reply to Jeff Bercovitch

Submitted by Peter J. Herz (Taiwan), Jan 12, 2004 at 03:00

The social pressure on campuses to embrace the "cause of the moment" has been with us for some time. I, for example, am always amused by how feminists think that Buddhism is such a great religion, when in Thailand a woman can't sit on a piece of furniture reserved for monks or hand things directly to monks, lest she pollute them.

In Chinese-speaking Buddhism (the original Zen--oops, I mean, Chan), a woman who gets an abortion goes to Hell, and the baby she aborted tugs at her skirts while the demons lead her around in a yoke. Then again, on abortion, I side with the native-ground Buddhists (not the prissy Western Academic swindle).

The angry young northern European-descended women you mention will indeed wake up. Their romantic notions will put them in bed with the wrong kind of Middle Eastern guy; they'll then end up battered, replaced, divorced, and without any access to the kids when pushing 40....

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