While I generally despise the “college liberal meme” series for how it attempts to
While I generally despise the “college liberal meme” series for how it attempts to discredit young progressives in a slimy way, I couldn’t help thinking about the memes reading Lila Abu-Lughod’s “Do Muslim Women Need Saving?” Both college liberal members and Abu-Lughod try to pinpoint the inconsistencies in the mainstream, Western liberal viewpoint. And yet, unlikes college liberal memes. Abu-Lughod points out significant contradictions in a thoughtful, intelligent way. To name but one contradiction that Abu-Lughod clarifies in “Do Muslim Women Need Saving?”:“We need to be aware of differences, respectful of others paths toward social change that might give women better lives, and recognize that such options are set by different historical experiences. Can be there a liberation that is Islamic?…Are emancipation, equality, and rights part of a universal language or just a particular dialect” (Abu-Lughod 45).In this passage, Abu-Lughod demonstrates how while Western liberals claim to be trying to defend the interests of “Muslim women,” they do so in a way that ignores what actual Muslim women might want. Instead, Abu-Lughod argues, Western liberals should seek solidarity (rather than rescue).http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/college-liberal-JAG -- source link