Give Me Your Burka Or Your Life

Emotional people aren't rational -- at least until you personalize an issue. Then, suddenly yet briefly, there's a moment of clarity. Such was the case over a dinner of Indian food tonight.

A screamin' liberal feminist friend of mine goes on these rants. Typically, I try to ignore her during these times, because you simply can't discuss issues of any sort with anyone who begins every sentence with, "I feel ..."

But tonight, when she commented that "violence never solves anything," I decided to play ball. I decided not to take my typical approach of saying, "Yeah, you know, that whole slavery thing went away by itself. And everyone knows Hitler was finished rolling over Europe and killing Jews, gays and gypsies. And, of course, the Japanese were merely vacationing on the Asian continent. And, well, I'm pretty sure the British would have granted the American colonists independence one of these days."

No, I've found that emotional people have a very narrow sense of history, unless they can recall some worldly injustice that has little to do with any current event. You can't bring in the past, because, to them, everything that has ever happened to them has never happened to anyone before. You can call it arrogance, or you can call it cluelessness.

Instead, the best way is to first appeal to the emotional side, then drop in a blunt dose of reality. The topic, remember again, is: Does violence solve anything?

Me: So, should women in the Middle East be forced to wear burkas.

Raging Feminist Liberal: You know me well enough to know my answer.

Me: Just answer the question.

RFL: I don't think women should be forced to do anything they do not want to do.

Me: I'll take that as a no, although it wasn't really a no. OK, then, let's move on to part two. We have a woman in a burka, forced (either through overt or historic threat) to wear it by her husband or father. Now, what if I put a gun to husband's or father's head and told him: "Either you allow her to take the burka off or I will kill you. And if you ever force her to wear it again, I will come back and kill you." And if he no longer forces her to submit to his wishes (and not hers), has violence or the threat of violence solved anything?"

* Silence *

Me: And I'll take that as a yes.

Riddle me this, everyone: Is it morally justified to threaten and/or kill someone who would deny another person's freedom? (And I don't mean freedom, as in, some guy cut me off on the interstate. I mean "freedom" and in the basics of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)