I’m reading “Ghost Wars” a non-fiction book about the rise of the Taliban and the run up to 9-11-01. The author’s first mention of the Taliban notes them as (paraphrased) “turban and eyeshadow-wearing men.”
Is this correct? What colors of eyeshadow and who or what is it for? Cosmetic purposes seems the reasonable guess, but that seems unreasonable for such strict folk when it comes to what I thought was an emphasis on humble apearance (maybe that’s just for women). Is it particular to some tribes or religious for some branch of Islam? Represents anything in particular (age, status, etc.)?
Thanks. I just want to know so I can explain my Mabelienne collection if it spills out of my book bag on campus.
Apparently, in certain parts of Afghanistan there are strong cultural traditions of men adorning themselves with cosmetics such as henna and kohl, and also of sexual relationships between older men and adolescents, in much the same manner as the ancient Greeks practiced.
When I read the thread title I thought of this scene from Indiana Jones. Didn’t the sword-wielding arab have dark makup smeared around his eyes, or is my imagination making that memory up out of thin air? I don’t have the movie on DVD so I can’t check.
A lot of desert cultures do this, it’s by no means confined to the Taliban or Arabs.
The ancient Eqgyptians, for instance, used eye make-up. Both sexes.
Why? Well, there might be a cosmetic appeal, true, but another reason, and probably the true origin of the practice, is similar to why US football player smear black under their eyes: it helps reduce glare. And baby, when you’re trekking across pale desert sands under the blazing sun there is a LOT of glare. You use headdresses, sunglasses, and yes, make-up too if it helps. Probably functions as a primative sun-screen too - Arabs may be darker than Europeans, but they’ll sunburn just fine if left exposed to the sun for a long enough time period.
Likewise, the custom of wearing veils isn’t just modesty in desert cultures - it also keeps the sun off you and the dust out of your throat. Which is why the men driving camel caravans typically wear scarves or veils over their faces. Again, there is a very practical purposes behind some of these customs.
I didn’t see anything unusual about it. Of course, I use a browser that is NOT Internet Explorer. I also run an antivirus program on constant-scan, but that showed no warnings.
I could understand complaining if the poster who provided the link appeared to know that it contained spyware and popups, but I viewed it before seeing these dire warnings and found nothing unusual. If you are still running an unprotected computer online and using IE, then it really is your fault.
~
My very sincere apologies to anyone (Bosda, and tomndebb especially) who may have had problems as a result of that link…I didn’t get anything other than one pop-up ad, and didn’t think anything of it.
On a similar note, Northern Alliance soldiers love to decorate their rifles with some of the girliest things you could imagine. Remember these shiny metalic anime stickers?? These adorn most all their rifles!!! Imagine a beat up 'ole AK-47 with a glittery, sparkling Sailor Mercury on the wooden stock!!!
Not very tactical at all. But they all seem to love 'em. They love their shiny stickers and their boys and each other.
Eye shadow doesn’t seem too far off.
One of my copies of Bizarre Magazine has a picture of two Afghan men wearing black eyeshadow. Quote from the inset:
The article cites a book called Taliban by Thomas Dworzak. Dworzak apparently found a bunch of underground photographs from when the Taliban had outlawed photography for religious reasons.
That occurred to me, too, but the writer of the book seemed to single out the Taliban, which makes me think of it as a custom more isolated to a single, or a few, ethnic groups in the nation.
I recall a friend telling me of a NYTimes (maybe) story of young British troops being invited to a meal with local leaders in Afghanistan and being a bit shocked when they realized that their invitation was due to their clean shaven cheeks and youthfulness which made them items of sexual attraction. Not sure if such a story ever ran in the NYT, might have been elswere. In anycase, I say to those young Brits, just lie back (bend over) and think of the queen.
No, it’s not Urban Legend at all.
One of my Unit’s primary missions on their first deployment to Afghanistan was to link-up with and train Norther Alliance soldiers.
… Well, actually I think the link-up was already initiated by 7th or 1st Group or something, but training was ongoing when they arrived. (I had PCSed to Bragg for some Army Training so I missed that deployment. And the subsequent deployment, actually. ::mumble mumble: ← bitter
Point is, I’ve seen many pictures and I’ve heard various first hand stories. None of it is meant to be ‘insulting’ or “finger pointing”. It’s just a different culture. That’s just how it is there. Women are for making babies. Boys are for fun. And they’re not shy about sexing each other up, either. Harmless fun in their eyes.
One of our bravos was only like 20 when he was over there. Those soldiers REALLY liked him… I never heard anything specifically about eye shadow or high heels, but I’ve seen and heard about the rifle decorations and the flirting with American soldiers, and the lack of modesty when genitally massaging each other’s prostates.
Urban Legend, eh? Who could actually make up some shit like adorning rifles with metalic SAILOR MARS stickers??? Ha!
I can’t fart loudly enough to signal my disapproval with your post, Bear_Nenno. You need to bone up on The Enemy, I’m afraid.
Just to be clear, the author, Steve Coll, isn’t characterizing all of the Taliban. (In fact, other than this mention in the Prologue, the Taliban doesn’t make an entrance until after page 294.) He’s only talking about the religious leaders that “founded” the movement:
In the early 90s, these Koranic tubthumpers would blow into town in shiny new Toyota trucks. The leaders were purportedly rigid and chaste, yet ostensibly glitzy and well appointed. Their followers began to call themselves the Taliban, a group that stood in stark opposition to the warlord system, and most notably against a former guerrilla leader named Ahmed Shah Massoud. According to Coll, while Massoud built much of his power in Afghanistan with monetary and logistic support of the US during the Soviet years, by 1994, by the time of the Taliban, the warlord had become fattened and politicized into just another disintegrating bureaucrat.
Coll makes a good case that, in the absence of Soviet enemies, Afghanistan’s spavined chieftains bickered, feuded and finally all-out bitch-slapped themselves into sparse city states surrounded by a significant power vacuum. In his view, into the void plops the Taliban, a well-financed militia that carried massive street cred, with all the pomp and fervor of an ultra-religious movement. A thought-provoking, if flawed, analysis.
El Cid Viscoso, your post was idiotic and pointless. Ooooh look, you read a book talking solely about a couple of Taliban leaders who wear eye shadow. How in the hell does such a thing logically conclude that only those particular Taliban wore eye shadow.
I wasn’t talking about that book, or anything the author has ever written. And what does “You need to bone up on The Enemy, I’m afraid” mean??? I was talking about Northern Alliance soldiers. Since when are they our enemy? I didn’t say dick about Taliban.
Wow, you can read Cliff’s Notes. But tell me something. How does this have ANYTHING whatsoever to do with whether males of a particular culture like to have open casual sex with other men, hit on and flirt with British and American Soldiers, and decorate their rifles like 12 year old girls???
Were you trying to make a point somewhere? Because I am not seeing it. Spend less time farting and more time paying attention to the discussion at hand.
And BTW, I’ve had pleanty of cultural and political briefings regarding “The Enemy”.
But more importantly, (since I was talking about the Northern Alliance – not The Enemy :rolleyes: ) I’ve definitely had enough briefings, photos, stories, and power point presentations to confidently stand by every statement I’ve made in this thread. I don’t need some flatulant cyberdick to tell me where to bone up.
Now… if there’s something particular you disagree with, if you think I’ve said something inaccurate, then point it out and show some facts to back it up.
