of women from gyms, fun fairs, and fun parks. “No fun for you,” one can hear in imitation of the oft-repeated line of Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi.” But the restrictions on entertainment are just a scratch on the surface of women’s degradation in Afghanistan. If you are a teenage girl there, you can forget about attending middle school and high school. It seems that the Taliban prefer to deny advanced education to more than half the brains in their country. But as foolish and harsh as Westerners might think these restrictions are, their own rearview mirrors reveal the same kinds of restrictions imposed on women prior to the twentieth century. The imposition of restrictions on half the human population equates to more than 50 billion brains in the 200,000-300,000 years of Homo sapiens sapiens. And the irony of the restrictions is that the men who impose restrictions on them will never know what they will never know. What might have been engineered or discovered by a female brain never given the chance to explore will forever mark our collective ignorance.
This recent “setback” along the path of freedom is the result of one man’s unnecessary decision and the process by which that decision unfolded: The catastrophic withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan without safeguards for the abandoned population of females. I won’t mention any names here. But I will point out the hypocrisy of western politicians claiming to be champions of women’s rights while turning millions of women away from entertainment centers and schools.
We’ll never know what current and future Afghani women might invent or discover. That door has been shut; its opening is now sealed. All those brains will lie idle in daily chores and obeisance. All those brains have been denied their potential creativity. And all those brains have been restricted because of an unnecessary and ill-thought decision.
One man; millions of women. “No fun for you, and no education, too.” **
*Chris Matthews for MailOnline and AFP. 11 Nov 2022. Taliban bans women from funfairs, parks and gyms in latest crackdown on female freedoms. Online at dailymail.co.uk
**Afghanistan has 41 million people and a current birthrate of 4.56 births per woman. With military restrictions imposed on emigration, the country’s population will likely rise. There’s little chance of escape from the Taliban’s restrictions.
This recent “setback” along the path of freedom is the result of one man’s unnecessary decision and the process by which that decision unfolded: The catastrophic withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan without safeguards for the abandoned population of females. I won’t mention any names here. But I will point out the hypocrisy of western politicians claiming to be champions of women’s rights while turning millions of women away from entertainment centers and schools.
We’ll never know what current and future Afghani women might invent or discover. That door has been shut; its opening is now sealed. All those brains will lie idle in daily chores and obeisance. All those brains have been denied their potential creativity. And all those brains have been restricted because of an unnecessary and ill-thought decision.
One man; millions of women. “No fun for you, and no education, too.” **
*Chris Matthews for MailOnline and AFP. 11 Nov 2022. Taliban bans women from funfairs, parks and gyms in latest crackdown on female freedoms. Online at dailymail.co.uk
**Afghanistan has 41 million people and a current birthrate of 4.56 births per woman. With military restrictions imposed on emigration, the country’s population will likely rise. There’s little chance of escape from the Taliban’s restrictions.
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