When Blue Jeans Are to Blame
Fox News reported yesterday that Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a conservative Pakistani politician and cleric, proclaimed that blue jean-clad-women were responsible for “earthquakes, inflation and natural disasters.”
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Does Rehman present another easy opportunity to heap scorn on Islam?
The real object of scorn is so called “conservatism” wherever it is found, especially when it defies both science and commonsense.
One need not go all the way to Pakistan to encounter wacky conservative beliefs.
Science? We Can’t Be Bothered With That.
A recent Gallup Poll found that, “59 percent of self-identified conservative Republicans said they don’t believe that climate change is happening now, and 70 percent said they don’t believe humans are responsible for it.”
“Forty percent of conservative Republicans deny that global warming will ever happen.”
A Pew Research Study reported that, “Republicans are less inclined today than they were in 2009 to say that humans have evolved over time (43% today vs. 54% in 2009).”
Their confidence in science has eroded 11% in just six years.
Perhaps the number one local concern in many areas is the damage done to drinking water and other resources by so-called fracking.
A Yale Study disclosed that, “Those who are male, older, and conservative are more supportive of fracking.”
And, the National Journal reports that, “The controversial drilling technique polls well with conservative voters.”
Ye Olde Deaf Ear
Conservative Islamic Clerics and conservative American politicians and religious leaders have much in common.
They go around making crazy shit up and believing it.
They ignore the obvious while making absurd pronouncements.
Turns out that Rehman’s blue jean inspired earthquakes are not such a stretch after all when viewed through the lense of American conservative ideology.