An Onion Parody, or a UN Human Rights Report: You Decide
Think about this one moment. We all know that Islamist and Arab regimes think nothing of stoning homosexuals to death, throwing them in jail, hanging them, or simply making life hell for them at every possible level. We also know that scores of gay Palestinians and Arabs do their best to flee to Israel, the only government that affords them human rights, allows them to exist freely, and even has an annual gay rights parade. Yet the special rapporteur on human rights of the UN is accusing Israel of violating the rights of gays, lesbians and trans-gendered people, by its counter-terrorism measures.
With this kind of political correctness gone amok, the Human Rights Commission and its Special Rapporteur have reached the level of complete absurdity.
For further analysis, read this news article by Adam Brickley of CNS News, titled “U.N. Report Says Counterterrorism Measures ‘Risk Unduly Penalizing Transgender Persons’”
I’m sure it was this concern for the delicate sensibilities of the Arab transgendered that prompted Hillary to join the prestigious group. You know it’s all about judgement and leadership.
UGH.
Is there no LIMIT to INSANITY?
Apparently…NOT.
“America’s new membership on the Human Rights Council has had no results in the fairness of the process. Did anyone imagine it would? Well, I suppose the president did.”
One can only hope Marty Peretz is not speaking in a tongue in cheek manner. Barack Obama is truly that childishly naïve. He is existentially committed to the notion that America’s alleged belligerence is the number one cause of evil in the world. These victims are merely doing the best they can to respond to our unjust and aggressive behavior. Obama is unlikely to ever get his act together while still residing in the White House. He simply does have the time to read and study these issues. To be blunt, we are royally screwed. The man is not close to being reading for prime time.
It also behooves me to indulge in possibly my favorite activity: bashing the often vastly overrated graduates of Harvard University. Ronald Reagan earned a bachelors degree from Eureka College—a school most people never heard of. He did an enormous amount of reading and writing on defense and foreign policy matters before ever becoming president of the United States. He was ready on his very first day in office. Obama, on the other hand, took advantage of Harvard’s affirmative action policies. I doubt very much if he is even capable of getting through a serious book.
The truth is that the U.S. should quit the UN & throw them out of New York. At the very least, funding should be drastically reduced. Let the UN go the way of the League of Nations, out of business.
Every time I hear the expression, “International Community” I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.
I was trying to think of something witty, something funny to say aboout this, but I just could not come up with anything funnier than the report itself. It is no wonder that life forms from distant galaxies have assiduosly avoided contact with his planet. Surely the UN report is farce on a cosmic scale.
Why would you think the UN would or could get anything right !
There are so many mistakes in this article I do not know where to start.
First off, this report is not, as you say in the first sentence, a “UNHCR” (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) report. It is a report by the “UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism”. It is not published or endorsed by the UNHCR, which is a UN specialized agency. In fact, the UNHCR is not mentioned in the text.
Second, the author then backtrack and says in the second sentence that the report stems from a “human-rights commission”. Huh? A commission? Can you please inform me which type of commission you are talking about? A commission of which of the five UN organs, or specialized agencies? It is a political commission or a commission of experts?
The truth of the matter is this report was written by a Special Rapporteur, which is an individual who ACTS UNDER HIS OWN CAPACITY and studies a specific domain. It would be akin to the US Congress asking the American Chamber of Commerce to submit a series of tax reform proposals. The conclusions are those of the American Chamber of Commerce, not Congress. In this case, the conclusions are those of Dr. Martin Scheinin, a law professor from Finland.
Furthermore, at no point in the report is Israel mentioned. Not at all. Why are you talking about Israel then? I fail to see the link.
There are many reasons to criticize the UN. But one should always get his/her facts straight.
On another note, I think saying that homosexuals should be happy to live in Israel, as opposed to any Arab state, an insult to the civilized world. I expect the highest human rights standards from the US, Israel and the West. I also expect medieval barbaric behavior from any of the banana republics or poor excuses for a country which seem to populate the world. That is why I get mad when I hear of rights violations in the West. I will always compare the ethical and legal standards of my community with the best. Maybe my standards are too high, but saying “we are better than them” is something which will never make me proud. After all, you always win when you compare yourself to the worst.
…the gendered impact of counter-terrorism measures on men and persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, and addresses how gender intersects with other prohibited grounds of discrimination, such as race and religion.
Sounds like language Susan Rice might use.
She talks like that, you go…huh ?
…some Governments have used the human rights of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals as a bartering tool to appease terrorist or extremist groups in ways that have furthered unequal gender relations and subjected such persons to increased violence.
And some governments advocate throwing homosexuals off a cliff or causing a large bldg. to fall on them, per the dictates of their holy book.
While a Taliban suicide bomber (the T, of course, virulently against female schooling) just yesterday “…blew himself up outside a girls’ cafeteria during the lunch break at the International Islamic University on the outskirts of Islamabad. (Another) struck a faculty building on the same campus. At least two female students were among the dead.”
Maybe the brain dead writers of garbage over at the UN could address that incident in the context of furthering “…unequal gender relations and subjecting such persons to increased violence.”
Ya think ?
Any “Human Rights” organization that would let Libya or N. Korea pretend to have any concern for human rights, whatsoever, is beyond parody. In fact, as an organization dedicated to world peace, the U.N. is beyond parody.
How can anyone support allowing a democratic vote to representatives of hellholes that will not allow their own people, the same right?
USA out of the UN! Now!
What this gobbledygook legalese means is that when the Israelis engage in counter-terrorism against terrorists and suicide bombers, they are threatening the rights of trans-gendered individuals. How? When a man dresses as a woman, the Israelis might embarrass an honest cross-dresser by subjecting him/her to a humiliating search, thereby interfering with the person’s sexual identity and human rights… Yet the special rapporteur on human rights of the UN is accusing Israel of violating the rights of gays, lesbians and trans-gendered people, by its counter-terrorism measures.
Hmm…ask your doctor about reducing whatever medication it is you’re on. The word Israel appears nowhere on that report—at least not the report you linked to. The report does specifically mention Iraq and Afghanistan, however. Did you link to the wrong report that talks specifically about Israel? Is there a special report on Israel’s treatment of transgendered people. By the way:
• On June 30, 2005, Yishai Shlisel, a Haredi Jew, was charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing three marchers in a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, Israel, claiming he acted “in the name of God”.[38]
• On August 1, 2009, a gunman entered a gay youth club in Tel Aviv and shot at patrons with automatic rifle fire, killing 24-year-old Nir Katz and 16-year-old Liz Tarbushi, and injuring fifteen others.[39][40][41]
I actually don’t consider these to be indicative of any sort of antagonism toward gays in Israel, simply the acts of individuals that in no way could logically be shown to reflect a broader intolerance. I have no doubt, however, considering your consistent mendacity, that you would have no trouble accusing an Arab nation of same should the tables be turned.
“Political correctness run amok as the Human Rights Commission reaches the level of complete absurdity.”
You expected something different?
I took a brief look at the actual report (23 pages). The problem I have with it, at this firs glance only, is that it is merging what possibly should not be merged, and its ‘evidence’ is general and ambiguous.
For example, with regard to evidence, the report states that in France, women who wear the hijab might be asked why the do so. Not only is this general to the point of irrelevance, without any indicator of ‘how many’women are asked, and why…but, I consider it to be a legitimate question.
Then, the report says that in Canada, Muslim women are subject to a triad of discrimination; religious, gender, and visible minority. Again, without statistical data, this comment is irrelevant.
The report is filled with similar generalities – that confuse the meaning of the term ‘discrimination’ with ‘hostility and rejection’.
To ‘discriminate’ in its non-emotional meaning, is to differentiate X from Y. Therefore, if a woman is wearing a hijab, she is ‘discriminating’ her identity from those who do not. Furthermore, she is identifying her membership in a relatively isolate group. It’s a legitimate non-hostile question to ask why she wishes to so identify herself.
Then, to assert that anti-terrorist measures are also attacks against gender identities, is to merge two levels of reality; the physical and the conceptual.
Terrorism is pretty basic; it’s an act of physical aggression against the physical well-being of human-beings. It is indifferent to such physical constructs as sex, age, health.
It is equally indifferent to such conceptual or sociocultural constructs as wealth, gender filiation, political filiation, etc.
The conceptual, therefore, should not be merged with the physical. Protecting people against terrorism ought to have only one focus – protecting their physical life. Such protection cannot also deal with the conceptual or sociocultual realm.
Come on, Ron. This IS an Onion piece. Right? Right?
The UN. Created under the guise for espousing ‘Peace’.
Yeah, I’ve got some beach side property for a time share in Mesquite, Nevada too.
ETAB…how can you honestly take this article seriously? The report doesn’t once mention Israel, though it mentions several other countries. But the entire focus of this article is Israel…don’t you demand some level of honesty or intelligence in the opinion makers you seek out?
Mr. Radosh:
““Enhanced immigration controls that focus attention on male bombers who may be dressing as females to avoid scrutiny make transgender persons susceptible to increased harassment and suspicion.””
Far-freakin’-out, man!
My gast is flabbered at the idea of just how high someone had to be to make THAT connection, and then actually to write it down on the firm’s letterhead.
I mean, what kind of thai stick,(and how much of it), are they smoking up there on the Upper East Side?
It’s WAAAAY past time to hand the Yoo Enn their turnban and their petticoats and show them the door.
No, this is a skillful parody. Well done, Ron, you have everybody laughing.
The poor Onion is pushed and pushed to make their stories even more outlandish lest they be seen as real news. [insert sad violen song]
For your infotainment: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/obama_to_enter_diplomatic_talks
The United Nations should physically relocate to Libya. Diplomats of the world should not be deprived of enjoying Islamic hospitality, luxury, and splendor. Runner up, Syria. Let some representative of the great peaceful religion of Islam step up and take the lead. Remove the UN form the decadent hellhole that is NYC, and return it to the pristine, if somewhat primitive environs of Allah. Require that the diplomats of the world readjust their tastes to honor their abstemious and severe Islamic brethren. Let them forego alcohol, loose women, gourmet dining and posh accomadations as they ponder the state of the world. Demolish the outdated UN structures in NYC and return it to the turtles.
17. Moho… sure, they are talking about the other non-Arab country in that region that is having to screen immigrants because of a steady flow of murderers who strap bombs to their bodies and blow themselves up, taking as many women and children with them as they can… :eyeroll:
I’m surprised this report hasn’t mentioned anything about burqa-clad males fleeing US troops or blowing themselves up in Afghanistan. I would expect such nonsensical statements from the UN to actually mention their concern over these men that choose to clad themselves in mobile tents and, for a brief period of time, experience the hell they make their penis-deprived, jihadist-breeding possessions (individuals that we Westerners refer to as women) go through, as per Mein Qurampf 33:59.
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MINGUS, since the acronym UN actually stands for “United mahoundian Arab and mahoundian-Arab-appeasing Nations”, there’s another place that would fit the UN like a glove for their new headquarters… That one with high walls and minarets surrounding a giant black Rubik’s cube, the only such puzzle which disordered mahoundian minds would ever be capable of solving. Yeah, I’m talking about that object of worship in mahoundianism, around which hordes of zombies dance and bang their heads on the ground five times a day, and toward which they face when they can’t do their headbanging right in front of the cube itself.
Um, Caestal…you might want to read the actual report, its about Iraq and Afghanistan, and focuses on the US. I thought Radosh had erred in assuming that you people were so dumb that you wouldn’t actually following the link. But it looks like he’s right, in your particular case. Dumb as a post.
Hey Ron,
I don’t think there is a 500 page Thesaurus dedicated to the phrase ‘complete level of absurdity’. Sadly, this reference book is the only necessary tool a person needs when covering the UN.
I think all those transgendered men who risk embarrassment because of security measures should rise up and kill the bomb-packing terrorists. I know it would make one terrific movie.
It’s the UN. Why would anyone be surprised? That bunch of crooks and liars start most of the problems in the world. How many transgenders does he think there are in ANY Arab or Muslim country?
Wright is Wrong.
Lets see: the Islamists attack, swearing to destroy, say, Israel.
Their attack is repulsed and they suffer casualties.
Then they try to justify their attack because of their casualties?
Who left the back door open at the funny Farm?
“The UN is a farce on a cosmic scale.”
Highly perceptive. I like it!
Some male whacko dresses like a female, then is offended when he attracts the attention of law enforcement folks on the lookout for suspicious/unusual persons?
Solution: Institutionalize all the transgender/crossdresser dingbats so they won’t have to contend with the public scorn they evoke. Space will be available at Guantanomo.
I don’t think there is a 500 page Thesaurus dedicated to the phrase ‘complete level of absurdity’. Sadly, this reference book is the only necessary tool a person needs when covering the UN.
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