28 January 2016
People who live in glass theocracies ....
A quick comment is in order about the scandal in Italy over the Prime Minister's decision to hide various nude statues behind screens to spare the quaint puritanical sensibilities of the President of Iran during his visit to Rome. It was a silly gesture on its own terms but diplomacy often looks silly to those not engaged in it. Islamic contempt for nude sculpture is itself contemptible -- though presumably a Shiite like President Rouhani is less iconophobic than his Sunni counterparts around the Muslim world -- but those who question the Italian government's decision should also question why female dignitaries, or the wives of dignitaries, are obliged to follow a dress code when meeting with the Pope. If modesty is contemptible it becomes no less so when Roman Catholics rather than Muslims insist upon it. If self-expression is to be upheld against all opposition let's not be selective in our criticism. The point of opposing Islamism in all its forms isn't simply not to bow to it, but to bow to no such thing.
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They were really saving an embarrassing situation for all involved. Islam demands that woman keep themselves covered from head to foot so that their beauty won't tempt men into raping them and causing them to then have to be stoned to death. By making sure the nude sculptures were covered, they were ensuring that the president of Iran wouldn't see them, lose control and immediately tear his clothes off in an attempt to rape the statues. You know, since muslim men seem to have difficulty with self-control and all...
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