“‘Women Here Are Very, Very Worried’: Afghan women used to be championed by almost everyone. Now they’re all but forgotten.” (nytimes):
It was once a prominent and bipartisan cause: the liberation of Afghan women from the tyranny of the Taliban.
These women were championed by an array of strange bedfellows: feminists like Eleanor Smeal, celebrities like Lily Tomlin and stalwarts of a conservative administration like Laura Bush and Dick Cheney.
In the early days of the invasion, the world heard vivid stories of the changes the war had brought. Women could walk freely outside their houses and put on makeup; girls could go to school. It was a narrative that helped buoy public support for the fight in Afghanistan and deflect criticism about American empire.
Nearly two decades later, Afghan women are all but invisible to an American public thoroughly weary of the war.
My comment:
A lot of new classes of victims have been discovered right here in the U.S. since 2001. For example, the NYT was recently running stories about Federal employees victimized by getting 35 days of paid time off in exchange for a delayed paycheck (one of my friends is a senior FAA employee; he said that he enjoyed his vacation trips to Arizona and Europe during the shutdown). Human sympathy and attention are not unlimited. If paid-late-for-not-working Federal employees are front-and-center victims then Afghan women cannot be front-and-center victims.
Example: “As Shutdown Drags On, Some Step Up to Help Unpaid Federal Workers”:
Predictions of pain that had been theoretical, or theatrical, in shorter shutdowns are now a reality for around 800,000 federal workers, scattered through states red and blue.
“The public does not realize the impact that a shutdown has on the F.B.I. or on our families,” a bureau official wrote in an email this week to supporters of the nonprofit Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI.
Readers: What do you think? Is there something special about women in Afghanistan, or is it simply that the victims of 2001 must yield mindshare to the victims of 2019?
The “victim” mentality has taken over in this country. If it doesn’t change soon, I may need to move. I think the real reason is that the government is giving out money to all sorts of “victims”. It’s one of the reasons I’m vehemently opposed to talking about slave reparations. Now some issues are legit, but maybe people could have a little “grit” and save up a month or two’s salary instead of a 3 day weekend somewhere, or eating out? Or Beyoncé tickets or HBO GOT? My own sister has this problem, she’s a “victim” at 49 years old, and calls my mother 3-4 times a year for money and yet her kids wear Yeezees and $100 fashion jeans. Everyone is so afraid of recessions and depressions, but that is exactly when people reprioritize, and save instead of spend, and real estate becomes affordable, and people who saved are rewarded. It clears out all the people who buy on credit and leaves the people who are truly wealthy financially to prosper. Sadly the government will continue to fight the natural marketplace forces until we are Venezuela. Good news for Venezuela, I think they will have a revolution soon for free markets and prosperity will abound.
When the elites in Washington decide to go to war, there is often an effort made to convince the population that there is a valid reason in addition to, or instead of, the actual reason that the country is going to war. Chomsky calls these efforts “manufacturing consent”. You may recall that, right around the time that Laura Bush was expressing concern about Afghan women, members of her husband’s administration were issuing grave warning of WMDs in Iraq which were never found. Back in 1916-17 anti-German sentiment was whipped to the degree that dachshunds were being abused and the Boston Symphony Orchestra stopped performing the works of German composers.
The most likely explanation is that there is no longer a need to convince the American people to support the smaller efforts currently going on in Afghanistan. Also, use of the word victim here does not help to understand how this all works.
Vince, Afghan city women really used to enjoy western lifestyle before Taliban victory. They preferred western dress style as well. So concerns for Afghan women were genuine. And since Osama bin Laden was hosted and protected by Taliban I do not think there were any extra sales effort needed for military operation in Afghanistan. If you recall, US mostly provided air power and armament to Northern Alliance that put Taliban back into caves in a matter of few weeks.