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Ed Ziomek
Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 476
Location: Stamford, Connecticut
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 Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:53 am Post subject: Gender Balance and Cultural Advancements |
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As I have related in many of my previous posts, I found a tourist map, a historical reproduction map of the Valley of Mexico, reproduced in 1973 apparently from an original map by the Conquistadors… what I now call the Davalos/Aparicio map.
The map was a recreation of pre-Conquistador “Aztec names and locations”, and I believe it contains a concentration of Egyptian and Greek and Judaic and Babylonian naming-conventions and iconic symbolism. (my opinion)
Example: Te-Noch, Tit-Lan ...God of Night, Underworld (Egyptian, Greek)
One of the most striking features of this map, in an extremely prominent location, is what I now call the “Divine Male” and “Divine Female” iconic symbolism.
Tepeyacac ...Holy Mountain, Phallus of the God (Babylonian, Egyptian)
Atlatcoalco ...Chalice of the Goddess of Creation (Vulva of creation) Egyptian
(now known as "Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadeloupe")
Gender Balance and Harmony…
My point is… that the ancient iconic symbolism to me indicates the balance of genders, of the male and the female in this ancient culture. I am suggesting that when cultures had a harmonious balance of male and female reverence, and prominence, cultures thrived.
The symptoms of a harmonious society and their "advancements" were artistic designs, language, music, arts, architecture, metallurgy and science.
Cultural Examples: Egypt, Greek, Babylonian, Judaic, Roman.
I guess the opposite is also true: ...Did “Lack of Gender respect” cause cultures to decline?
Loss of Gender Balance, Return to caveman status...? One of the most bizarre occurrences of the epochs of our histories, is that cultures would show advancements in all the mentioned aspects, and rise up to zeniths of knowledge and capabilities, only to go through millennia of LOSS OF CULTURE and knowledge and capability, almost back to cave-man status and mentality.
Natural Causes, Human Causes: Cataclysms and natural world extinctions could be one valid reason why this happened. Another valid possibility is that cultures “de-volved”, becoming dysfunctional, non-harmonious due to man-made interference, resulting in wars and disruptions.
I guess I am asking the question, more than making the statement…
“Did cultures thrive when Genders were respected equally”?
“Did cultures become dysfunctional when Genders were disrespected, and treated as un-equals?”
America is not perfect, far from it. We don't have perfect gender equality, we don't have perfect freedom or democracy, and we certainly have our problems. In other cultures and theocracies, though, the divisions and imbalance between the genders are EXTREME, and I have to believe, these societies give the appearance of "most unstable", in my opinion.
Consequences: If cultures still advocate gender imbalance, America cannot help them, no matter how much money or time or human lives we invest.
Your thoughts?
PS... I can send a free copy of the Davalos/Aparicio map to the first 5 academic institutions who request it, for historical review.
edward.ziomek@snet.net You can also obtain it for $5 from the City of Mexico City, who owns it.
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Ed Ziomek
Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 476
Location: Stamford, Connecticut
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 7:04 am Post subject: Article by Johnathan Karl, "About Those Saudi Women&quo |
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Every once and a while, I read an article that strikes the bullseye on the inequalities of this world towards women, and yes, sometimes towards men.
"About those Saudi Women"
For me, that came yesterday in an article I read in the New York Post, page 31, written by Jonathan Karl, Senior Foreign Correspondent for ABC News. The article was excerpted from (I believe) the October 1 "Weekly Standard".
The article describes Karen Hughes, emissary for the George Bush administration, who is making a fact-finding public relations tour of the Middle East, mostly in regards to women's rights and social positions.
Her tour-meetings have seen some resistance, as women's groups who met her, basically asked... "How dare you call us oppressed or portray us as victims?" etc. etc.
But her visit to Saudi Arabia apparently was "historic in nature", when she met a group of 500 Saudi women.
I would hope this article is re-published around the country, as I can't repeat all the wonderous moments of that meeting, but it started out in the usual... "How dare you..." mode, and by the end of the meeting... warmed up to an actual psuedo mixing of the genders, some dropping of the face veils, and several whispered... "I am so glad you asked us those questions." The mood at the end was electric... something no one had seen before.
As you know, in Saudi Arabia, women cannot leave their homes without permission, or drive cars, or mix with the males, or uncover their faces, or travel without permission, or even shop for groceries by themselves. And as I understand it, the Saudi menfolk cannot publicly criticize their own government.
So the article was a thunderclap of revelation, showing the courage of Karen Hughes in meeting the dis-believing groups, and posing simple taboo questions "What do you aspire to be in life", this is MONUNMENTAL in such a frozen society as Saudi Arabia, and other parts of the Muslim world.
Our trillion dollar business partners, the Saudi representatives lipped the usual... "we are committed to change"... well I say they have an entire oppressive society to change, and the world is extremely unstable with some part of it coming from their own country!
So I congratulate this quiet success story on the part of Karen Hughes and yes, George Bush too. This is GOOD news! This effort may be the most positive legacy of American influence, of this whole terrible episode since 9-11.
How will history remember this? Maybe it won't remember, but the Karl article is like a diamond sparkling in a cave. We SHOULD remember! We should all ask for MORE Karen Hughes tours and meetings.
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Kevin
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Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 1094
Location: Eugene, Oregon
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:27 pm Post subject: Turks Challenge Hughes On Iraq |
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"Weekly Standard"? Interesting source. (They don't seem to have an Oct 1 edtion?)
Here's another perspective on the Karen Hughes trip, from women in Turkey, via the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/28/AR2005092801429_pf.html
| Quote: | Turks Challenge Hughes On Iraq
Female Activists Decry U.S. Policy
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 29, 2005; A16
ISTANBUL, Sept. 28 -- A group of Turkish women's rights activists confronted Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes on Wednesday with emotional and heated complaints about the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, turning a session designed to highlight the empowering of women into a raw display of the anger at U.S. policy in the region.
"This war is really, really bringing your positive efforts to the level of zero," said Hidayet Sefkatli Tuksal, an activist with the Capital City Women's Forum. She said it was difficult to talk about cooperation between women in the United States and Turkey as long as Iraq was under occupation.
Hughes, a longtime confidante of President Bush tasked with burnishing the U.S. image overseas, has generally met with polite audiences -- many of which consisted of former exchange students or people who have received U.S. funding -- during a tour of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey this week.
In this case, the U.S. Embassy asked an umbrella group known as Ka-Der, which supports women running for office, to assemble the guest list. None of the activists currently receives U.S. funds or had any apparent desire to mince words. Six of the eight women who spoke at the session, held in Ankara, Turkey's capital, focused on the Iraq war.
"War makes the rights of women completely erased, and poverty comes after war -- and women pay the price," said Fatma Nevin Vargun, a Kurdish women's rights activist. Vargun denounced the arrest of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, in front of the White House this week.
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New York Times on the Saudi stop:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/international/middleeast/28hughes.html
| Quote: | Saudi Women Have Message For U.S. Envoy
September 28, 2005, Wednesday
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN (NYT); Foreign Desk
The audience -- 500 women covered in black at a Saudi university -- seemed an ideal place for Karen P. Hughes, a senior Bush administration official charged with spreading the American message in the Muslim world, to make her pitch. But the response on Tuesday was not what she and her aides expected. When Ms. Hughes expressed the hope here that Saudi women would be able to drive and "fully participate in society" much as they do in her country, many challenged her.
"The general image of the Arab woman is that she isn't happy," one audience member said. "Well, we're all pretty happy." The room, full of students, faculty members and some professionals, resounded with applause.
The administration's efforts to publicize American ideals in the Muslim world have often run into such resistance. For that reason, Ms. Hughes, who is considered one of the administration's most scripted and careful members, was hired specifically for the task.
Many in this region say they resent the American assumption that, given the chance, everyone would live like Americans.
The group of women, picked by the university, represented the privileged elite of this Red Sea coastal city, known as one of the more liberal areas in the country. And while they were certainly friendly toward Ms. Hughes, half a dozen who spoke up took issue with what she said.
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So what's the real story here? |
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Ed Ziomek
Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 476
Location: Stamford, Connecticut
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:32 am Post subject: This is a Classic! "New York Post" is why! |
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Kevin...
Great news comparisons...
Washington Post, NY Times, New York Post, and Weekly Standard.
Washington Standard, of October 10th, 2005... (future-speak? not Oct 1!)
I had read the Washington Post edition. I did not read the NY Times edition, thanks for sharing... and I did read the NY Post version. Now I have read the original Weekly Standard version, by Johnathan Karl.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/006/152kozfc.asp
You can lay them side by side and notice the very differing opinions. Even the Weekly Standard original version by Johnathan Karl and the NY Post version by Johnathan Karl is slightly different.
Then you have my perception of the Karen Hughes visits, and your perception.
This demonstrates why an independent news is so important to our society, you get 6 very different viewpoints.
Kevin, in the realm of human possibility, can all four written versions be valid opinions of the two events, the Turkey meeting and the Saudi meeting?
Glass half empty, or Glass half full...?
I see the Karen Hughes effort as an enormous and revealing "positive", warts and all. Do I like the Saudi government one i-ota more for their hell-on-earth oppressive policies? No.
You may be in the majority, I realize, but do you view the Karen Hughes effort as a negative, or a public relations disaster?
You didn't give an opinion. How do you feel about it?
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Richard Haut
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Joined: 18 Apr 2004
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Location: Nice, France
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | 8 October 2005
IS THIS THE DEATH OF AMERICA?
America's sense of itself - its pride in its power - has been profoundly damaged.
By Dermot Purgavie, Veteran US Correspondent
THIS week Karen Hughes, long-time political adviser to George Bush, began her new mission as the State Department's official defender of America's image with a tour of the Middle East.
She might have been more help to her beleaguered president had she stayed at home and used her PR skills on her neighbours. At the end of a cruel and turbulent summer, nobody is more dismayed and demoralised about America than Americans.
They have watched with growing disbelief and horror as a convergence of events - dominated by the unending war in Iraq and two hurricanes - have exposed ugly and disturbing things in the undergrowth that shame and embarrass Americans and undermine their belief in the nation and its values.
UNPOPULAR: Mr Bush is failing in polls
With TV providing a ceaseless backdrop of the country's failings - a crippled and tone-deaf president, a negligent government, corruption, military atrocities, soaring debt, racial conflict, poverty, bloated bodies in floodwater, people dying on camera for want of food, water and medicine - it seemed things were falling apart in the land where happiness is promoted in the constitution.
Disillusioning news was everywhere. In the flight from Hurricane Rita, evacuees fought knife fights over cans of petrol. In storm-hit Louisiana there were long queues at gun stores as people armed themselves against looters.
AMERICA, which has the world's costliest health care, had, it turned out, higher infant mortality rates than the broke and despised Cuba.
Tom De Lay, Republican enforcer in the House of Representatives, was indicted for conspiracy and money laundering. The leader of the Republicans in the Senate was under investigation for his stock dealings. And Osama bin Laden was still on the loose.
Americans are the planet's biggest flag wavers. They are reared on the conceit that theirs is the world's best and most enviable country, born only the day before yesterday but a model society with freedom, opportunity and prosperity not found, they think, in older cultures.
They rejoice that "We are No.1", and in many ways they are.
But events have revealed a creeping mildew of pain and privation, graft and injustice and much incompetence lurking beneath the glow of star-spangled superiority.
Many here feel the country is breaking down and losing its moral and political authority.
"US in funk" say the headlines. "I am ashamed to be an American," say the letters to the editor. We are seeing, say the commentators, a crumbling - and humbling - of America.
The catalogue of afflictions is long and grisly. Hurricane Katrina revealed confusion and incompetence throughout government, from town hall to White House.
President Bush, accused of an alarming failure of leadership over the disaster, has now been to the Gulf coast seven times for carefully orchestrated photo opps.
But his approval has dropped below 40 per cent. Public doubt about his capacity to deal with pressing problems is growing.
Americans feel ashamed by the violent, predatory behaviour Katrina triggered - nothing similar happened in the tsunami-hit Third World countries - and by the deep racial and class divisions it revealed.
The press has since been giving the country a crash course on poverty and race, informing the flag wavers that an uncaring America may be No.1 on the world inequities index.
IT has 37 million living under the poverty line, largely unnoticed by the richest in a country with more than three million millionaires.
The typical white family has $80,000 in assets; the average black family about $6,000. It's a wealth gap out of the Middle Ages. Some 46 million can't afford health insurance, 18,000 of whom will die early because of it.
The US, we learn, is 43rd in the world infant mortality rankings. A baby born in Beijing has nearly three times the chance of reaching its first birthday than a baby born in Washington. Those who survive face rotten schools. On reading and maths tests for 15-year-olds, America is 24th out of 29 nations.
On the other side of the tracks, 18 corporate executives have so far been jailed for cooking the books and looting billions. The prosecution of Mr Bush's pals at Enron - the showcase trial of the greed-is-good culture - will be soon.
But the backroom deal lives on and, in an orgy of cronyism, billions of dollars are being carved up in no-bid contracts awarded to politically-connected firms for work in the hurricane-hit states and in Iraq.
The war, seen as unwinnable, is becoming a bleak burden, with nearly 2,000 American dead. Two-thirds think the invasion was a mistake.
The war costs $6billion a month, driving up a nose-bleed high $331billion budget deficit. In five years the conflict will have cost each American family $11,300, it is said.
Mr Bush says blithely he'll cut existing programmes to pay for the war and fund an estimated $200billion for hurricane damage. He won't, he says, rescind his tax cuts. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel says Mr Bush is "disconnected from reality".
Americans have been angered by a reports that US troops have routinely tortured Iraqi prisoners. Some 230 low-rankers have been convicted - but not one general or Pentagon overseer. Disgruntled young officers are leaving in increasing numbers.
Meanwhile, further damaging Americans' self image, there's Afghanistan. The White House says its operations there were a success, yet last year Afghanistan supplied 90 per cent of the world's heroin.
America's sense of itself - its pride in its power and authority, its faith in its institutions and its belief in its leaders - has been profoundly damaged. And now the talking heads in Washington predict dramatic political change and the death of the Republicans' hope of becoming the permanent government.
IS AMERICA FINISHED?
YES: Tel 0901 383 4421 NO: Tel 0901 383 4422
Calls from landlines cost 25p per vote. Those from mobiles may vary |
- from today's British "Daily Mirror"
Karen Hughes is attempting to improve the image of the US - that is her job. All she is managing is to insult long-term US allies the Saudis and to display her shallow comprehension of other cultures.
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Richard Haut has worked with the architectural profession for over 25 years and produces the weekly Richard Haut's Competitions, which has given architects details of many thousands of projects for which they can apply across Britain and Europe. |
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Ed Ziomek
Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 476
Location: Stamford, Connecticut
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 3:57 am Post subject: "Let the truth be the Light" |
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Rich... very eloquent addition, thank you.
Every empire reaches the point of greed and abundance and arrogance, that yes, we have our problems, and I believe we are in a dangerous slope of possible decline.
But Americans are resilient, as you know, and the Brits, tough as nails, and the world validly criticizes us, for what we do wrong, ... lots to criticize.
As we have discussed... it aint pretty, but I love this place! And will fight for it if you give me a good reason.
America must INCLUDE the world, and their viewpoints, and their opinions, and their values, in how we conduct ourselves, that is all that I ask.
So when Karen Hughes "walked the walk", and made the valiant effort to find out, "what is the world thinking", she got an earful.
But this is so healthy... its what GB should have done 5 years ago! So I consider the Karen Hughes efforts a major success, even though it is being panned as a PR train wreck.
The Saudi government is an abomination against humanity. Shame on us as a nation for depending on fossil fuels and hence, these obscene people who oppress their own people.
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Richard Haut
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Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 1128
Location: Nice, France
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 11:44 am Post subject: |
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Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States .....
http://www.bushflash.com/unb.html
Will Americans survive - are they resilient ?
Until such time as America and Americans (and, please note, the Brits) understand the full extent of what is wrong with their present conduct and direction, then they will not even begin to approach survival.
Yours is a nation divided against itself - its very flag is becoming a symbol of shame. Unbelieveable ? To me, certainly.
To deny it is to speak against your nation and its survival. And Karen Hughes ? A PR professional - she cannot defend the indefensible, so she tries to deflect the discussion elsewhere. (She is not a fool - when Bush is hanging from a lamppost, she will still want to work).
It is too late for trying to blame others or to pretend that somehow the filthy and murderous behaviour of your troops is understandable.
Americans made the greatest mistake in their history in not investigating 9.11 - the only part that baffles me is how those who assisted in and profited from those attacks knew that Americans were so docile that they would not react.
The Nobel Committee spoke for the world.
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Richard Haut has worked with the architectural profession for over 25 years and produces the weekly Richard Haut's Competitions, which has given architects details of many thousands of projects for which they can apply across Britain and Europe. |
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Ed Ziomek
Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 476
Location: Stamford, Connecticut
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 12:39 pm Post subject: Americans, resilient... oh yeah! |
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Richard, I thank you for the post, but your comments are alarmingly bad with your choice of words. How did you get off topic? Why such anger, Rich? How did a discussion of Karen Hughes and gender-balance go to "hanging somebody from a lamppost"? Horrible, Mr. Rich.
America will survive and thrive... because we correct ourselves!
You want to wake the tiger in America and Britain and Western countries? Keep posting those posts. Nothing, nothing wakes up America like these kinds of alarming comments.
From that blog you mentioned... regarding Bush...
"How would you feel about a person who thinks it is okay to grab your shirt and use it to clean their eyeglasses?"
Is that George's worst crime in life? Maybe it was on a comedy show, Mr. Rich? Maybe he was trying to be funny? Maybe he needed to wipe his glasses in 10 seconds before "showtime"?
10,000 people died in the Kasmir area in some natural disaster in the last 24 hours, probably 50 Iraqis died, probably 10 US Marines died, and you worry about a shirt wiping incident from 2003? Richhhhh?!
I thank Karen Hughes for bringing that story of women's conditions in Saudi Arabia, front and center.
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Richard Haut
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Joined: 18 Apr 2004
Posts: 1128
Location: Nice, France
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:20 pm Post subject: |
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Your selective outrage is becoming meanignless, Ed.
There is no mass slaughter of women in Saudi. Is there regime oppressive ? Yes, it is. Is it outdated ? Yes, there is a real argument for saying that it is.
None of it compares with what American and British troops have been doing and continue to do in their attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan.
As for correcting yourselves - there are precious few signs of that.
And the video of Bush ? You tell me what it means. I have no idea.
I am familiar with the advertising and PR world - and Karen is doing her job, deflecting the story from the real subject.
Or do you believe that insulting an ally will somehow improve the reputation of your nation - which is her task ? No, because the only way to do that would be to improve the conduct of your nation - and that is not happening.
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Richard Haut has worked with the architectural profession for over 25 years and produces the weekly Richard Haut's Competitions, which has given architects details of many thousands of projects for which they can apply across Britain and Europe. |
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