In the affluent west itself, modernity is now about dismantling welfare systems, increasing inequality (disproportionately disenfranchising women in the process), and subsidising corporate profits. Other ideas once associated with modernity – social justice, economic fairness, peace, all of which would enfranchise Afghan women – have been relegated to the past in the name of progress. This bankrupt version of modernity has little to offer Afghans other than bikini waxes and Oprah-imitators. A radical people's modernity is called for – and not only for the embattled denizens of Afghanistan.Yeah, well - maybe Gopal is too young to recall that the Soviets tried, really very hard, to install "a radical people's modernity" in Afghanistan. Didn't go too well for them - and Afghans of Gopal's persuasion were hunted down like rats after the Sovs pulled out.
3 August 2010
Cutting off her nose to spite her face
In a Guardian post Priyamvada Gopal, who must be assumed (from her inability to develop a coherent argument) to have been a two-for-one affirmative action hire at the Cambridge English faculty, somehow manages to turn Time magazine's cover of the mutilated Afghan woman into an attack on the decadent west:
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Another 'subaltern' critic speaks up - with the same elaboration of inanities in paragraph form.
ReplyDeleteA little Hindu Tariq Ali clone raises her shout for 'social justice' and 'economic fairness'. Well, Peace and Love, sister. What a waste of a good Cambridge teaching job. I guess if she wants a 'people's'government, she could always move to Venezuela.
I've just come back up for air after reading a few of Ms.Gopal's canned feminist rants. I read through all the comments on the article cited above - and there were quite a few. I was heartened and a little surprised to note that the majority of them seemed to find her confused and not very logical.
ReplyDeleteThe descriptive terms applied to her writing which stick out to me were "professional moaner,' "using post-colonial theory and academic language," and the most dismissive of all of them got the most 'Recommends' - 493 at last count. Good on the Guardian readers for knowing how to turn up their noses at a sorry hash of warmed-over PC.
An awful lot of them were right-on with her, though. Tu quoque, as always, to the fore. How could she be logical? Don't you know that logic is a male hegemonic device?
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