In Which I Receive An Apology
Assuming you don’t 1) subscribe to the RSS feed of my comments or 2) check back every 10 minutes and obsessively check every single post for new comments, and since I spent so much time and effort refuting one particular commenter’s comments about Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks, I only thought it fair you should know I received probably the nicest comment from that commenter who I was lambasting.
I’m posting this as I think it deserves equal “air time”…since she was nice. If she was hateful and mean, I would have deleted it and pretended like I never read it.
And if you do read this, I would like to point out this person’s sense of humor. Chartroose had said, “I’ll bet the commenter was some hairy talibanish dude and not a woman at all.” And check out what the commenter called herself:
The-Hairy-Talibanish-Dudette
Sorry I was away on holidays here and I missed the show. As you must have figured I am the star of the show – Miss Ignorance.
Anyway, allow me to clarify a few things since you took the time to write all of that and it would be rude of me to just ignore it.
First, you are absolutely right. I don’t have the justification to judge the book especially when I haven’t read it. I’m afraid it was one of those spur of the moment comments, but given the situation in hand, lately you get sick of hearing the same broken record on Muslim women this and Muslim women that, it kind of gets to you.
Secondly, I wasn’t really directing a hate remark on “you” specifically. I was simply speaking about the typical Western point of view of Muslim women now adays.
Thirdly, I don’t think I was wrong in judging how the West views these issues but I admit I was wrong in two things: 1) judging the book without fully reading it and 2) not being clear enough on who I am addressing which made you think I was attacking you.
Anyway, I do apologize if you took offense girl. I actually happen to like reading your blog
Like I said it was a spontangeous comment based on continuous past-agendas of unfair western discrimination, other than *pulls out a white flag* “I come in peace!”.
If someone can poke fun at themselves (i.e. calling herself The Hairy Talibanish Dudette), then I’ll hang with them anytime. And they’re more than welcome to disagree with me.
| Tags: comments, geraldine brooks, nine parts of desire 16 comments »
October 5th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I’m glad you ladies were able to work this out. It has been a very educational experience for those of us following the story!
Lezlie
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October 5th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Well this was a great exchange and coming together.
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October 5th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
That was so nice of her to come back and respond.
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October 5th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Don’t you LOVE commenters like that? I love how this turned out in the end.
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October 5th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I’m so glad that she came back and posted that. The beauty of the internet: we can’t speak face to face and so misunderstandings are bound to happen.
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October 5th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Kudos to both of you. Well done – I love when things are resolved.
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October 5th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Hello all,
I applaud her for the fact that she was willing to eat some humble pie. Which WE all must eat some time in our lives. Now if we have the grace to admit when we are in the wrong, that is a noble act and needs to be applauded!
But the fact remains that when someone gets so caught up in the thinking of – “ALL” of a certain race/religion, place of birth or writings are of one thought than we erupt. Could it be possible, that the “typical Western point of view and unfair agenda of a western administration” be spur of the moment comments from “western” people who haven’t taken the time to research your culture as a whole. Unfortunately, she seems to have succumbed to the same thing she was so loudly against.
Again I applaud her for being able to know and admit she was in the wrong.
Just my thoughts
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October 5th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
yay! good for her–and you, for posting about it. I like it when things turn out well and people are adult about disagreements or misunderstandings. (can we call it being adult when so many adults wouldn’t be willing to do as much?)
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October 5th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Trish =)
Love you girl :***
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October 6th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Hooray for Miss Ignorance/HTD & also hooray for you for giving her equal time.
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October 6th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I’m glad it turned out this way. I can understand her frustration at how Muslims can be stereotyped, though, since I know someone who lives in the UAE which is a very modern, westernized country.
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October 6th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Cool! Now I feel bad for saying it (well, not really) but kinda abashed, maybe. Anyway, we are always misinformed about everything, especially now with all the corruption oozing from every public and commercial edifice in the U. S. The way Middle Eastern countries treat their women can’t be any worse than the way our own holy-rollin’ intelligent design spoutin’ pentecosts are inculcating their offspring into their fanatical religious worldview. Heaven help us all (literally)!
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October 6th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I was going to say something similar to what Chartroose says about “holy-rollin’ intelligent design spoutin’ pentecosts,” except I was going to say that it’s embarrassing and uncomfortable to go to other countries and meet up with stereotypes that leave people thinking *I* might be a holy-rollin’ intelligent design spoutin’ pentecost myself, just because I come from the U.S. So I understand that commenter’s frustration, even though I also realize that you weren’t making generalizations yourself, but just reviewing a book (by one of my favorite authors of fiction, by the way!) and I’m relieved that she accepted your explanation.
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October 6th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Glad that poster came back. Too many times a person can make assumptions about what other people are saying… and the internet allows a lot of misunderstandings.
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October 7th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Well, as Voltaire said: “I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
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October 8th, 2008 at 6:21 am
A fascinating and enlightening exchange all the way around. kudos to all. Book bloggers are awesome.
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