behind the veil
I saw this documentary on Discovery channel about the post Taliban era in Afghanistan. It’s about the women there… you know, how their lives fared after spending years in torment under iron claws of Taliban.
It started out with a few pannings of here and there, followed by some introduction shits. Then, it began with a serious narration about how Afghan girls wanted a big change, a big revolution and wanted to so vehemently embrace modernism. “Wow, some big deal” and decided to follow on that story to kill boredom.
Alright, guess what’s the modernisation and big revolution thing that they’re talking about ? Putting on make ups. I was like “Whatttt ??”. Yeah, it’s hard to believe but very true. The first thing they do .. after liberating the independence from a bunch of religious freaks … is to PUT ON MAKEUPS. Can you believe that ?
They even have their American counterparts to teach them how to do it. You know, train them all so seriously as if they’re having some oh-so-important mission of sending someone to Mars.
“If you do not know how to present yourself, how are you gonna change the future ? How would Afghanistan become a modern nation ??” the double chinned American piece of saturated fat female would yell at the bunch clueless Afghan women. *shakes head in disbelief*
First of all, I do not know what “make up” has to do with modernisation of a nation. As per my understanding, the Chinese and the Egyptians females has been painting their faces since BC, and that’s ANCIENT. If this is something that the Americans would deem as MODERN, then, what should we call the Chinese today ? Space age ?
Then, what next ? Teaching them plastic surgery ? to implant big fake boobies ? to take dopes and getting laid by strangers ? And with all the “beauties” one can ever fabricate themselves, Afghanistan to have their own titty bars ? And submit themselves to more social decadence ?
Pardon me but, those faces that I see under the burkhas, are not just any rusted faces of a common ratfink. Those are pretty faces. Natural pretty faces. Make up’s are just another form of veil, that clouds the ugly from the eyes of men. With those good looks, I felt that the Afghan women NEEDS NO MAKEUP. They look just as good as they already are, naturally.
They could have used their independence for some better purpose or goals. Like getting higher education, rights to vote, or perhaps training them to specialize in some skills (for those who’s too old to go for education) ,… nursing, emergency relief skills, fire fighting skills, etc. Something that would be really good to help rebuilding their nation.
Americans…. Tiuuuuuuu….
Chinese flers space-age wat!
How else do you explain Moon Rockets? Damn I miss those things!
i saw dat documentary b4. the americans had classes to teach the afgan women abt makeup & how to apply & etc etc. during the taliban regime, makeup was totally banned from women. and women had to hide their lovely faces under burkhas, which is so sad cos afgan women are actually very pretty. during the regime, some women wld risk going to some hidden secretive beauty parlour just to apply some makeup, then hide them behind the burkhas. tsk, such a life.
but now there’s education for afgan women.
true that…make ups are just another form of veil. had loads of people flame me last time for saying that on my blog..
surely u’ll have loads of things to say once u see these foreigners in our uni; afghan, bosnian, iranian, iraqi. they are…nah forget it
On your last remark…. I second that!
Because under Taliban regime, women can’t even put a simple COMMON thing as make-up. They see it as a sign of independence, the way little girls see Mum’s make-up as a rite of passage to womanhood (and being an adult). Any woman will tell you that once upon a time, they experiment with Mum’s make-up when they were kids because it was fun and more interestingly, because they wanted to feel what it was like to be an adult.
But hey…at least they didn’t continue putting on JUST make-up. Last I checked, their women were going back to schools, offices and government service.
james - yeah, Moon Travellers, how can I not remember them ?
olivia - i know, but that’s not my point. My point is, of all the important thing in this world, why choose makeup ?
vincent - great men think alike.
uculer - well, ups and downs. scissors and stones. I couldn’t have cared less.
mei - i understand what you meant. To stretch out your point more, I would say kids SEE EVERYTHING as a rite of passage to adulthood. Riding a big bike, bullfighting, gun totting, whatever. We would experiment with ANYTHING to feel like an adult. And then when we grow up, we would find out that adulthood is nothing of that sort.
Well … I hope things in Afghan will get better than just makeups.
A single first step and a step of defiance. May not be much to us because we’re able to do it so freely until it has become a non issue. Hopefully they’ll achieve even more for the betterment of their nation, better treatment, better education, better livelihood and a beter future.
kervin - it would only be called a defiance if they did it during the Taliban rule. Now that the Taliban’s out-of-power, I wouldn’t call that a defiance. It should be called as a ‘venture’, discovery.
Not that I’m against the art of makeup but, kinda disagree on the idea of linking it to “modernism” or perhaps “freedom”.
Yah~ I strongly agree… These women are born with natural beauty. The beauty that can conquer a beauty pageant. But sadly to say, even if they get independence now, it will be a long process before they get to realise what kind of real ‘independence’ they can strive for beside ‘make up’.
those women couldn’t even wear lipstick as it could have resulted in death. it’s very symbolical now they they could use cosmetics in the open, says a lot about the current gov’s attitude towards women. besides, way before taliban regime women there were already accustomed to wearing makeups and whatever clothes they want so saying USA is turning them into another statistic of social decadance is quite unfair. in this case i think they are really helping out to build the women’s confidence.
There the americans go again…being world police and all…
kim - building the confidence of the women ? by vehemently stresses that they wouldn’t become modern without makeups and beauty schools ? Those people needed to rebuild their war torn homes more than anything else. They already got their independence alright… it’s just a matter of time before they gain back their whatever confidence .. with or without makeups.
My point is, they could have used better aid … as per suggested in the blog entry.
din - i love America… and it’s people sometimes. But since the “belukar” became the most powerful dude in the world … *sigh*… I’ve seen them differently…
Bravo to you…:D. Your blogs make alot of ppl react, whether positive or negative. People denied of what they really are after reading your blog. Keep up your blogging, who knows there are ppl who eventually denied themselves as HUMAN or probably change sex as they cannot change themselves to an animal, can they? *hrrmmm*.
I think it’s supposed to make people feel lucky…in Afghanistan, even putting on make-up is difficult, so we should feel lucky that we can put make-up freely. And because it’s something quirky and cute, people think it’s worth filming.
But you’re right. It’s really dumb to measure liberation through make-up. Make-up is hell.
But I guess when you’ve been forced to become a bimbo for many years, your head can’t think of anything more advanced than the simple act of making yourself pretty. Yeah, I heard about all those suppressed women in the Middle Eastern countries from people working there. Many of the girls don’t even know how to do simple things. They don’t know how to think anymore.
About American standards : Just look at Extreme Makeover. The woman with the seriously crooked lip needed help, but the rest were along the lines of ‘I walk with my head hung low in shame because my nose is too thin/tits too small/tits too big/crows feet all over/flabs all around etc.
About Taliban chicks : yeah what kim said
Karcy: in Afghan, there weren’t even conditioned to be bimbos, the simple act of making self pretty doesnt even exist. Beautifying onself is the simplest most basic way to breed confidence (as shallow as it sounds, but in Afghan’s context it works) and they did not have that.
Mike: in continuation of my reply to karcy, it is in the saloons too that women concregate and discuss among themselve - which im sure involves pretty much of the current political scene and what they could do for their kids and themselves. also it wasn’t mentioned, but the big bro is giving significant encouragement to the women in pursuing their rights and education. anyway, makeup movement is conducted by mostly NGOs who identified the needs, otherwise it wouldn’t have happened.
“Those are pretty faces. Natural pretty faces. Make up’s are just another form of veil, that clouds the ugly from the eyes of men.” - mikeooi
Exactly, they were forced to wear burqa to hide their beauty, not to hide their ugliness from men. They are modern and educated before Taliban, so the point you suggested that USA encourages makeups for modernity is not valid. It’s really just to..u know, to cheer em up (and tell them things are back to normal now). Okay I’ll stop ramblin
don’t you love healthy discussions ?
kim - you have my utter respect for thinking at that depth for such a simple act.
since I’m a person of practical (i’ve been brought up to face difficulty and independence since at a very young age), i’ll just stick to my standing.
I still think that there are better things that can be done (which I’ve already mentioned in both my post and comment replies).
Bravo Michael!
(i gotta say something as a first timer commenter albeit a stupid comment..heh)