Who are your favourite heroines in real life? The women of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran who risk their lives and their beauty to defy the foulness of theocracy. Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Azar Nafisi as their ideal feminine model.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the bravery of women in oppressive regimes who fight against theocratic systems.
Christopher Hitchens commends the courage and resilience of women in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran who face significant dangers while standing up against theocratic oppression. He draws attention to figures like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Azar Nafisi, who embody the fight for freedom and represent the strength and beauty of women defying oppressive regimes. This quote serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made by these women in pursuit of their rights and dignity in the face of adversity.
In practice
During a speech on gender equality, one could cite this quote to emphasize the role of women in fighting oppression.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way — because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
Yet somehow the thing that startled me most, after a week or two had passed, was that I had in fact survived.
Giving up is not the answer. Neither is giving in. Stand your ground. There is a way of doing that without having to be combative. There is a way of hanging on to your true self, and demonstrating it, without resorting to aggression. But giving up and giving in is not the way. Simply and quietly claiming your right to be You is the way.
You can't disobey the rules every time you disapprove. However, when you're considering something that constitutes an extreme abridgement of your rights, conscience is the court of last resort.
Fire really means a certain kind of burning in the soul that one can no longer tolerate when one is pushed against a wall.
As a feminist of Egyptian and Muslim descent, my life's work has been informed by the belief that religion and culture must never be used to justify the subjugation of women.
We live in the kind of world where courage is the most essential of virtues; without courage, the other virtues are useless.
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