posted on September 19, 2001 09:59:03 PM
I just received a "chain letter" citing the repression of the women of Afghanistan. It goes on in length about the inhumane treatment and lack of civil rights women are receiving there, which I was already aware of.
The e-mail is written as a petition, and is asking for signatures to protest the situation.
My question is this. The chain letter asks that if you choose not to sign the petition, to please return it to the sender. I quote:
"Even if you decide not to sign, please be considerate and do
not kill the petition, send it back."
Does that make sense? How would sending it back (or not) to the one who last signed it negate the petition? It does say, "if you get this list and it has 300 names on it, please forward to xxx@xxx."
I don't like to take part in chain mail e-mails, and the threat of "killing the petition" sets my hoax alarm off. Can anyone enlighten me about this? Thanks!
posted on September 19, 2001 11:08:07 PM
This is an old chain letter that was circulating about a year ago. It doesn't go anywhere or serve any purpose. Afgan women are treated terribly by the Taliban.....Jay Leno's wife has an organization that has been activily working regarding this.
posted on September 20, 2001 12:50:33 AM
(James, the signatures are supposed to be forwarded to the United Nations)
Thanks for the feedback. I was confident it was a hoax, but kind of wanted some validation for when the sender asks me why I didn't forward it. She's a dear person, but gullible. She used to send chain-letters before the Internet was around! And she'd ask me if I'd sent out my dish rag yet!
posted on September 20, 2001 06:19:58 AM
Last night I watched a investigative report by a Sarah ? from UK. She had gone into Afghanastan and talked with many people, especially the women. The report showed women being publically executed in a football stadium. It was horrible. When asked why did the Taliban hold executions there instead of football games, the Taliban said that if the international community (who built the footbal stadium) wanted to build them a place for executions they would use it instead.
The report also showed women hiding and teaching each other to read and write. They know if caught the punishment is death.
Of course women can't work so if their husband dies, they have to beg for food for themselves and their children or else they starve.
There is no medical care for women thus mortality rates while giving birth are among the higest in the world.
posted on September 20, 2001 06:28:20 AMohandrea: My understanding is that this e-mail "chain letter" wasn't actually a hoax -- it was simply a slightly misguided, but sincere, idea that somebody had that got a little out of hand. The person who originated the idea was, I believe, a college student at the time, and she sent it to all her friends thinking it would be a wonderful way to generate a little publicity about the very real atrocities that were being committed on women in Afghanistan.
In other words, the sad facts reported in the e-mail are all true, but there's no "petition" that will be submitted to the U.N.
Barry
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The opinions expressed above are for comparison purposes only. Your mileage may vary....
posted on September 20, 2001 06:36:15 AM
Deliteful....I saw that too!...."Behind the Veil" (I think?) CNN?.....Of the many many images I have seen in the past week, those were some of the most frightening. Not only the treatment of women, but the forgotten bombed out buildings, the eyes of that little girl who's mother was shot/killed by the Taliban because she fought for her home, the shootings in the football stadium (a stadium funded by international $$ used for killing!) and the most horrific the line of bodies being layed down by the Taliban "army"...
Yes, those eyes said it all. I shed tears along with that small child and thought of all the children here who had their Moms and Dads taken from them last week.
posted on September 20, 2001 09:31:44 AM
I completely understand the situation regarding the women under the Taliban regime, it hasn't been a secret for quite some time. It's tragic.
My original question was really a technical one though, wondering if by not forwarding this e-mail, how it would negate the value of what the originators were attempting to do.
But if this thread has made anyone more sensitive to the situation of women in Afghanistan, more's the better.
Does anyone remember the picture on the cover of the National Geographic several years ago, with the beautiful Afhgani woman with the green eyes?
posted on September 20, 2001 09:54:53 AMDoes anyone remember the picture on the cover of the National Geographic several years ago, with the beautiful Afhgani woman with the green eyes?
Can anyone who saw it forget it? Those were the most haunting eyes, one of National Geographic's most memorable photographs (and that's saying a lot.)
