The White Peril 白禍

Oh, dear. Michael links to commentary about this disturbing article:

Buying a greeting card for someone's birthday, anniversary or if they're feeling under the weather is pretty straightforward. But what if they're undergoing chemotherapy or struggling with depression? "Get Well Soon" probably won't cut it.

Likewise, most cards lining the store shelves don't work on occasions as someone leaving an abusive spouse, undergoing drug rehab or declaring their sexual orientation.

...

For illness: "Cancer is a villain who doesn't play fair ... but it can't dim your spirit, and it can't silence prayer."

For eating disorders: "All I want is for you to be healthy - healthy and happy with yourself. Please take it one day at a time until you are."

For depression: "When the world gets heavy, remember, I'm here to help carry it with you."

Leaving aside my overall dislike of pre-printed cards in place of handwritten notes, I still have to wonder why "Get well soon" won't cut it in such cases. Do people with depression or bulimia or abusive spouses really prefer cards in which their friends spell out all the finicking details of their medical conditions or marital problems? "I am aware of EXACTLY how screwed up your life is" is not, it seems to me, an improvement on "Thinking of you in your time of trouble."

And of course I had to see whether there was more about the gay part. There was, with the bonus of a truly awful usage-related solecism (in addition to the faulty parallel construction in the very first sentence of the article):

No topics were off-limits, said company spokeswoman Rachel Bolton, noting two cards that could be sent to gay people who have disclosed their sexuality. The cards don't directly refer to homosexuality, only extolling the person to "Be You" or "This is who I am" or featuring a rainbow, a symbol of gay pride.

Mr. Malaprop, honey? The word you want is exhorting. You might want to tell your copy editor, too.

Need I say that anyone who had responded to my coming out with a card printed with a rainbow and "This is who I am" would have found himself living a Sean-free life from then on? (I do, however, like the way it's said that no topic was "off-limits" in one sentence and then that no cards directly address homosexuality in the next.)

There used to be books--the Japanese still use them--that gave templates and models for writing particular kinds of letters. They strike me as useful. There are plenty of things that are necessary, or at least beneficial, to express that are nonetheless tricky to put across well. I'm not sure off-the-rack doggerel is a good modern equivalent, though.

Added after more coffee: While I'm on the topic of excessive cuteness, I may as well post these pictures of the 'rents' cats, which I promised to do. Like all Siamese cats, these two are drunk on their own fabulousness.



The guy on the left is Ludwig, who had the aesthetic sense to pose in an environment that picked up the browns in his fur and the blue of his eyes. He and I get along just fine. The one on the right is Romeo; if you're detecting a bit of animosity in that stare of his, you're right. Neither of them likes giving up their room to me when I visit, but Romeo pretty clearly dislikes me for reasons that are unrelated to mere sleeping arrangements. He was apparently abused by an owner when he was a kitten, so he takes a while to warm up to men he doesn't know. I never see him for more than a week at a time, which means that I'm a perpetual stranger. His antipathy does not, however, stop him from seeking out my most expensive sweaters and nestling into them as if they were pet beds.

Added after dinner: Just to round out the theme of Quadripeds Who Fail to Love Me, here are my old roommate and his wife's chihuahuas:



The blond guy is Captain; his swarthier brother is Chance. These dogs HATE me. Whenever I come back to New York and stay with M. and J., the dogs yap at me incessantly. When they do cease yapping, they register their displeasure by growling. Right now they're being quiet, possibly because they think I may have food to offer them between now and when I take off for JFK tomorrow morning.

Via Bruce Bawer (13 February 2007 post), who really needs someone to show him how permalinks work, this priceless exchange on CNN. Glenn Beck is the CNN interviewer; Irshad Manji is a lesbian Muslim who lives in Canada:

BECK: OK. Real quickly, we have about a minute. What — who is standing with you as a woman's organization? Who — what National Organization of Women is coming up and saying I'm with you?

MANJI: You know there isn't one.

BECK: Why?

MANJI: Fear. Fear of offending. So many people today in America come up to me to say, "Irshad, I wish I could support your call to reconcile Islam with human rights, but if I do, you know I'll be called a racist for sticking my nose in somebody else's business."

Bawer's comment: "Against people who are willing to die in the cause of destroying freedom, people who are unwilling to stand up for freedom for fear of being called a name don't stand much chance of victory."

Beck and Manji focused on women's groups, but of course the gay organizations are mostly just as bad. And a lot of rank-and-file gays, too. Plenty of gay men and women who "don't care what people think" when they're having a noisy good time at brunch--or giving conservative relatives a heart attack with their views about social policy--will turn into the most craven protocol-followers alive when it's time to venture, even gingerly, the opinion that maybe there are strains of thinking in non-Western cultures that are incompatible with human rights and are not the fault of Western imperialism. Or that gay advocacy groups often choose cheap partisan expediency over gay interests.

Something Bawer and Pieter Dorsman, whom he cites, didn't quote, gives a little bit of perspective:

BECK: And everybody is crying out, where are those Muslim voices? You and people like you are in so much danger. How much — how much does fear play a role in silencing the voices of Islam?

MANJI: Huge. And fear of many things. Fear not just of being ostracized in your community, but obviously fear of violence, as well.

You know, Glenn, I speak at university campuses right across not just North America, but around the world. And invariably, young Muslims come up to me afterwards to whisper thank you in my ear. And when I ask them, why are you whispering? They say to me, "Irshad, you know, you have the luxury of being able to walk away from this campus two hours from now. I don't, and I don't want to be stalked for supporting your views." And if they're women, a lot of them say, "I don't want to be raped for supporting your views."

So this is happening in America, and I don't want to suggest, Glenn. Let me just be clear. I don't want to suggest that every Muslim feels this kind of fear. But every Muslim does know that, if you take on the most mangled aspects of our faith today, you will be subject to such a vitriolic smear campaign that it will bring shame and dishonor upon your family. So there is huge pressure to say nothing.

It isn't just from women's groups dominated by non-Muslims that Manji isn't getting support. Moderate Muslims who think Islam needs reform are going to have to speak out eventually, or it's not going to happen. As Manji herself said a few years ago, "Society needs people who offend, otherwise there will be no progress." (She's also addressed gay activists' problems with Islam and Israel.)