Warner Todd Huston
Sometimes technology isn't benign
By Warner Todd Huston
For proof that man can take any great idea and turn it to evil comes a story from Saudi Arabia, our "ally" in the Mideast. This story also shows that advanced electronic technology isn't always the panacea to life's troubles that we always imagine it to be. In fact, to women in the oppressive Kingdom of Saudi Arabia it is an Orwellian monstrosity.
Courtesy of Benjamin Joffe-Walt from The Media Line we learn that the Saudi oppressors are using text messages to track the movement of the Kingdom's women, keeping tabs on them whenever they leave their homes.
Women's rights activist Wajiha Al-Huwaidar reports to the west that when she walks out the door of her Saudi Arabian home her husband receives a text message on his phone to warn him of her apostasy. What evil has she perpetrated? Why she has left her home ostensibly without the permission of her husband.
You see, in the Saudi Kingdom, wives are basically owned by their husbands and the law essentially treats them like chattel. It is called "guardianship" and it gives all power and legal responsibility to the male treating the wife like property instead of a human.
So when Al-Huwaidar left her home to fly to Italy to vacation with family, her husband was warned of her illicit travel via technology.
"It is sad how Saudis use technology in a way not intended to be used for," Al-Huwaidar told The Media Line. "In Saudi Arabia, technology brings more restrictions and misery! They use it to have more control over people's lives, especially women."
Not only is this an indictment on Islam, but a warning proving that technology isn't always benign. Technology can be used for evil and can be warped by oppressive government for its own hateful purposes.
In fact, this incident should make any sane American think twice about allowing even our own government from taking over the Internet like the FCC is proposing and like so-called "net neutrality" supporters want.
If the Saudis can so easily use text messaging technology to oppress their women, just think of the obscene power that the Internet can offer to an out-of-control government like Barack Obama's? Look at how China controls its Internet keeping its own people from being able to reach the outside world.
This story should make every true American fear both the policies being pushed by the net neutrality supporters and the Obama administration's desire to take control of the Internet.
© Warner Todd Huston
August 1, 2010
For proof that man can take any great idea and turn it to evil comes a story from Saudi Arabia, our "ally" in the Mideast. This story also shows that advanced electronic technology isn't always the panacea to life's troubles that we always imagine it to be. In fact, to women in the oppressive Kingdom of Saudi Arabia it is an Orwellian monstrosity.
Courtesy of Benjamin Joffe-Walt from The Media Line we learn that the Saudi oppressors are using text messages to track the movement of the Kingdom's women, keeping tabs on them whenever they leave their homes.
Women's rights activist Wajiha Al-Huwaidar reports to the west that when she walks out the door of her Saudi Arabian home her husband receives a text message on his phone to warn him of her apostasy. What evil has she perpetrated? Why she has left her home ostensibly without the permission of her husband.
You see, in the Saudi Kingdom, wives are basically owned by their husbands and the law essentially treats them like chattel. It is called "guardianship" and it gives all power and legal responsibility to the male treating the wife like property instead of a human.
So when Al-Huwaidar left her home to fly to Italy to vacation with family, her husband was warned of her illicit travel via technology.
"It is sad how Saudis use technology in a way not intended to be used for," Al-Huwaidar told The Media Line. "In Saudi Arabia, technology brings more restrictions and misery! They use it to have more control over people's lives, especially women."
-
"I am an adult woman that has been earning my own income for over a decade now but according to the Saudi government, I am a dependent until the day I die because of my gender," Al-Huwaidar said. "I'm not sure how it works, but lately we get to be informed through our mobile phones about our bank accounts, sale ads, jobs, donation campaigns and others. I'm sure it's a new service that the government is using for different purposes. They don't state which country the dependent left for, but simply state that they did leave."
Not only is this an indictment on Islam, but a warning proving that technology isn't always benign. Technology can be used for evil and can be warped by oppressive government for its own hateful purposes.
In fact, this incident should make any sane American think twice about allowing even our own government from taking over the Internet like the FCC is proposing and like so-called "net neutrality" supporters want.
If the Saudis can so easily use text messaging technology to oppress their women, just think of the obscene power that the Internet can offer to an out-of-control government like Barack Obama's? Look at how China controls its Internet keeping its own people from being able to reach the outside world.
This story should make every true American fear both the policies being pushed by the net neutrality supporters and the Obama administration's desire to take control of the Internet.
© Warner Todd Huston
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
