Idiot of the Week: Sunera Thobani

Sunera Thobani, professor at the University of British Columbia, said on October 1 that, although she feels very sorry for the people who died in the terrorist attacks, it happened because Americans just “want blood” no matter whose it is. She also said that women could not possibly be liberated unless “western domination of this planet is ended.”

The rank stupidity you’d need to actually claim that all American want to kill people for the sake of killing people, and to then claim that Western civilization is bad for women when in fact it’s probably the only hope the world’s women HAVE of liberation, should be obvious.

But is it just me, or is “You know, I don’t approve of the terrorist attacks, but…” becoming the new “Some of my best friends are black?”

Could be. Do you have a link? Or maybe a link? Or possibly a link?

:smiley:

I almost returned to Canada from my high paying American job when I heard that the government’s project of laying massive fibre-optic cables between major cities was complete.

Then I heard Sunera Thobani quoted in some newspaper.

I almost returned again when Bell Canada offered home DSL connections for $13.95 a month.

Then Stockwell Day was elected head of the Reform party.

Oh, Canada, how you run hot and cold for me.

Heh. Yeah. Women will only be free when they cannot show skin in public, cannot vote, and can be abused and even killed at the hands of their overseers–men.

It’s pretty obvious to me that the RCMP has yet to stifle the proliferation of that excellent strain of hydroponically grown sativa I had the pleasure of sampling recently.

Well, it didn’t seem to go over too well in Canada. Here’s few letters about it:

one
two
three
four

And an editorial

The thing that puzzles me is the quote about how women will never know true emancipation so long as “westernization” continues. Huh? Don’t Western women generally enjoy much greater rights than Eastern women? I’ve never thought, “Gee, I bet I’d be much better off in Saudi Arabia. You know, so long as I didn’t give my husband or father reason to beat me to death.”

Wow. I mean, I’d never even heard of this lady before. But her stupidity is quite simply breathtaking. I mean to take a stance that would seem to imply that the West’s treatment of women is cruel in the face of all of the recent attention to the Taliban’s hideous treatment of women is simply a stance that is so stupid one has to stop and wonder how she managed to have enough brain cells to dress herself in the morning. Perhaps she has never heard of the Taliban? She seems so uninformed, it would not surprise me.

She certainly has the right to express herself, but one would think that such ignorant rantings would be sprouting from an unbathed woman on a street corner pushing an overfilled shopping cart of garbage than from a college professor.

Canada has Sunera Thobani, we have Fred Phelps… maybe we should put them on display in a sideshow or something. Come see the ignorant demagogues of twisted perception! They spout! They Froth! They Spit! They make a bit not of sense!

You haven’t been to a college recently, have you?

Thanks for those links, Jodi.

Maybe going to live in Afghanistan with the Taliban would educate her to reality far better than any college ever could. What a colosal hypocrite.

Hey Canada, ya wanna trade?

Maybe she should move to Kansas and run for the State Senate.

No. Our nitwit balance is very carefully calibrated.

No, and thinking back I do remember some real dipshits. Sadly, I’ve just recalled one who was even sicker than Ms. Thobani.

Thanks, now I’m going to have to work hard to erase that memory again.

Here’s a link to the story
Here’s the text of her statement
Here’s an article about the response from the secretary of state for the status of women(?), which is apparently some official government post

All in all, pretty detestable, though I do feel sorry for her, living in a country where she’s free to publicly criticize an ally without fear of official (possibly brutal) reprisal–gee, that is oppressive.

Darn you MEBuckner, I had just thought up some good rhetoric to nominate Kay O’Connor as runner up for Idiot of the Week, and you beat me to mentioning her. And I live in Kansas. Well, at least someone is starting a recall petition against her. Probably doesn’t have much of a chance to succeed though. I’ll try and get the link to the newspaper article I saw. Did you see that Kay was mentioned by Jay Leno? He said the Taliban had named her “Woman of the Year”

…some of them just think a little faster than others. :smiley:

I hadn’t heard about the Honorable Ms. (heh heh) O’Connor being featured on Leno.

“Taliban’s Woman of the Year” is a good one. Would that also include a centerfold spread?

What do you think is worst?

  1. Her double think (“women won’t be liberated unless western domination of this planet is ended”)

  2. That RickJay and I helped pay for the conference at which she spoke (i.e. our beloved government chipped in $80K)

  3. That she was interrupted by cheers throughout her speech

And, for your viewing convenience, here is an excerpt from a National Post article that appeared the day after her rant:

So… this bitch feels “oppressed” living in a country where she can speak freely, have a career, and own property and money?

Let’s send her to a third world country where she is not permitted to speak at all in public, is forbidden to work, and IS property – maybe one of those that practice female circumci - uh, I mean female castration and ask her in 6 months if she feels more free and less oppressed in such a society free of “western” influence?

People are such fucking idiots.

(this was efficiently provided by the UBC Staff search engine:)

Sunera Thobani, Asst Prof of Womens Studies
1896 East Mall
V6T 1Z1

604-822-9265

Drop the bitch a line if you get a chance.

wouldn’t it be easier to drop a bomb on the bitch

Update:

Some Canadians are trying to do something, even if it won’t work.

There is hope for us, yet.