Question: Are Saudi Arabia and Iran shining examples of socially enlightened societies? I remember the 1971 war on the country that is now known as Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan). West Pakistani soldiers conducted a rape campaign against the girls and young women of Bangladesh. (Incidentally, the Nixon administration sided with these aggressors and rapists, much to our shame; but hypocritcally condemned India for intervening.) Ask yourself this question: How do you think the rape victims were treated in their Muslim society? How are rape victims treated in Muslim countries today? I remember in about the mid-1970s when Gloria Steinem criticized the way Saudi women were being treated, and rightly so. Now hardly anyone seems to care. What happened to bring about this change? Oh, I know the answer. . . . It's just politics.
I've also noticed there is little room in national politics for independent people. Both "progressives" and conservatives have their own narrow, dogmatic party lines that must be upheld without the slightest deviation. No wonder I have no party affiliation.
Sadly, online political exchanges don't seem to accomplish anything. Sure, everybody gets to express their opinions; but no minds are ever changed. At least it seems to me that that's the way it is. Yes, I've succumbed to the temptation to post in other political topics. I should exercise greater will power from now on.