Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The taliban won't understand your mother's shorts

Zak wrote a thing on his blog and I like it and I'm linking to it.

"Imagine for a minute that your mother is teleported to a Taliban-controlled village in Afghanistan. She’s probably not wearing a veil. She might even be wearing shorts. The Taliban, naturally, will probably be upset. Or maybe not, they might laugh--"Hah, woman! Your attempt to seduce us is laughable!". Either way, though, they'll be mistaken if they think this is a deliberate attempt on your mother's part to provoke or tempt or doing anything to them. This is just what happens when someone is transferred immediately from the orbit of one culture into the orbit of another."

2 comments:

Greg said...

Please illustrate all future blog entries about your mom in shorts visiting the taliban. Maybe she could be offering them a plate of rice crispy treats.

matt w said...

TCB. Although I gave her a plant instead of Rice Krispies treats. And she only superficially resembles my mom. I didn't manage to draw her decades of experience as a speech pathologist, for example. Cartooning is an inexact art.