I am disgusting

In a Skypeland room about female Islamic dress, two or three Muslim men held forth telling everyone else to "fuck off and mind your own business, it is up to us to decide about what our women will wear. Do not stick your nose in our business. We can do to our women what we want." The man making these statements was met with jeers, and tried to state that "I am discussing..." but instead said over and over "I am disgusting..." I heartily agreed with his mistaken statement, however unintentional.

I pointed out that if the Muslim world wanted to be left alone, they should not "stick their noses" in the business of the rest of the world, as in the riots over the Danish Cartoons, or the fatwah against Salman Rushdie, or threatening to kill all Jews or Christians or Westerners or Americans, or engaging in terrorist actions against the west. Once that line has been crossed, Muslims have no right to complain about others "sticking their noses" in the business of the Muslims. (The North Koreans and the Burmese are pretty much cut off from the rest of the world. Also, Democratic Kampuchea and the People's Republic of China between 1948 and 1980 or so were pretty much cut off from the rest of the world. In all of these situations, these countries were essentially free from examination by the rest of the world. Once a country or group starts to interact with the rest of the world, then it is a bit difficult to keep its behavior from being examined and potentially criticized.)

This entire situation is severely compounded by the complaints of Muslim women about their treatment in various Islamic societies and cultures; honor killings, lack of suffrage, lack of educational opportunities, beatings for smiling or laughing in public (under the Taliban) , unequal child custody and divorce laws, female circumcision, etc. However, given that the world is getting smaller and smaller, and Muslims are demanding that the rest of the world pay attention to them, it is as I said in response, a "two way street". That is, the Islamic world cannot demand that everyone else show them respect, or honor their demands, or pay attention to their threats, without expecting that their culture and customs will be examined by others. If they want to "stick their noses" in the business of the west (free speech, freedom of religion, democracy, death threats made and executed, etc), then there will be blowback. And that is how it is in a world that is ever smaller, with greater spread of computing and communications and transportation technology.