A 21st Century incongruity is that we still invoke primitive measures against others in an attempt to intimidate and enforce behavior that has long since lost its meaning. We are a society ruled by civil laws and this contrasts with societies in Islamic countries that are ruled by religious (Shariah) codes which include punishments like lopping off hands, beheadings and whipping with more than 200 lashes. We are assured that Shariah enforcement differs from place to place and interpretation of what a lash is mere touching the body of the miscreant is considered a lashing. Count 200 of those and both the lasher and the lashee would be bored and wonder why any one bothered. But the law that was broken in a Muslim country where Shariah(the religious imperative), as Thomas L. Friedman in today’s NY Times points out, is being enforced against “mingling” or a woman and a man sitting in a car talking. The rest of that story is a gang of men raped her AND her companion and the law is not invoked against them for raping but her for being raped. But, this is in a country where women are hidden behind Bourquas, not allowed to vote, not go to school and not become professionals.
The noose is a particular American relic. It has been invoked against mostly black men who got uppity and demanded equal justice for all. The NYTimes printed an almost full page of “The Geography of Hate” where nooses were used recently mostly in the east of the Mississippi States. No one was lynched but the nooses are a reminder of days when lynching was popular and no one misunderstands the message of a noose nailed to the door of a house here in America. Here in America we do not tolerate such intimidation - but it goes on.
What “normal” people (that means you and I) do not understand is that there is a subculture throughout the country that approves warning upstarts against starting up that democracy thing that America is trying to sell overseas to countries where punishing the one who is raped and forcing marriage on young women who do not want this are the norm. Normal people do not understand the fuss that is made over nooses being used to acculturate “different” people (meaning non-conformists). They do understand why they (the non-conformists) continue to resist the extreme fundamentalism. That noose is not the Cross but it is used by fundamentalist Christians who believe that Jesus would understand and endorse such methodology. I do not agree. I think that these fundamentalists either here or in Muslim countries are in need of re-education which tells them that “others” have a right to be different and need not conform to antiquated and “illegal” interpretations of what the law really is. Make them make the noose and the lash go away.