Michelle Obama out of line for not wearing a burqa?

hell no! no one should have to cover their face or follow any rules determined by some fictional tale of some dude's dream of trippin out in the desert and flying to Jerusalem. just because some asshole guys like being able to kick girls around without any recompense is more what it seems like. easier to torture a woman if you can't see her face? i never got the reasoning for mandatory covering of legs and face in i slam. the guys are just too weak over there to see a woman and not go crazy and r ape her? you know it's her fault because she makes you r ape her, right? -BS

Hillary Clinton didn't wear one neither did Angela Merkel. Foreigners aren't required to wear a veil in Saudi Arabia.

Michelle Obama generally looks like she should be flying around in a bird off prey and wielding a bat'leth.

I remember reading an article about Michelle going to Saudi Arabia with Barack Obama to pay their condolences to the recently passed King Abdullah; Michelle was asked to cover her face, but she refused. I think she definitely made the right call. Saudi Arabia is a shit stain on the planet. They are seriously stuck in the past. Women literally have zero rights there (they can't even drive for fucks sake) and you can get executed for the stupidest shit like adultery, insulting their religion, or, you'll love this one, "sorcery". And they still have a freaking absolute monarchy, and their (the royal family) stupidly rich too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only reason the US sucks Saudi dick is for oil-related reasons.

This isn't really news. Foreign visitors in Saudi are exempted from headscarf rules.

If we executed people for sorcery in the States we'd at least get rid of all the LARPers.

I googled LARP. Are you refering to live action role play? They all look like they want Skyrim to be a real life thing, LOL. Such terrible sorcery, ROFL.

As others have pointed out, foreigners are not obligated to follow Saudi dress code rules. I'm not sure whether this applies only to foreigners or more generally to people of different faiths. At any rate while I wouldn't put any real value on it to begin with I still think she should have obliged and worn a scarf if she was asked to to begin with. It is worth mentioning at this point the BS of TC discussing whether she should have worn burqa as if this is the expected attire of women in Saudi Arabia. He either doesn't know the difference and is complete oblivious about dressing codes in Islamic nations in general and the extent of their observance or he knows and is just being a shifty sensationalist. Now to go back to my point, she was a guest in a foreign nation and it'd have shown her hosts courtesy to oblige their request. I wouldn't have a problem doing the same if I ever found myself in a similar situation.

Burqa?

Are you sure TC?

lol

All I have to say is **** Saudi Arabia.

What's next? When you visit North America you'll be required to wear a Yankees baseball cap?

she should have worn it.

along with a chastity belt, ball gag, handcuffs, nuns habit, bustle, blindfold and leg cuffs,

wimmenz is scary!

aren't you horrified of them too?

thank god (PB&J) someone is taking a stand against these terror inspiring creatures that walk among us.

That licentious Michelle Obama....

I really don't care and I get the feeling that's what most people feel like.

Good, makes me glad that I would be a foreigner if I were to visit Saudi Arabia.

I'm also glad Michelle Obama didn't follow Islamic Code, Islamic Code needs to get kicked back down to the bowels of hell from whence it came.

She's not breaking any new ground here. A lot of women from the US haven't worn a headscarf when visiting Saudi Arabia. This is a made up controversy from people too lazy to fact check on Google like even the laziest junior high student would do.

If she had worn one she would have gotten criticized for it.

Of course she isn't out of line. It would be ridiculous to force someone to follow that outrages archaic practice, hence the reason foreigners don't have to wear them. Only their own people are suppose to remain in the 13th century.

yes, burqa or purda translates to veil. in some countries it is a whole head covering. in some a whole head, neck, and torso. but it still translates the same.

This is an OOOOLD discussion:

(arguments for Michelle): she did not humiliate herself, she didnt do anything wrong just wearing normal clothes, she made something for women

(arguments against Michelle): she should have adapted to the local culture, she did not show respect

Who's right who's wrong?

what you're describing is American porn funny enough

You first. Was she right or wrong?

Google:

a long, loose garment covering the whole body from head to feet, worn in public by many Muslim women.

thefreedictionary:

A loose, usually black or light blue outer garment worn by Muslim women that covers the head and face and sometimes the entire body.

dictionary.reference:

a loose garment covering the entire body and having a veiled opening for the eyes, worn by Muslim women.

macmillandictionary:

a loose piece of clothing that covers the head and body completely except for a space for the eyes. A burka is worn in public by Muslim women in some countries.

Screw the Saudis and their misogynistic culture.

@elessarGObonzo: **** no... Nobody should wear that shit

@alim298: thank you

@elessarGObonzo:

You're welcome.

once upon a time, LOOKOUT! THERE'S A WOMAN BEHIND YOU!

scared you didn't i?

but it's ok, one day you will be in paradise and the scary women won't be able to get you and you will finally be free of their tyranny.

praise him! (pb&J)

The Middle East is facing an identity crisis.

By almost any standard they can be measured by in comparison to 1st world, technologically literate nations, the Arab Peninsula is in the Dark Ages.

They also are only relevant in any form in the 21st century because they got lucky and happened to be sitting on top of large oil supplies, which Western Oil companies (the 7 sisters) had to extract out of the ground for them. The world's demand for oil is peaking but production elsewhere has now started ramping up, thus the recent plummet in oil prices. Oil exports are the economic backbones of most of these nations, who have almost no other function in 2015.

They allow these "exemptions" because they are desperate to attract foreigners, and their investments, who will otherwise laugh them off as the equivalent of backwater Rednecks and the ME will slide back into complete irrelevance.

Have you ever been to a middle eastern country I wonder

I have always wanted to visit Egypt for it's history and ancient architecture. Hell, at one point I wanted to be an Egyptologist.

Modern Egypt is putting people in jail for years for claiming they are atheists.

If that isn't backward, I don't know what is.

Egypt isn't the only Muslim country you know. Other middle eastern countries have some interesting things about them as well.

Oh, lots of them. But how many of them can you go around talking openly about atheism and secular ideas? I'd bet the only one where you wouldn't end up in jail, dead, or in some sort of trouble is Oman. And I doubt any of them would tolerate criticism of the Qur'an.

It's meaningless. As long as we continue giving them billions a year for oil, they'll continue exporting extremist ideology around the world.

What does it matter that 1 western woman didn't wear it when every woman in their population is essentially a slave, albeit a mental slave.

When I said there are interesting things about middle eastern countries I wasn't exactly referring to Oman though lol.

poor dinosaurs, plants, and ocean life that got trapped under that messed up culture and give them access to unlimited money to fuel their tyrannical monarchies. too bad the crusades didn't turn out better.

does fox have to mention a certain country for you to be satisfied? how about giving him some clues

I didn't mean any specific country. These borders in ME are man made. Oman is only a small country in the ME. The culture and history that runs through the ME isn't really part of any country. Each country has a share of that history and culture. Oman however, as far as I remember never had any scientist or thinkers during the golden age. It's obvious why. Oman is a relatively small country.

Good places to visit would be Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, UAE, Israel, Turkey. Iraq and Syria obviously are no longer good choices because of war.

She was out of line, but Barack needs to learn how to handle his own woman. We can't do it for him.

what's cute is that you actually think you were funny.

only if you've killed enough infidels

what's cute is you actually think you are not funny.

Is there one? That isn't Israel (because I assume the context was referring to Muslim ME countries)?

I don't understand your line of thinking here. At least where I live they don't prosecute you for being an atheist or agnostic. Well when you're filling out a form you'll eventually have to choose a religion and there's always a "other" option but from what I know most atheists and agnostics in my country just go with Islam. But the thing is you'll never get prosecuted for expressing your opinions unless you say it during a TV show or let it be written on the newspapers. In other words as long as your opinion is your personal opinion and isn't going to agitate the people they don't care about your opinions. Now I don't understand why they should prosecute a tourist for speaking of secularism and whatnot if said person is just an ordinary person not a journalist and stuff.

Yes the freedom of journalism is pretty shaky in the ME. I know for fact that at least in my country it pretty much doesn't exist if you're expecting them to criticize the Quran. But as a student I've sat through many speeches. Some of them were extremely anti-Islamic most of the times in favor of either reform or nationalism. I never heard the ones who gave such speeches getting prosecuted. I've also seen some strange opinions being expressed in the national TV by some so-called open minded individual and the next week he would reappear.

Here are some examples if you doubt what I say:

- I've heard some of my teachers in the university supporting gay people. At least until now I've never seen any of them getting suspended and stuff.

- I've heard thinkers on national TV, newspapers and speeches going against compulsory hijab. Not one of them got fired because of his/her stance.

- I've heard people saying that antagonizing the western culture is the worst thing and if our society wants to continue to function in the 21 century it has to become COMPLETELY and in EVERY WAY like them.

- The vast majority of people in my country believe that religion and politics have nothing to do with each other (similar to the idea of secularism). More importantly I've seen people using the Islamic line of thinking to justify this claim. Reportedly there are written books in this field as well.

- During theology sessions I see students criticizing God himself. They don't get suspended from university. As someone who doesn't believe in many aspects of the so-called faith I've been pretty vocal about my opinions regarding this matter as well. No one ever came up to me and told me: "mister. Please come with us. We believe you are a murtad." Not out of sympathy though but because I'm just a nobody.

etc.

Now my question is that why would a tourist want to have any interactions with the government? Yes the governments in most ME countries are oppressive and have very few albeit loud supporters but I doubt that the majority of people are oppressive too. So what exactly bothers you about ME countries? Government alone shouldn't be what's holding you back from visiting these nations.

If you want people to go to the US and respect it's way of life, beliefs and customs then the same should be done when visiting another country. Everyone knows what it's like in some of the middle eastern countries, if you don't agree with it, then don't go there. Don't go there and then insult them. I bet those who thing what she did was great and standing up for something are the same people who throw a fit when you hear about people coming over from the middle east and keeping their own culture/belief alive.

Why would she ever lower herself to the absurd standards and expectations of a bunch of camel fuckers and oil barons.

Who gives a shit what Saudi Arabians think about the First Lady. Good on her.

She lives in a free nation and has freedom of choice as she demonstrated. It would be wonderful if all women around the world had the same rights. That said, if she had chosen to wear a burka I would not have thought any less of her as freedom of choice has to include what might be unpopular in your culture as well as what is popular. To play devils advocate I have to wonder how well it would have been received in America if she did choose to wear one.