more tacitus bashing
okay i'm getting into overdrive here but tacitus' is one of the better, saner right centric blogs out there and he talks real sensible most of the time, most, not all the time and it is generally difficult to make a point on the comments section there often because there are already good debates in progress and my small voice gets lost in the noise.
the magdalene sisters, an indie movie about strict catholic disciplinarians, sexual repression and appalling hypocrisy in what a wsj review calls "Magdalene Asylums-comination reformatories and commercial laundries, run by the Catholic Church, where inmates are forced to work under appalling conditions" is hitting the theatres in a limited release this week.
on 16 july, tacitus posted this,

Take, for example, the fate of little 9-year old Sanariya at the hands of her own family, and ask yourself how it makes you feel about the culture that produced such fine kin. For my part, my powers of tolerance just went down.

a review of the magdalene sisters on sfgate says, among other things,

That's the story underneath the story in "The Magdalene Sisters." Through the film, we encounter a culture, circa 1965, that reviles women and is intent on controlling their power by controlling their sexuality. It's a study in dysfunction: The lewd and sexually violent young men, the brutal, unforgiving fathers and the middle-aged women, mothers and nuns, who act as the system's henchwomen, are all children of the same lie -- that women and their bodies are inherently evil.

and from a review in the wall street journal,

It should be noted that Catholic groups have denounced "The Magdalene Sisters" on the grounds that similar conditions prevailed during the same era at Protestant-run institutions as well"

The point of this article, of course, is not to decry the irish or any other cultural/ethnic/religious group, rather it is to remind tacitus and those who agreed with his synthesis that you cannot judge a people or their culture by the most egregious actions of their worst representatives, you marvel at their greatest accomplishments and empathize with their shortcomings for you undoubtedly have your share, you enrich them and yourself with a healthy interaction and you leave the judging to those who will only sit in front of their tv sets and make decisions based on jingoistic news bulletins.
posted by ubaid - Saturday, August 02, 2003 at 1:28 AM - 0 comments - post anonymously