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When In Riyadh
Drudge is making a big deal of Michelle Obama’s decision not to hide her hair while in Riyadh with the President. Kudos to the First Lady?
Pretend, for a moment, that the story does not concern two vile people who would sooner spit on you than respect you as a political opponent. What should be the general rule in regard to diplomatic presentation, as opposed to diplomatic content? When in Riyadh, do as the Saudis do? Or dress and behave like an American, always and everywhere?
Also, this story is a far cry from the hubbub years ago about President Obama bowing to a Saudi leader. Did the President learn something from his critics? Why cater to foreign customs then and not now? Or are the President’s concerns irrelevant to his wife’s behavior?
Image Credit: Flickr user US Department of State.
Published in Foreign Policy, General
This is a wonderful way of putting the issue.
I would reserve the right to mention it as an oddity, and I would defend the right of any other person to exercise their First Amendment right to express their displeasure and/or feeling of personal “offense”.
I wouldn’t ban her from the funeral, or charge her with a crime, or flog her, or stone her, or behead her, or throw acid in her face, or endorse any sort of retaliation against the woman in any way.
As has been pointed out, it depends on the occasion and the place. When we enter sacred buildings of another faith, we follow their rules. Where was the funeral held and what are the local funeral customs? Was the head of every woman at the funeral covered? Then she should follow suit. She wouldn’t have to cover her head at other places in the country, just there at the funeral.
I think the better example would be in the other direction. Imagine the First Lady sent as part of a delegation to a country where women typically attend funerals bare breasted. Would it be reasonable to expect her to disrobe?
The treatment of women in Arab Muslim nations is barbaric. Our women cannot reasonably be expected to adopt their customs. For the first time in Obama’s presidency, I’m proud of my First Lady.
And, in the inverse, I’ve always been disgusted by the likes of Hillary and Pelosi donning head covering during their visits to the Middle East. Why dither? Just go full burqa.
I support Michelle Obama’s decision not to cover her hair. I still cannot believe I typed I support Michelle Obama. It is not the American people’s custom to cowtow to tyrannical rule.
I do understand, however, had I been going to the funeral, I would have covered my hair. Respecting (reasonable) customs say more about you than your hosts.
Please correct me if I’m mistaken, but by attending a funeral without covering her hair the First Lady would have been in violation of Saudi law, punishable in ways most North Americans would find barbaric. She was only able to do this because she had diplomatic immunity.
If you were attending a funeral in Saudi Arabia, you’re dang right that you would cover your hair!!
Much ado about nothing. Here are four American women in Saudi Arabia:
Michelle is neither brave nor a trailblazer. This is a case of narrative. It must be busted.
There’s definitely an element of “soft bigotry of low expectations.” I’m just not sure whether it applies to the Saudis or to Michelle.
Who is the one in the lower left from 2010?
Which harkens back to my point about her only being able to get away with it because she had diplomatic immunity.
It is brave for a servant to violate the customs of a host. It is not brave for a queen to do so.
That being said, to say that it wasn’t courageous is not to argue that she shouldn’t have done it. It’s merely to argue that it was the least she could have done.
The question here, I guess, is who deserves the public flogging? Is it these Western Women who seem culturally insensitive or the news media that’s building something out of nothing to prop up the Emperor?
And what are you to make of this?
If only His Excellency Colonel Obama could manage not to goad and mock Americans who do not agree with him. He will never deride America’s enemies with the vitriol he regularly excretes at bitter, clinging, moats-with-alligators Americans.
Foreign women are not expected to cover their heads in Saudi Arabia, except at specifically religious events (such as visiting a mosque). The picture of Rice, Albright, Bush, and Clinton certainly tells that story. The thousands of female ex-pats working for the oil companies or living with their families in Saudi Arabia who go uncovered every day tells an even better story.
It’s not a big deal. And I will add my surprised name to the list of people who can’t believe they’re saying “leave Michelle Obama alone, she did the right thing.”
The only people who deserve public flogging are those who unapologetically sentence other people to public flogging.
I show a culture respect when I have respect for the culture.
How about “leave Michelle Obama alone, she did an innocuous and unremarkable thing”?
;-)
Tough to deal with a culture that degrades women like that. Team America World Police said it best. Durka durka Allah Mohammed Jihad? Aye, durka durka!
I liked Team America’s commentary on Pearl Harbor, too.
Make sure your link has “https:” rather than “http:”
In the finest tradition of the Canadian Foreign Service.
Dang right. Canuckistanis conduct their floggings in private.
Done.
Hmmm, the President is the only man in that picture with no head covering. Respectful or not? If we don’t care a whit about his bare head, why are we giving attention to his wife’s bare head.
More strange really, given the ruthless segregation of the sexes in Saudi and legal degredation of women there, is her presence among those men at all. Essentially she is there because she is his consort, and therefore they probably would not care if she was in a bikini, or on the end of a leash.
FWIW, I think the split between making/not-making the sign of the cross is a Protestant High-Church/Low-Church thing. Lutheran pastors make the sign of the cross with blessings, etc. Parishoners sometimes cross themselves at those same points, more often not…
I’m late to this thread, and am skimming the comments quickly, so I may have the arguments a little jumbled. But am I correct that we’re advocating women going topless (or wearing string bikinis) at funerals? Cool! ;-)
Seriously, I come down with those who say, if you are an invited guest to this kind of event (e.g. funeral/wedding/etc.) then it is impolite to seriously go against the customs of your host. If the gap created by the importance to your host of you following the custom, and the importance to you of not following the custom is too great, then you better not go. But don’t be rude at a funeral. That’s just…rude.
If it’s a more overtly political event (and I realize the funeral of a head of state is a political event), then go as an American would normally go.
Having said that I don’t think the Saudis in that setting care if a Western women comes and doesn’t cover her hair. They may even get a little frisson of excitement… On the other hand if you walk down a street in Riyadh that way don’t be surprised if you’re treated like you’re being lascivious.
So much for the hair. Now Michelle’s dress (?) is totally inappropriate for a funeral. A little too much of the Merry Widow in that look.
So Michelle has all the stones in the family? Unsurprising.
It took a woman to show Barry how to be a man.
But always in a classy way.
For the first time in my adult life I’m proud of…Michelle Obama.
You’re not the first on this thread.
This is probably the only thing that this lady has done that I am applauding loudly. She is not Muslim (so they say) and she is not a citizen of Saudi Arabia, so why should she be wrapped in a shroud and made to feel inferior? She is a Western woman with Western style and taste, so if they don’t like it then they need to get over it.
The decisive point is it was a funeral. At the funeral itself, and events connected with the funeral, it would have been courteous to not draw attention to herself.
Otherwise, follow the examples pointed out by E. J. Hill.
That said, there is nothing that will disabuse me of the conviction that everything Michelle Obama does is thoroughly vetted and calculated to have a precise political effect beneficial to her personally.