The Poop Veils the Truth

Like all arrogant leaders of the past, the Poop has further soiled his reputation with a disingenuous apology for an insult and a blunder he has committed.

In the end, after a ridiculously detailed speech in which he not only quoted someone else but offered his own embelleshed assessment of a religion that just so happens to be as significant to over a billion people as his religion is to him, he offered nothing but the rote pseudo-apology that he was sorry for the consequences though not for the act: "I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address."

Turkish State Minister Mehmet Aydin summed up the real nature of the Poop's statement to, as the Poop himself has said "appease hearts": "You either have to say this 'I'm sorry' in a proper way or not say it at all - are you sorry for saying such a thing or because of its consequences?" Aydin asked. Clearly it is the latter.

It's getting pretty tedious how Muslims are being belittled and marginalized by Western sentiments of superiority -- Christianity and Judaism are hardly any different in their values than Islam. The reason why it's so easy for the West to target Islam is that so many of the countries where this religion is prominent are stuck in a time warp about basic issues such as gender equality and sexual freedom, amongst other major issues.

The veiling of women alone is a hugely problematic symbol of Islam's shortcomings in progressing with the times. However, it is only fair to note that Islam is about 700 years younger than its predecessor, Christianity -- a religion which, like Judaism, has its own extremely sexist elements even today while also having bypassed its own era of overt sexism in the general populace: let's not forget that it wasn't even until the 1960's that it was acceptable in the West for women to openly discuss such mundane details as brassieres!

Here are a few basic facts describing the persistent elements of sexism in Christianity and Judaism...Did you know?...

...that in the Catholic religion, nuns are completely veiled and required to remain virgins till the miserable day they die?

...in Judaism, Orthodox Jewish women also have the same concern about the frighteningly dangerous threat that women's hair poses to men and their own chastity (just as in Islam)? These women not only cover their hair but shave it off completely and wear a wig in public!

...in fact, in Judaism, the veiling of women was a common practice until the 19th century.

..in Christianity, in the New Testament St Paul says "If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man." (I Corinthians 11:3-10)

This list is endless and it demonstrates very clearly that the practices that Islam engages in today were common practice in its predecessor religions, Christianity and Judaism, for centuries. Islam is behind the times, there is no doubt about that, but its evolution has been a shorter time in the making and no doubt because of our new information age, Islam will be much quicker in progressing than Christianity and Judaism were. At least we hope so.