The Wages of Inappropriate Attire, part 1

Today, I must admit I stand corrected.

Apparently I had learned in error that the moving and shifting of tectonic plates along their boundaries causes what we call "earthquakes."

In fact, the real source of earthquakes is human in its nature. Yep, that's right, we, not the movement of the earth beneath it's crust, are to blame for that shifting rolling that's turned upside down the lives of Haitians and Chileans alike this winter alone.

Well, let me correct myself further. It's not really a we thing, it's a girl thing. Yep, that's right. We can blame the ladies for the earthquakes.

Well, you can if you're willing to buy into the teachings of Hojjat ol-eslam Kazem Sediqi, the acting Friday prayer leader in Tehran. According to a recent BBC report, the cleric told followers last Friday (4/16/2010), "Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes."

Really? That's a seismic leap in logic, now isn't it?

Worse is the fact this ridiculous correlation of a woman's failure to conform to a dress code with natural planetary activity overshadows a rather fair point. The BBC  added, "Mr Sediqi was delivering a televised sermon at the Tehran University campus mosque last Friday on the need for a "general repentance" by Iranians when he warned of a "prevalence of degeneracy.""

I think even the average Tom, Dick, or Hojjat would agree there has been a general moral decline over the last 20 to 30 years. Globally, our self-absorption, obsessive self-serving, sexual objectification, and general disconnect from the Almighty, or, worse, the justification of our wrongs in the name of the Almighty have reached levels that make even a Pollyanna's head spin.

Is our world marked by a "prevalence of degeneracy?"Do we need to repent? Iranian or not, the answer is, "Heck yeah!"

That said, I'm  not so sure showing a little hair from beneath your head-covering, or wearing more "clingy" clothing qualifies as real "degeneracy," but one woman's casual interpretation is another's provocation of the menfolk, and, worse, the tectonic plates.

-Schlegsofminne
(I'll suggest a better alternative in a future post)