Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Let's Face It. Not All Justice Systems Are Equal
Pakistan gang-rape victim free to go abroad - Yahoo! News: "The original trial before an anti-terrorism court in 2002 found that Mai was gang-raped on the orders of a village council after her brother -- who was 12 at the time -- was judged to have offended the honor of a powerful clan by befriending a woman from their tribe."
Her brother did something the court saw as wrong, and this innocent girl was ordered to be gang-raped as punishment for the brother. Not only does it show an obvious lack of common sense, but it is a brutal reminder of how women are actually viewed in these cultures. They try to say that they have women dress super conservatively to protect them, but yet subject them to punishments like this for crimes of a male family member. The contradiction proves that they merely see women as sub-human, not as a protected class. While I feel we should look to other societies for what they seem to do right, and as a means to learn how we could better our own system, we should also admit in that quest that some of these systems are not morally equal to our own. There are many out there that say we should not fault other societies for being different, but it seems we should be allowed to fault them for being wrong. This case, and the many sadly similar, should be called as we see them, sick, disgusting, and wrong.
Her brother did something the court saw as wrong, and this innocent girl was ordered to be gang-raped as punishment for the brother. Not only does it show an obvious lack of common sense, but it is a brutal reminder of how women are actually viewed in these cultures. They try to say that they have women dress super conservatively to protect them, but yet subject them to punishments like this for crimes of a male family member. The contradiction proves that they merely see women as sub-human, not as a protected class. While I feel we should look to other societies for what they seem to do right, and as a means to learn how we could better our own system, we should also admit in that quest that some of these systems are not morally equal to our own. There are many out there that say we should not fault other societies for being different, but it seems we should be allowed to fault them for being wrong. This case, and the many sadly similar, should be called as we see them, sick, disgusting, and wrong.
