> Arnie says he feels safe for the moment because it's the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Once it ends, he's afraid his uncle will hunt him down and kill him.
I want to understand. I really do. What compels someone to attack another person because their beliefs fail to align with yours? Like, how in the world does your nephew's sexuality relate to you? Not one damn bit.
It's the year 2017. We've made major leaps in technologies (e.g. Snapchat—I kid) but sometimes I feel humanity still has a lot of catching up to do.
I recommend reading "Debt: The first 5,000 years" by David Graeber. It made the idea of honor as a social currency click for me. In a community where your good name is your main asset, honor killings are rational (not making any excuses for it of course).
>> "What compels someone to attack another person because their beliefs"
Anything that motivates humans: patriotism, romance, religion, politics, etc.
In this particular case, it's easy to see why this man's uncle would attack his nephew. The uncle adheres to the Islamic faith, which forbids homosexuality. Breaking the law carries a punishment; this would be motive for a person who takes Islamic law seriously.
>> "how in the world does your nephew's sexuality relate to you? Not one damn bit."
In an honor-and-shame culture, a person's sexuality absolutely relates to family's name and reputation. A family member practicing a forbidden form of sexuality brings shame onto family.
This occurs here in the West, too, albeit on a lesser level: imagine if your nephew was arrested for a forbidden form of sexuality, like pedophilia or beastiality or child pornography. You wouldn't go around advertising that to your friends and family; it'd be shameful.
Amplify that shame in honor-and-shame cultures, and you have motive.
As someone who grew up in Eastern Europe but moved to US over a decade ago I can say that there is still an overwhelming stigma in regard to alternative sexual orientation. People are slowly changing their views but not quickly enough in my opinion.
I don't really know what the cause is. My best guess is a mix of deeply embedded catholicism along with strong media propaganda and shaming.
The more important question is why now ?
Putin's hold on Chechnya is slowly losing, and Kadirov needs to find alternative sources of power/legitimacy, and religion is damn powerful one, and targeting Gays is perhaps easiest way to placate the fundamentalists, who might seek to de-throw Kadirov for not being hard-core enough.
The Stigma has always been there, but systemic targeting means there are more underlying reasons mostly power struggles or consolidation.
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[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 36.4 ms ] threadI want to understand. I really do. What compels someone to attack another person because their beliefs fail to align with yours? Like, how in the world does your nephew's sexuality relate to you? Not one damn bit.
It's the year 2017. We've made major leaps in technologies (e.g. Snapchat—I kid) but sometimes I feel humanity still has a lot of catching up to do.
Anything that motivates humans: patriotism, romance, religion, politics, etc.
In this particular case, it's easy to see why this man's uncle would attack his nephew. The uncle adheres to the Islamic faith, which forbids homosexuality. Breaking the law carries a punishment; this would be motive for a person who takes Islamic law seriously.
>> "how in the world does your nephew's sexuality relate to you? Not one damn bit."
In an honor-and-shame culture, a person's sexuality absolutely relates to family's name and reputation. A family member practicing a forbidden form of sexuality brings shame onto family.
This occurs here in the West, too, albeit on a lesser level: imagine if your nephew was arrested for a forbidden form of sexuality, like pedophilia or beastiality or child pornography. You wouldn't go around advertising that to your friends and family; it'd be shameful.
Amplify that shame in honor-and-shame cultures, and you have motive.
I don't really know what the cause is. My best guess is a mix of deeply embedded catholicism along with strong media propaganda and shaming.
The Chechen leadership (Ramzan Kadyrov, etc) in this story are Muslim. If I recall right, >90% of Chechnya is also Muslim.
Growing up, Catholicism was incredibly dominant. The only other religion I was exposed to was Protestant.
The Stigma has always been there, but systemic targeting means there are more underlying reasons mostly power struggles or consolidation.
From what I understand, this is more serious than police.