Funny, now that Obama can’t seem to get out of Afghanistan the media start making the case for staying. Where was this cover four years ago? Three years ago? Two years ago? What’s changed? Have things changed in Afghanistan? No. Have things changed at Time Magazine? No. Is there a different President? Yes. Ah.
Barbara at Mommy Life had a great take on this:
As I look at this picture I am wondering why in the world we are still pretending that all cultures are equal. Why does our government try to squash any sense of pride or gratitude for our country and make us ashamed and apologetic? Why are we not teaching the next generation to believe that the United States is an exceptional country? Not a perfect country, but an exceptional one based on ideals that brought us out of slavery, gave women the vote and worked overtime to give disabled citizens meaningful lives?
Continue reading Barbara’s take at Mommy Life>>>
And Jill Stanek asks a very pointed question:
Do you agree or disagree that Time should have shown so publicly displayed that distressing photo on its cover? Does Time’s rationale for publishing its photo hold for pro-life use of graphic photos of aborted babies?
August 1, 2010 at 2:35 pm
I feel very sorry for the woman on the cover and will keep her in my prayers. I wish I knew who she is.
August 1, 2010 at 3:14 pm
EXCELLENT POINTS MADE …
August 1, 2010 at 3:27 pm
To answer Jill Stanek, yes. Publish.
As to the point about equality of cultures, mutilation is of course abominable, but what about partial birth abortion? Can we feel so superior?
August 1, 2010 at 3:32 pm
P.S. Granted that such horrors occur, can we be sure that this picture has not been "photoshopped"?
For this poor woman's sake I hope so.
August 1, 2010 at 4:44 pm
The Cherokee used to do this when a woman was caught in adultery. Whether we stay in Afghanistan or not this will go on.
August 1, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Left-Footer: Partial birth abortion represents an abandonment, by Western society, of the very Christian values that made it "Western society" in the first place. In other words, by allowing abortion, we are being untrue to ourselves (among other things).
The culture that created the horror in that picture is merely being true to itself, repugnant though that is.
So, yes, I'm going to go ahead and feel superior, while I work as hard as I can to bring my culture back to its Christian roots, and in the meantime, I'm going to oppose the inroads that THAT culture has been making on my country.
August 1, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Paul: Touche! I agree wholeheartedly with your last paragraph.
August 2, 2010 at 6:41 am
Talk about a straw-man. I don't remember ANYONE arguing we should leave Afghanistan. Iraq was the rallying cry, not Afghanistan. The US ALWAYS had a right to invade Afghanistan since they allowed and supported a hostile terrorist regime to carry out attacks on US soil from within their borders. I guess certain people really need to get a globe and realize these are two separate countries.
As for whether or not "western culture" can feel superior, the answer is absolutely no. Western culture is guilty of genocide (actually, several) and a host of evils carried out last century alone. But here's the clincher; Western culture is NOT equivalent to Christian culture. The latter was at one point the foundation of the other, but not the sole influencer. Whenever we in the West stray too far from Christian culture, evil will follow. This goes for ANY geographic culture. Christianity must ALWAYS be the baseline.
August 2, 2010 at 6:40 pm
I understand Michael Jackson did that to himself. But who knows what he did to Prince Michael 1, Prince Michael 2 (aka Banket), Paris, and the other children who played at his ranch while Michael paid their parents to go away. In our culture, if you think he needs counselling, you get kicked out of grad school. I wonder how long before a doctor who refuses to perform an abortion gets kicked out of medical school.
August 3, 2010 at 12:40 am
If you follow the links you will find that no, this is not a Photoshop; this really happened. The woman is being brought to this country for plastic surgery though. I was really relieved to hear that they didn't just take her picture and leave her like that.
This sort of thing will happen to a lot more women if we leave and let the Taliban take over. Has anyone read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by the same guy who wrote "The Kite Runner"? It follows the lives of several women in Afghanastan.
Our presence definitely keeps something of a lid on this stuff. If we weren't there this woman would have spent the rest of her life looking like this.
Susan Peterson
August 3, 2010 at 3:40 am
Susan – once again, I'm just curious as to who is saying we SHOULDN'T be there. Isn't that the premise of this post?
August 3, 2010 at 4:25 pm
ER,
Perhaps this fellow, among many others? Try a simple Google search with the keywords "get out of Afghanistan", and your eyeballs will get their fill, I think.
August 4, 2010 at 5:56 am
Paladin – You can google "paladin is an idiot" and you will get results. I was really hoping for something a bit more substantive. A google search is hardly a lithmus test for popular or credible opinion. If it is for you, then you should probably raise your accademic standards a tad.
Back to intelligent conversation, I really have not heard an uproar pre or post-Obama regarding Afghanistan from the right OR left, and more specifically from "the media". I understand Michael Moore is fat, but he is simply large enough to encompass "the media". So, we'll have to do better here.
August 4, 2010 at 6:03 am
Oh, and FYI, Time magazine published a cover with the SAME title back in 2007 (you remember? the Bush years?) Only this one was called "Iraq: what happens when we leave.". Granted, all noses on the cover were intact, but the sentiment of BOTH articles is firmly pro and con.
As a Catholic, I am absolutely NOT unfamiliar with media bias. I just wish certain people would take a refresher on the old story "the boy who cried wolf". Makes the rest of us look less insane when we actually find cases of it.