Today was one of those days I hoped I would open Wordpress and see a half finished post or at least something written in the Ideas draft that I always keep around, but no… nothing… My brain and I drifted apart for a little while and brainstormed (well, I brainstormed - my brain just… stormed…), came up with nothing and together (after a glass of wine) pottered over to the BBC News site in search of inspiration. But, the main thing on there (Gillian Gibbons and the insanity of the Teddy Bear’s name) was the only thing I didn’t really want to read about. From the sublime to the ridiculous to the outstanding back to the ridiculous to now, this story just makes me angry. I know I’m just overlaying my Western views on another culture and I really shouldn’t do that becasue I don’t understand where they are coming from and all that but, well, I don’t care. I’m pissed off. She went there to be a teacher - to my mind one of the most giving professions there is - she listened to her students, and tried to make learning fun. Yes, what she did was naive and ignorance is not a defence but come on enough is enough.
I am trying desperately hard not to make this all political but I can’t help it. I’m trying to be as PC as I can but right now I am coming over all George ‘kick the ever living crap out of them’ Bush. Send her home, slap on the wrist, deny her the right to teach in Sudan, anything but jail and protests and calls for execution! Had it happened here and she had named the teddy bear Jesus (I know it’s not the same thing but just go with it) she would have received a suspension from her job, a public humiliation in the form of a tabloid newspapering and maybe community service working with groups of faith until at the end of it, there was a photo opportunity of her smiling as her ‘tell all’ book came out. But that’s just how we roll.
It has, however, become one of those things where everyone (except for the usual suspects) seems to be on the same page here and she will probably be welcomed home as a hero. Speaking of women being welcomed as heroes…
The new Miss World is Zi Lin Zhang, of the People’s Republic of China. Shocking, since that’s where the event was held. Anyway, she is 23, has a Degree in Business Administration, and her personal motto is “Where there’s a will there’s a way”.
Oh and she looks like this:
not that I am in anyway suggesting that looks were the only thing she won on.
It was however this story that reminded me it was World Aids Day - and this made me feel superficial. I mean, a beauty pageant reminding a person of this is like a can of Coke reminding you that Christmas is coming… Or something…
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Tags: , Gillian Gibbons, Miss World 2007, News
December 2nd, 2007 at 6:33 am
I know that feeling of not being able to come up with anything to write with and hoping that some old draft is publish-able.
And don’t get me started on that teddy bear situation. It’s so ridiculous.
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:04 am
Your anger about Gillian Gibbons’ situation is justified, but imagine such a situation taking place over and over again for the last 50 years. Will you get mad. Really mad. Will you not?
Well that’s what we so-called-civilized westerners have been doing to these countries and these people. And then we wonder why there is terrorism? What they are doing to Gillian is nothing compared to what our “superior minds” have done to them.
(I am not trying to condone what is happening in Turkey, but since you are also mocking the Chinese girl for winning Miss World, I sense a element of superiority complex in your writing, which is the source of all conflicts.)
December 2nd, 2007 at 12:06 pm
the thinker - I think that’s why I have been trawling the news sites for stories… BUT now I have a job (if I repeat it over and over it stays true) I’ll be out in the world more seeing the insanity close to home! Yay! The ‘teddy bear’ situation is spiraling out of control…
Another Christian - Well that’s what we so-called-civilized westerners have been doing to these countries and these people…
I really do want to learn so if you could please give me an example of something we have done to the Sudanese on the same level as this and the punishment we gave.
This whole thing is not just about Gillian Gibbons though, is it? It’s about taking a teacher (who, by all reports was loved by her students both here in the UK and in Sudan) out of her job and punishing her for an offense a lot of practicing Muslims see as something that is politically motivated… and not about faith. Surely the way to handle this would have been to follow the Prophet’s example and teach her about what she had done wrong… It is possible she knew about this specific part of Sharia law but after the child in her class suggested the name, to call it after himself, it is possible that she saw no problem with it. She was naming the teddy after the boy, not the Prophet, after all.
It’s interesting that you brought up Turkey. I can only assume you are referring to the current state of affairs between it and the PKK in Iraq? This is a story I will be watching with interest especially since the news coming out of Iraq is becoming more and more muddled.
Okay, regarding the Chinese winning Miss World. I meant it is ’shocking’ in regards to the fact that a host nation won. She is stunningly beautiful, has a degree and does a job which requires a lot of mental agility so I don’t doubt her qualifications are in place… but how can you take any competition seriously that has Duncan James (formally of pop group Blue) as one of the judges? I meant no offence to ZI Lin Zhang, and wish her all the best.
Superiority complex? I am English - we can’t help it, it’s hard wired at birth. It’s only as we open out eyes and look around that we realise that this is not true. So, bear with me, I am still learning about how rubbish we are.
Anyway, thank you for your views. They were well received.
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:30 am
Jesus is an extremely common name in the Southwestern United States. It’s Hispanic, and is pronounced “Hay-soos.” No one has ever been executed for it.
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:38 pm
SJ - I imagine if someone named a whole toy store full soft toys Jesus H. Christ then no one would bat an eyelid. She’s been released now though. The Sudanese President got involved. Politics got a little too heavy? Hold your breath for what comes next!