Friday, April 17, 2009

File Under: You've Got to Be F'ng Kidding

Daddy made you do it. Made you dress up in an abeya and go into a girl's school to collect the pay of your three sisters who are workers there. Calling B.S. on the story. The boy said he "didn't want to do it, but his father demanded that he try to collect the money." Someone tell me what is wrong with men in this country?!! They are either marrying their little eight-year-old daughters off for money... or not letting their daughter's get married because they depend on the income the daughter brings in [and making their brother do the dirty work to collect the cash]. Here's a novel idea: Get a job and become self-supportive. [Yeah, I know. That would require actually working in a lot of cases, but perhaps you could become a travel agent at the Qatar office in Khobar. Those men, but for Agent M and Agent X, don't seem to be required to do anything more than play on their mobiles and do the sudoku in the paper.]

A small part of me wants to feel sorry for this woman. It is a very, very small part of me. The other part of me - the much, much larger one - has no sympathy whatsoever for her. Perhaps I've just become to 'desensitized' over the past decade. Haven't we all? A Saudi woman who goes by Umm Faisal [that means mother of Faisal - nothing more - not her real name] "has accused her sons of beating her and throwing her out of her house after calling her crazy." The "crazy" part I am inclined to believe... Her "sad story started when she married one of her relatives..." Lady, that's how all "sad" stories start. Put your big girl panties on.

Apparently "her husband's family did not get along with her and [she] alleges that her brother-in-law used to beat her." That's where I lost even the smallest iota of sympathy in this "sad" big fish tale saga. Her BROTHER-IN-LAW used to beat her. What?!? Is this normal? Do brother-in-law's here, in The Sandbox, routinely beat women who are NOT their wives? Have you lost your freaking mind??? What kind of woman allows her brother-in-law to beat her? I have several brother-in-laws. First of all, it would never happen - none of them would even contemplate raising a hand at me; and second of all, if they ever did contemplate it and then actually struck me - they better cold-clock me on that first hit. After that, game is on. Grab a candle stick, a lamp, a damn kitchen knife, but don't let it happen and don't tell me you don't have the power to make it stop. [Well. Okay. Maybe here, you don't. And again, you've brought it upon yourselves - this man / woman / do as you're told / must obey or get beat crap - you own it. No sympathy. None.]

Then UF [for Umm Faisal or U F^ctard - you choose] says "her husband decided to move to the Eastern Province where he found a job." Couldn't find a job anywhere else? Did he work in Khobar, at a travel agency, perhaps? Never mind. They lived there for a long time and she had FOURTEEN kids! FOURTEEN!!! One day - out of the blue and totally unexpectedly - her "husband got sick and, because of this, was fired." Yeah right. You can't be fired if you are not an ex-pat, in this country. Everybody knows that. The "financial situation became so bad that [she] was forced to ask three of [her] sons who had jobs" for financial help. Why didn't you ask the other four? Or one of your seven daughters? Marry them off - you can raise a boat load of money that way. Sell 'em to the highest bidder. Financial situation solved. You're welcome. I can't go on. It is just too sad [/sarc off]. Read it for yourself and tell me that this isn't one of the biggest loads of NYT-style crap you've read in a long time - don't forget to read the comments - apparently only two of the ten feel the same way about it as I do. Oh, and when you're done reading it, blame it all on President Bush. Surely this is all his fault. Everything else wrong in the world seems to be.

A little two-year-old girl has been beaten to death. Her parents were just trying to get the jinn out of her. I'm not up on the whole jinn thing and will admit to knowing very, very little about it. I was under the impression that it wasn't really something that many still believed in, here, though. Guess I was wrong.

5 comments:

  1. In re the djinn story, while I have absolutely no experience or knowledge I suspect you are correct in thinking such beliefs are no longer held by the majority.

    But some do. I was immediately reminded of something that happened about two years ago here in New England: a seven-year-old was starved to death by his family because one of the in-laws had a vision...

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  2. Calling B.S. on the Excorsim story. If they suspected supernatural ills they would have contacted a cleric first. This sounds like they thought of the Djinn angle after the ungrateful whelp stopped breathing. Since they have a spare bed now maybe they can take in Faisal's mum.

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  3. What's this I hear, Sabra, about poor UF?

    Isn't it the RoP that always try and tell us infidels that muslims have the HIGHEST respect for women? What a F*ckin' joke.

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  4. LMAO about the parking meters. That falls under the "This I GOTTA see" catagory. Fortunately, I live in Tabuk so we won't see parking meters for several years yet. At least I hope not. What are we suppose to feed them with? Halas? What a joke.
    As for "poor" Umm Faisal, women won't get any rights until they take them. Let one of kids, (don't have any BIL), try that sh*t with me... sorry, no dice. Not happening. You get what you tolerate.
    And the little girl? Just one more disposable female child.

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  5. Found your blog by accident.

    I also like in Khobar. I support part of the Saudi military (yes, they need LOTS of support).

    Two year old: belief in the jinns is more common than you think.

    Umm Faisal: Yes, indeed. Islam is the RoPaTaRfW (Religion of Peace and Tolerance and Respect for Women). Arab news in an article a couple of years ago announced that half of all Saudi marriages were between "close relatives" (read "first cousins"). And in some tribal areas, half the people are carriers of some genetic linked disease or another - thallasemia is very common. With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy: "If you go to a family reunion to meet women, you might be a redneck. Or a Saudi.

    Parking and driving: One place they can try parking meters is in front of the Taba Center. In the evenings, the three lanes in front of it will be blocked by people triple parking. I tell my friends and family back home that I do not worry about terrorism that much. The most dangerous thing I do every day is drive to and from work.

    jay stevens

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