Having lived and taught in Afghanistan, this quote was especially MEANINGFUL!
"‘One of the signatures of any repressive regime,’ he wrote the following day, ‘is their need to control not just meaningful differences-the voices of dissent, for instance-but ostensibly 'meaningless' ones as well, like dress. It will take some time for people to realize that creating the difference between Coke and Pepsi is not just an empty pastime but one of many signs of life in a free society.’ The Afghan women who risked the Taliban's prisons to paint their faces and style their hair in underground beauty shops, and who celebrated the liberation of Kabul by coloring their nails with once-forbidden polish, would agree. Surface may take on meaning, but it has a value all its own” (Postrel, 2003: 92).
No comments:
Post a Comment