Saturday, December 30, 2006

TABOO!!!!!!! Those of you easily offended skip this post

While recuperating from this illness I have read parts of a book by Alvin Schmidtt. I know that some of you have read his more popular book The Great Divide. I strongly recomend that book to those of you who are religiously inclined. Schmidtt recounts the differences in the lives of Jesus and Mohammad and points to the direct impact of Christianity on what we enjoy today as Western Civilization. Contrary to the idiotic fulmination of the Communist Waterfowl they did not live equal lives or reach the same message.

I was unable to read Veiled and Silenced from Chapter 1 but I did read chapters five and six.Some books are best picked up from the middle anyway.

Chapter five is the comedic classic about the near universal taboos that occur with menstruating women. I was well aware of the writings in the old testament and in religious Jewish culture, but there is a larger picture. Schmidtt is a serious scholar who does point out the inequities of Christianity in this regard. This is what seperates a serious scholar like Schmidtt from Commie dopes like Fanon. Schmidtt
also depicts the numerous myths and practices of third world people on the same topic. A Commie like the Duck glosses over the evil practices in Islam and the third world while highlighting those in the West for political expediency.

Now some of the taboos are over reactions to PMS. I always knew when it was safe to come home by what my live in girlfriend was watching on TV. When it was on Lifetime movies it was easier to head for the hills.

Chapter six deals with the basics that in most socities women were property. This may not be politically correct or a case of placing current values on past societies.
However, Bill Clinton can blame Jesus for leveling the playing field on adultery. Prior to Jesus adultery depended on the marital status of the woman alone. I do point out Bill Clinton because when he got himself in trouble he made a big production of carrying an oversize Bible. Jesus was the first to point out that a man can be guilty of adultery for having sex out of wedlock.

Schmiddts analysis of ancient Hebrews is somewhat incomplette as it was not a typical patriarcal society. Jewish Identity is confered only to those born of a Jewish mother. Nor does he mention the stigma that illegitamate children called Mamzerim carried.

Schmidtt does point out the Jewish version of law was more humane than that of the adjacent people. Amongst the Assyrians women suspected of adultery were tossed in a river and those that drowned were presumed guilty. The Judaic version of a bitter water test precluded capital punishment unless two witnesses could be found for the test.

Schmidtt does point out that the marriage of twelve years old in ancient times was to ensure virginity. Schmidtt does also ommit that lifespans were much shorter and that also played a factor. One can readilly see this in a Muslim marriage licence a Nikah Nameh where the status of the bride is placed on the top.

This is interesting reading but those of us who would benefit the most from reading this material are hooked on Menchu.

Beamish in 08, Ducky to North Korea and John Brown to take the Beamish equivalent of the water test. Brown is to be dumped into the center of a stretch of the Amazon known to have Piranna

11 comments:

Always On Watch said...

The minute I see "Taboo" with seven exclamation points, I have to read on.

A few years ago, this bestseller, The Red Tent, spun an interesting tale of the blood issues of women. Review at Amazon:

Skillfully interweaving biblical tales with events and characters of her own invention, Diamant's (Living a Jewish Life, HarperCollins, 1991) sweeping first novel re-creates the life of Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob, from her birth and happy childhood in Mesopotamia through her years in Canaan and death in Egypt. When Dinah reaches puberty and enters the Red Tent (the place women visit to give birth or have their monthly periods), her mother and Jacob's three other wives initiate her into the religious and sexual practices of the tribe. Diamant sympathetically describes Dinah's doomed relationship with Shalem, son of a ruler of Shechem, and his brutal death at the hands of her brothers. Following the events in Canaan, a pregnant Dinah travels to Egypt, where she becomes a noted midwife. Diamant has written a thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating portrait of a fascinating woman and the life she might have lived. Recommended for all public libraries.

beakerkin said...

AOW

I have to be honest I knew about the rules and regulations regauding menstruation in the Jewish faith. I had no idea that some of these notions carried over into Christianity.

I had no idea what a huge bugaboo this is in some cultures.

That chapter was certainly not meant to be funny but it was. There is something decidedly evil about laughing at these hangups.

elmers brother said...

Are there modern taboos in Christianity regarding PMS?

I wasn't aware of any?

beakerkin said...

No Elmer just the M in the PMS.

This does seem to be a near universal bugaboo.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Probably the most interesting portrait of Muhammad ever written can be found online here.

It's a long read (30ish web pages). Unfortunately, there's no puppet show to help leftists sound the words out.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

I know it's that time when my fiancee grabs me by my larynx and says "I WANT MY CHOCOLATE NOW!"

The Merry Widow said...

I love menopause! No more wildly fluctuating emotions, the weeping for no reason what so ever, the irrational anger...ah
I still want my chocolate, I just won't dismember you if you withhold it. I'll use a blunt instrument! LOL!

tmw

elmers brother said...

tmw

ah oh

Anonymous said...

I'd have had hot coffee all over my computer screen had I been drinking it when I read your line about heading for the hills if she's watching a Lifetime movie..HILARIOUS, Beak.

Sorry you've been ill...I hope you're much, much better very soon.

And HAPPY NEW YEAR!! z

The Merry Widow said...

EB-You been hanging around Nanc, too long? Just hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt! Capeesh?
It's just about the chocolate!
Good morning and G*D bless y'all this New Year!

tmw

nanc said...

native americans also have laws regarding menstruation. when "in season" a woman may not enter the prayer circle at a sundance. the reasoning is somewhat obscure, but they certainly wouldn't kill or maim you for it - and how would they know if a woman was or not? they rely on the honesty of the woman - i know because this happened to me a number of years ago at sundance. i had to stay outside the circle with some elders and they knew without my telling them. it was a very good time.