Saudi Students In US Seek Segregation By Gender On Facebook 353
Beetle B. writes "A 22,000-member group for Saudis studying in the US on the social networking website Facebook has been split into two groups, one for women and one for men. The split follows a request from the group's female members who wanted extra privacy. The separate page for Saudi women is a valid decision. We took it to fulfill the wishes of the Saudi women in the US. We have been contacted by a lot of women asking for their private group,' Majed Aleid, media chair of the 'Saudis in the US' group, told Arab News in a letter."
What is being free isn't the same everywhere (Score:3, Interesting)
Culture determines what many consider freedoms let alone quality of life. What we may see as repressive others may see as comforting and safe. I am quite sure there are many rules in the good old U.S. of A. that are repressive to others in the world if not those who live here.
Re:What is being free isn't the same everywhere (Score:5, Interesting)
Yup. How many people in the US would be comfortable on a nude beach? Or even a topless beach? The fact that our broadcast TV standards can produce a half-million-dollar fine for a nipple while allowing gratuitous carnage to be shown is considered very strange to a lot of the rest of the West - much of it enthusiastically supported by our fairly conservative religious culture.
Re:You can't free someone who doesn't want to be f (Score:4, Interesting)
The key difference is that Germany was already a democracy at the time. It would be more accurate to say that you can't bring democracy to people, they have to come to it themselves.
Liberation is one thing but as Iraq and Afghanistan have shown democracy doesn't work very well unless it comes from the people.
Re:You can't free someone who doesn't want to be f (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the point is that there's a difference between making sure someone has their own choices and forcing the choices you think they should make upon them.
In canada a few years back it was ruled that women could go topless (equality thing because it was legal for men to walk round topless.). Women gained the freedom to go topless if they wanted.
If on the other hand the court had ruled that women *had* to go topless whether they wanted to or not then would they be more free?
of course not.
Similarly there's a difference between making sure women have the choice not to wear a burka and *forcing* them not to wear it.
Particularly for older women it can be essentially forcing them to expose parts of their body they consider private.
Re:What is being free isn't the same everywhere (Score:4, Interesting)
The French government identified a problem a few years ago: Too much STD transmission was going on, because people weren't using condoms enough. To help address this problem, the government sponsored a series of 5 short pornographic films (10 minutes or so), that prominently featured condom usage. These were shown repeatedly late at night in 1998 on broadcast television.
Can you imagine the public backlash against the US Government trying that?
In most of the rest of the world you can wander around outside with a Beer in your hand. In many places in the US, that will get you arrested. Here in Cambridge, bars have to close at 2AM, and liquor stores have to close at 12. Heck, here in Cambridge you have to be *Licensed* to sing on the street for coins. In Mexico, if you want to throw a dance party you go ahead and throw a dance party. In the US, there are all sorts of rules and regulations around gatherings above 8 people with public music, etc. In Mexico, if you want to fill a truck with 20 people, you install some grab ropes on the back of your truck, and you fill it with 20 people. In the US, you'd get arrested on sight.
Heck Jay Walking is still a punishable offence in most of the US. Building and selling your own toys is illegal (you need an expensive Lead test). Adult toys are still by and large illegal. Go to the rest of the world, and you'll see that while we do have a good amount of freedom in this country, every other country has certain ways in which they are more free than us.
Re:You can't free someone who doesn't want to be f (Score:5, Interesting)
What?!
Hong Kong is not a democracy by any western standards. Half of the legislature is what we call the "functional constituency", which has a voter base of about 3% of the whole population. A few of those seats are exclusively selected by "corporate votes", no real people voting. For example, the legislator in the "finance" constituency only has to secure votes from a few dozen BANKS to get a seat. (You thought just lobbying by corporations was bad enough?)
The government directly reports to the Central Government of the People's Republic of China, and the head of government in Hong Kong is elected by a small group of about 800 people. Note, you're talking about a city of 7+ million people.
Not that the state of affairs was any better under British rule -- for a long time, the legislature was appointed until it switched to a system similar to that of today, and the Governor of Hong Kong was appointed by the British government.
In short, Hong Kong is not, and was never a democracy.
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As for Taiwan, I am less familiar with its political history. But I am not aware that there was significant "outside" help. The people in Taiwan wanted democracy, and the then president Lee Teng-Hui gave what they wanted, and now they are pretty proud to be the only place in "China" where democracy is practiced.