As if the kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls by a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist organization wasn't bad enough, at least one American right-winger is making light of the situation, presumably because Michelle Obama made a heartfelt plea on behalf of the girls on Saturday.
One could chalk Hoft's jape up to mere sexism and racism- heh, they're only girls, and it's only Africa, doncha know- but I believe that the right-wing doesn't wish to take this atrocity seriously for a more existential reason. "Boko Haram" translates as "Western Education is Sinful" and the group not only targets Nigerian Christians but Muslims who are not seen as sufficiently pure in their devotion. A similar fundamentalist group in Mali burned manuscripts in a Timbuktu library that represented centuries of Islamic jurisprudence. The Boko Haram group is a bunch of nihilists, seeking to destroy anything which doesn't adhere to their particular narrow vision of the Islamic faith.
Here in the U.S., a common refrain among religious fundamentalists is that secular education is undermining traditional American values- "western education is sinful" or, to put it succinctly, Boko Haram.
Basically, the raison d'être of Boko Haram and, for instance, the American Family Association is identical- they both want to purge their respective societies of secular values. It's no wonder that Hoft, a right-winger through-and-through, wants to make light of the kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls who were slated to be sold into arranged marriages in order to "control" them. With the American Right's mania about "purity" and the evils of secular education, one would have to suspect that Hoft would back a similar kidnapping of female students by a fundamentalist organization that would force them into "traditional" marriages- he'd just disagree about which "holy" book's precepts were used to justify the crime.
I want to see two things happen- bring back the girls and let's smack our churls!
Cross-posted at Rumproast.
Climate change is Boko Haram, as are taxes, food safety regulations, etc. etc.
ReplyDelete~
I just want to say that I love the picture of you on the site. Its adorable. Also: good post.
ReplyDeleteFatwa envy again.
ReplyDelete**SIGH**
ReplyDeleteY'know, Mr. Bastard, you of all people I woulda thought would know better. No. That's not what Boko Haram means, and it's been discussed in enough detail that it's no secret. Just because it's in Wikipedia (where it has been updated, actuallly) and repeatedly copied and pasted by so-called journalists, this is not a challenging question.
I'm just going to paste in here the same text I typed on Bouffant's site when he made the same disappointing statements:
I am - and continue to be - amazed at American's willingness to tell itself comforting lies, and cling to them no matter how conclusively they have been falsified.
There has been much academic discussion of the meaning of 'Boko Haram', as it is from an obscure West African tribal language called Hausa. But, much like Ahmedinejad's "Wipe Israel from the face of the earth" intentional mis-translation, somebody decided that 'Boko' is derived from the western 'Books' and 'Haram', of course, is an arabic/islamic phrase for 'Forbidden' so it MUST mean 'Western Education is Evil' and the goal of the group is to fight against all non-islamic education.
Except it doesn't, and it isn't. The definitive research comes from a paper by Paul Newman, professor emeritus in linguistics at Indiana University and one of the world's leading authorities on the Hausa language. You can read the paper here: http://www.megatchad.net/publications/Newman-2013-Etymology-of-Hausa-boko.pdf
The upshot is that Boko means 'things that are fraudulent', and was often applied to everything the colonialists believed or taught.
So they're a particularly nasty breed of humanity, a particularly nasty species, but let's not keep repeating the lies that work their way into Wikipedia and get repeated by lazy jingoistic stenographers...
Riight, Mikey. Let's diverge into an argument on semantics, instead. Any diversion to not note what religious fundamentalism of all sorts does to the societies in which it is allowed to flagrantly operate.
ReplyDeleteIt really is not such a stretch: if Boko Haram means "Things that are fraudulent are forbidden" and everything colonial (western) is included AS fraudulent to extrapolate the meaning being used in the press. I think to call it jingoistic is a bit ...well, jingoistic, of YOU!
Climate change is Boko Haram, as are taxes, food safety regulations, etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteIf David Brooks writes about them, it's "Bobo Haram".
I just want to say that I love the picture of you on the site. Its adorable. Also: good post.
When I blush, my whole head turns incandescent.
Except it doesn't, and it isn't. The definitive research comes from a paper by Paul Newman, professor emeritus in linguistics at Indiana University and one of the world's leading authorities on the Hausa language. You can read the paper here: http://www.megatchad.net/publications/Newman-2013-Etymology-of-Hausa-boko.pdf
The upshot is that Boko means 'things that are fraudulent', and was often applied to everything the colonialists believed or taught.
Thanks for the link to the more nuanced view- I never believed that "Boko" was a neologism derived from "Books", just like I've never bought the derivation of "Fuck" from an acronym (the German infinitive is "ficken"). That being said, the group as it is constituted now is primarily concerned with one particular aspect of western/colonial culture, and that is secular education. When they attack people for using modern irrigation methods or machinery, then I'll fully back the good professor's research.
Riight, Mikey. Let's diverge into an argument on semantics, instead. Any diversion to not note what religious fundamentalism of all sorts does to the societies in which it is allowed to flagrantly operate.
S/L brings the righteousness.
Yep, good one. Because as a noted defender of religious zealotry and jingoism, my evil plan to distract people from noticing that Boko Haram are very bad people has once again been detected by the denizens of the bloggerhood.
ReplyDeleteCurses! Foiled Again...
I had just assumed that 'Boko' is a corruption of 'Procol'. As long as it has nothing to do with Boko-maru.
ReplyDeleteSmut -- oh, damn...now there will be earworms!
ReplyDelete