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Saudi Cleric Pummeled On Twitter For Claiming Driving Damages Women's Ovaries
An anonymous reader writes "CNN reports, "Sheikh Saleh Al-Loheidan's widely derided remarks have gone viral ... 'If a woman drives a car,' Al-Loheidan told Saudi news website sabq.org. 'it could have a negative physiological impact. It would automatically affect a woman's ovaries and that it pushes the pelvis upward.' ... 'We find that for women who continuously drive cars, their children are born with varying degrees of clinical problems.' The controversial comments were widely interpreted throughout Saudi Arabia as an attempt to discourage women in the country from joining a popular online movement urging them to stage a demonstration by driving cars on October 26. 'This is his answer to the campaign,' Saudi women's rights activist Aziza Yousef told CNN. 'He's making a fool of himself. He shouldn't touch this field at all.' Al-Loheidan's words have been ridiculed mercilessly via social media. An Arabic Twitter hashtag called '#WomensDrivingAffectsOvariesAndPelvises' was quickly created to make fun of Al-Loheidan — underscoring just how widely the call for Saudi women to defy the driving ban has resonated thus far. And while numerous conservative voices have supported Al-Loheidan, many Saudis believe this was an extremely clumsy way of trying to counter the popularity of the October 26 campaign.'"
And driving is bad as opposed to sitting when: reading? eating? watching TV? listening to the radio? any of the other myriad of activities done while seated? What an idiot.
..."In other news, a fatwah has been issued against tweeting."
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
Fear and Freedom don't mix well. Let's all be a little more brave and learn to tell all the batshit religious crazies to fuck off. I don't care if they do raise hell and blow stuff up - eventually there won't be enough left of them to matter.
Free your mind, and your ass will follow.
It is true! It is also true that women cannot get pregnant from "legitimate" rape.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
As crazy and wrong as this guy is, his claim isn't completely out of left field. One of my physics teachers in high school (who had worked as an engineer at Bell Helicopter) related the story that, apparently, some of the helicopters initially used in the Viet Nam conflict happened to vibrate at the resonant frequency of the human kidney, causing pilots to experience organ damage. They had to add material to the seats to cancel out the vibrations. Here's a page from the Canadian equivalent of the U.S.'s OSHA:
http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_agents/vibration/vibration_intro.html
Women are not allowed to ride on camels. Camels are too precious for that. In fact women are supposed to carry the camel when it gets tired.
When you actually look at the demographics, the Tea Party crew are actually more educated than the average American. They aren't lacking in logical abilities, but the impression that they do comes from televised news, which in its frenzy for ever-more-senationalist stories to generate ad revenue likes to focus on the fringe that staple tea bags to their foreheads and carry around signs reading "GIT LARNED SUM ANGLISH FUR YALL COME TO DIS COUNTRY" (hint: the more mainstream Tea Party members concern themselves with economic issues like taxation, not so much immigration).
This one Saudi cleric, however, is clearly on the fringe of even Saudi religious authority. So, you're right if you want to compare this guy to the kind of looney fringe of the Tea Party that you'll see on TV, but not if you want to compare him to the average Tea Party member.
This is news for nerds because of Twitter! Twitter is all technical and stuff, with the computers and the social media buzz.
Seriously, WTF? What's next? Baseball scores?
Dude, it's football season.
Be seeing you...
Isn't it about time that this guy and Todd Akin just get a room, already, and make out.
I am not a crackpot.
of course not, because the issue is not really about driving it's about independance.
These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
Hashtags are getting ridiculous.
"#WomensDrivingAffectsOvariesAndPelvises"
Were they worried about getting confused with the always popular "#WomensDrivingAffectsOvaries"?
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
A culture isn't "valid" or "invalid". That's meaningless. We CAN judge whether a culture has immoral beliefs and practices. This is a very clear case in which we can see immoral beliefs and practices, and the mental gymnastics the cultural leaders have to do to defend them.
You might be able to say that women who drive a car get damaged ovaries, but you missing the intermediate step where the woman is dragged from the car and beaten.
If Sarah Silverman had said it, we would be laughing at her joke because that's a stupid thing to say.
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I've had numerous bad driving experience with:
- Women in general
- Asians
- College students
- Old people
- Teenagers
- Men in general
- Animals
- Bicyclists
- Prius drivers
- Lexus drivers
- BMW drivers
- Chevy drivers
- And one helicopter on the Thruway
It ain't just one demographic that makes driving a bad experience in general.
If Sarah Silverman had said it, people would be calling her a genius.
funny how the moral relativists come out of the wood-work to scream about a sudden universal right and wrong once their pet issue is involved.
also, you are racist for criticizing their culture.
If Sarah Silverman had said it, she wouldn't be serious, much less trying to control lives with the statement. It's called "humor." Also, see "sarcasm." And "entertainment." You may as well consider the movie "Star Wars" to have been a documentary, if you equate her saying this with a Saudi cleric saying it.
Moral relativism is a total non-issue here; this is a Saudi cleric...a religious leader of a famously oppressive culture...with regard to whether or not there should be gender discrimination with regard to something incredibly useful and entirely non-gender-related. Whether women should be allowed to drive is not, in the eyes of pretty much the entire human population, a tough moral issue. I'm not sure whose "pet issue" this is, since out of a world of billions of billions of people there are so few places left where women are prohibited from driving cars. That'd have to be a pet with a LOT of owners...
And this is neither about race (but laws), nor is "Saudi" a racial group. Lern 2 definez, plz. :)
A culture isn't "valid" or "invalid". That's meaningless. We CAN judge whether a culture has immoral beliefs and practices. This is a very clear case in which we can see immoral beliefs and practices, and the mental gymnastics the cultural leaders have to do to defend them.
Actually no we can't. Morality is a product of culture, therefore one culture cannot objectively judge the morality of another.
Some cultures are more "successful" than others (as measured by quality of life, and propagation of their cultural identity). But that tells us nothing of "morality", or "validity".
I'm just encouraged that it may no longer be a capital offense to publicly disagree with an Imam/Mullah in Wahabbi territory.
You're looking for quotes? See my journal.
The Pope says stupid shit all the time and is lauded for it.
Actually I would have to say this current Pope is a little more forward thinking, he is choosing to ignore the issues rather than outright dismissing them based on 2000 year old dogma. Given another 2000 years a Pope might finally say something intelligent and original based on current science and facts.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
But Saudi Arabia being Saudi Arabia, they'd probably insist that the woman "driving" be escorted by a male relation lest any other male on the road be so overcome by passion to ram her vehicle and rape her by the roadside. Which would be her fault obviously.
This is the Kardashian model of what makes news worthy. Any idiot saying or doing anything shocking to most of us becomes a media sensation. Just because it was on Twitter doesn't make it relevant to this audience. I'm hoping this trend of dumping crap here skimmed off TMZ headlines doesn't continue.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Until not that long ago women were not supposed to run marathons either... because their uterus might fall out (among other stupid assertions).
So logically he wouldn't oppose women past child-bearing age from driving? Or has he spouted some other nuttiness to justify keeping them from driving?
Some moral judgments can be based on objective reality and rationality. There can be an objective morality. It is just that it is vastly more limited than what people normally consider morality.
Rape is objectively immoral.
Murder, but not necessarily killing, is objectively immoral.
etc
Can we all agree that old people in helicopters are the worst for driving too slow and over the line?
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
When you actually look at the demographics [nytimes.com], the Tea Party crew are actually more educated than the average American
Let's make sure we know what educated means in this context: more degrees than a similar population of average Americans would have. To some extent, this matches my experience: tea partiers - or those who espouse the libertarian aspect of the Tea Party - have more money than average, and have at least a Bachelor Degree, if not a Master. No PhDs among the ones I know though.
However, there's one area where they are spectacularly ignorant, to the point where I'm starting to think that there's some specific cognitive effect at work: they all think that they made it on their own in the world, think that Government should be run like a business and think that the purpose of Society is to make their life better. Keep in mind though that they the vast majority come from wealthy families, have businesses that fail, are full of cronies and family members, experience how shoddy and shady businesses can be, and live in one of the most stable environments in the world.
Even the mainstream Tea Partiers that I know - or at least those who profess no ideological attachment, but pretty much recite Tea Party and Republican political platforms verbatim - indulge in a massive misunderstanding of how society operates, what the role of government is or even what made their own success possible. Top that off with a complete lack of understanding what the debt ceiling is (a badly set up part of the budget process), and even the "moderate" Tea Partiers can come across as complete lunatics. For my friends who are part of this group, I treat them like the crazy uncle - they're always welcome, but certain topics are forbidden, unless everyone consents to "lively" debates until 4 AM.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
If you can be bothered to look at the demographics, why not also consider the fact that the correlation between education and intelligence is probably significantly less than that between education and social status (pre education).
Perhaps you could enumerate these statements so that they can be chiseled onto stone tablets?
Where is moderation: -1 False?
Ovaries are internal, and protected from shock.
Testacles are right there on the seat, taking all the shock.
So by that logic, ergo: Men shouldn't drive, it lowers sperm count and virility... let women do the driving.
I think that boy has been driving with his head(s) on the axle a bit too long.
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
Since like forever, the old men who are afraid of their womens getting loose have used the Korans, Bibles, Talmuds, etc to control their womens. Fear and Freedom don't mix well. Let's all be a little more brave and learn to tell all the batshit religious crazies to fuck off. I don't care if they do raise hell and blow stuff up - eventually there won't be enough left of them to matter.
I seem to recall various atheist countries that were afraid of their people getting loose used Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong Il, and others to control their people. One of the pioneers in suicide bombing were the Tamil Tigers, an essentially secular movement. Batshit crazy is crazy no matter the source. If Europeans don't get their birthrate up, eventually there won't be enough of them to matter. Guess who has the higher birth rate? Native European are on the self-chosen path to extinction, and they will take their values with them. The immigrants don't share them even though they share the land which may eventually be theirs.
No Babies?
In the 1990s, European demographers began noticing a downward trend in population across the Continent and behind it a sharply falling birthrate. Non-number-crunchers largely ignored the information until a 2002 study by Italian, German and Spanish social scientists focused the data and gave policy makers across the European Union something to ponder. The figure of 2.1 is widely considered to be the “replacement rate” — the average number of births per woman that will maintain a country’s current population level. At various times in modern history — during war or famine — birthrates have fallen below the replacement rate, to “low” or “very low” levels. But Hans-Peter Kohler, José Antonio Ortega and Francesco Billari — the authors of the 2002 report — saw something new in the data. For the first time on record, birthrates in southern and Eastern Europe had dropped below 1.3. For the demographers, this number had a special mathematical portent. At that rate, a country’s population would be cut in half in 45 years, creating a falling-off-a-cliff effect from which it would be nearly impossible to recover.
Fertility statistics
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
And in Brunei, Muslims objected to Yokohama tires with a tread pattern that looked like a Koran verse
First sentence says "Saudi Cleric" claims something is so. Why would anyone with any sense read any further? What are you guys, masochists? Do you intentionally look for things to irritate you? Surely you were aware than nothing beneficial or insightful can follow in anything beginning with "Saudi Cleric claims..."
Stop intentionally finding things to piss yourself off. You'll live a healthier, and probably longer, life.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
Like Marxism.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
More or less correct, or like the "invisible hand of the free market"
Honestly, read about everything that the government says marijuana is going to do to you - then consider that our current, last two, and first two Presidents (at the least) used the substance.
Our government is just as stupid, only in other areas.
Do you have ESP?
I seem to recall various atheist countries that were afraid of their people getting loose used Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong Il, and others to control their people.
I seem to recall Marxist Feminism being born as a way to control women, convince them that they were oppressed by men and thus enter the work force, doubling the workers. It did not bring equility, it merely burdened women. It did not bring the choice to the family of which parent would raise the child, but instead normalized the method of human reproduction by having children raised by the state. Radical Feminism was born by adding to Marxist Feminism the idea that oppression was Patriarchal in nature; New-wave / 3rd wave / "mainstream" Feminism adds to these the idea that males can also be harmed by Patriarchy, and extends their narrative to all issues of gender -- All without any unbiased, peer reviewed evidence. All are examples of Marxist us-vs them divisionism applied to gender. Hilariously, a new Feminist theory of Kyriachy says that it is the elite rulers in power which cause the oppression... It is plain-jane Marxism! ha ha... oh, it would be funny if it weren't so sad, that this ideology is in control of nearly every political debate. Few speak out against it because they are labeled as villainous women haters. Womens Rights does not need Feminism, or any other ideology for that matter.
G.P. says, "Fear and Freedom don't mix well." Well, if that's true then why is it that fear of rape, abuse, and oppression of women are prominently used by Feminists in world governments to control the dialog of "gender equality" with no push back from those who would seek freedom from fear? Painting all men as potential rapists is as egregious as painting all blacks as murderous thieves simply due to crime stats. Even more egregious in the case of Feminism since they ignore the troves of evidence that men are over 90% the victims of violent crimes, and that women are as aggressive or more aggressive than men., the Feminists in the CDC have even redefined rape to exclude male victims and female perpetrators, saying that only penetration can be rape so vaginas can't rape (tell that to the guy tied to the bed with a q-tip shoved is his penis) -- Since most rapists and abusers have been victims of such abuse themselves this means the feminists are actually creating more female victims in the next cycle of abuse... Yet, speak out against them in order to fight for equality of both men and women, and reduce abuse, and you find yourself skewered by the ideologists for challenging their world views.
The ideologies care not for freedom, but perpetuating fear to further their fanatical and financial support. Ideologies are primarily the same in that they preach fear of harm coming to our women, and have no evidence to back their claims. From Islamic fundamentalists to Feminists, this holds true. For instance: Feminists harp on about equal pay, but there is no "wage gap", it hasn't existed for a very long time. Never married men make the same money as never married women... (and this has been true since the 70's). As a sexually dimorphic race women and men simply make different life choices, and men don't give birth. Additionally, ideologists cry out for "equal representation", but equal isn't 50% men and women. It's X% women vs men in at the bottom == X% women vs men out at the top. If the jobs are available to all, but 40% of women vs men apply for the bottom rung jobs then women should percolate up to the top jobs at a rate of 40%, eh? Same for 30%, 20%, 10%, even 0%. Women should be allowed to make different life choices, and not shamed for not being a stressed out workaholic CEO, in the same way we don't shame them for not being Coal Miners or Janitors or Game Developers -- the latter is i
Over the centuries, science has continually reaffirmed that women's health is severely impacted by such stressful activities as reading, writing, voting, driving, owning property, having a job, leaving the kitchen, or thinking.
It never has been. Capital offenses under Sharia (which Wahhabi religiously follow) are:
- murder (though relatives of the victim can opt for a fine instead)
- apostasy
- adultery, for married people
- homosexuality
- insulting Muhammad (but not Allah, curiously)
- sorcery / witchcraft
- brigandage - in practice, this subsumes most kind of robberies, kidnapping, and hijacking of vehicles
- theft of property valued more than one dinar (4.374 g of gold), on the fourth conviction
Saudi laws add terrorism, treason, sedition and drug smuggling to this list, but that's about it.
The likely outcome of publicly and prominently contradicting a cleric would be some liberal application of lashes by the Mutaween.
They can't simply leave for elsewhere. They can't leave the country without the permission of their husband, or father (or the closest surviving male relative) for unmarried ones. Heck, they can't even leave the house without supervision.
Saudi Arabia is truly one of the most oppressive regimes in the world, in many ways worse even than North Korea (that would otherwise rank at the very bottom), and infinitely worse than your typical run-of-the-mill Middle Eastern dictatorship. Sadly, it's also the prominent US ally in the region, and gets inordinate amount of direct and indirect support. Disgusting.