Speaker Nancy and the Scarf
Manolo says, the Manolo’s latest piece for the Pajamas Media is now available. Here is the sample.
Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s many internet friends has asked the Manolo what he thinks of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Syria, specifically her now notorious head scarf.
All the Manolo can say is, when in the Rome, one must do as the Romanians do and wear the scarf.
Indeed, it is the rule of the Manolo that when one is the visitor one should try to show sensitivity to the customs and beliefs of the hosts, especially when the personal cost is so very low.
All the Speaker Nancy did was put on the scarf. It is not as if she was showing her cultural sensitivity to Islam by helping to stone the adultress, or giving the fifty lashes of vigor to the woman driver.
It was just the scarf, the same sort of head covering worn by the Laura Bush when she visited the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, or by the Condi Rice when she visited the mosque in Tajikistan.
The Manolo has long thought that the Nancy Pelosi is one of the better dressed persons in Washington. She has the confident and the colorful personal style and dresses in the high quality, good-looking clothing that is appropriate to her position and age. In short she knows how to dress.
Of the course, you must go read the whole thing.
P.S. Please do not yell at the Manolo, he did not pick out all of the pictures which accompany this article.
April 12th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
I am trying not to yell at the Manolo, but that picture of Ms. Pelosi with the rocket launcher is inflammatory and offensive. Just because you didn’t pick it out doesn’t mean you should allow something you wrote to be on a site that would pick such pictures out for you.
April 12th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Covering or uncovering one’s head has been a sign of respect for both men and women in many cultures, and doing so in accordance with local custom should simply be seen as an attempt to be couth. Where one goes and what one says, however, can lead one into a political storm.
April 12th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Good work, Mr. M., but check the links on the PJMedia article. For instance, the “Romanians” link works here, but does not work from the PJMedia site.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
You are always the gentleman and your essay was calm and well-reasoned, unlike that one answering post on PJM .
April 12th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Wonderful post. I also think that Ms. Pelosi is a person of great taste, and the scarf is beautiful!
April 12th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Hmmm.
Sorry but you’re wrong.
The scarf isn’t a fashion accessory, it’s a political statement and one used by the Islamic fundamentalists to force control. It’s not just used in Syria or other Middle Eastern countries, it’s also used in Europe and perhaps one day here in the USA.
In the Middle East there are many women who are fighting against this symbol of control while in Europe choosing to not wear it in some areas will get a woman gang-raped. It’s not a cultural or religious symbol, especially since it only started being used in the 1960’s, instead it’s a sign of control and submission. If a woman doesn’t wear it then she is subject to physical intimidation or attack. If she does wear it, it’s a sign that she has been broken to the leash.
Frankly I’d suggest you go and do some reading up on before commenting again on it. Pelosi did enormous amounts of damage in this trip because she showed that she, the Speaker of the House and 3rd in line for the Presidency of the United States of America, is willing to conform to the dictates of Islamic fundamentalists.
Or not. If you choose to believe that it’s just a fashion accessory worn to make happy with Islamic fundamentalists, then go right ahead. But that won’t make it true.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
So does the memomachine believe that it was also a horrible thing for Ms. Rice to wear the headscarf?
http://dushanbe.usembassy.gov/pg_101305.html (last photo)
April 13th, 2007 at 12:22 am
I’m so over this whole Nancy-headscarf thing. You go into a damn mosque, you wear a damn headscarf. My fellow right-wingers should get over that. Because they obviously need to learn to pick their battles: Nancy doing retarded free-lance foreign policy *bad*, Nancy wearing scarf *not bad*.
I mean, I adore Hermes scarves and, while agreeing with Manolo generally that Mrs Pelosi is one of the best-dressed people in Washington (which isn’t that hard . . . I still mean it as a compliment), I particularly admire her way with a carre. She’s amazing. I belong to a Yahoo group on Hermes scarves and I even put together a whole mini-album of pics of her on this trip so we could all appreciate her scarf-wearing style (which goes far beyond this sort of Queen-Elizabeth-headcovering). BUT. I wholly disapprove of the trip on which she showed such great scarf style. C’est la vie, with politics and fashion.
(Seriously, though. Mme Speaker should be giving non-partisan “What Not to Wear” seminars to tout le Washington.)
April 13th, 2007 at 1:24 am
I don’t care a bit about the scarf. She shouldn’t have been there in Syria at all, hobnobbing with the dictator.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:31 am
The Manolo, it goes without saying, is Beyond The Valley of the Superfantastic. So no screaming, ever. But do get away from the Pajamas Medias creeps, no matter how many of the pennies they are throwing your way, because though they are not Satan like the Karl Lagerfeld, they are certainly among His Minions. And they are about to go down with the rest of their cruddy Bush brethren.
And I can’t stand Pelosi, even though she’s my own Congresswoman, but your telling me that she is among the best dressed makes me feel just slightly better. Thank you, Manolo.
With the love and affection.
April 13th, 2007 at 6:30 am
Nancy Pelosi is a good Catholic girl of the old school so she’s familiar and comfortable with the wearing of the head scarf in the House of Worship.
She has a lovely dress sense, doesn’t she? And, boy! THAT– and a truly beautiful collection of scarves she knows not to wear in the style of the Boy Scout — is a rare talent in the wonky Halls of the Power.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:06 am
1) Wearing a headscarf does not mean you sanction gang rape.
2) Going to Syria does not mean you sanction gang rape.
3) Wearing a headscarf in Syria does not mean you sanction gang rape.
All you did there was Hitler the argument, memomachine. The practice of punishment of the absence of a headscarf as gang rape came about in the 60s, not the actual practice of headscarf wearing. Or so says my friend the head-scarf wearing female American-Muslim physician. She’s not oppressed, just very demure. And she puts up with loud, obnoxious, living-in-sin me, so she’s got an open mind.
Ms. Pelosi is just trying to diplomatically open a conversation that has needed to happen for years, lest we all become bazooka toting warriors (what a bad picture!). But, as a Washingtonian, I second the Mme. Speaker fashion lecture series. Oy vey!
April 13th, 2007 at 10:10 am
My understanding is that her husband shops for her and picks out her great suits. We should all be so lucky ;-)
I do think she picks out her own scarves.
April 13th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Hmmmm.
1. I posted a reply, but it included a link from the Reform Party of Syria who had a rather different outlook than the other folks here. However it’s now in Comment Moderation Limbo so that’s that. If you’re interested then Google “Pelosi Reform Party Syria”
2. “1) Wearing a headscarf does not mean you sanction gang rape.”
Please Google: “jihad sweden headscarf rape”. The top result is probably the right one unless the rankings changed.
Please Google: “copenhagen post headscarf rape”. The top result is probably the right one unless the rankings changed.
Please Google: “australia headscarf rape uncovered meat”. The top result is probably the right one unless the rankings changed.
*shrug* I’m not going to continue this discussion because that’s not what Manolo’s blog is for and I have no interest in being disrespectful. I’m a conservative so it should be fairly easy to find me on other political blogs if that’s your desire since I use the same username.
April 13th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Meg,
As a fellow right-winger, I totally agree! Well said.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
As Memo may or may not be aware, the speaker did not wear the scarf over her head for the entire trip (which would be objectionable). You can see images of her with the scarf worn loosely around her neck when she was not inside a house of worship (a link on my name). Does that mean she was taking a stand for women’s rights not to be oppressed?
April 13th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Anyone coming to the blog of the Manolo for a political fight is barking up the wrong tree.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
I think that it’s a lovely scarf; but against her coloring, it makes her look a bit waxy and cadaverlike. Perhaps something in a deeper shade or even pure white if there is to be a next time?
April 13th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Hmmmm is correct, the Pelosi’s husband does do her shopping. This based on a news special (60 minutes?) before she became Speaker of the House. The LaVida2 wonders if the husband dresses the Pelosi also??!!
April 13th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
So, sfmike, Pajamas Media is a bunch of creeps and Satan’s Minions just because they lean conservative? Well, count me in as a creep and minion of Satan too, then.
I didn’t know they were conservative – and now that I do, I will have to push some more traffic to their site. Thanks for alerting me!
April 13th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
@Memomachine
There are tons of circumstances where head scarves are polite and rude girls -don’t- get gang raped, and only a few where women do, just like most topless women in the west don’t get gang raped, but a few do (and by the same token, plenty of people in this culture would say a shirtless woman was asking for it, ignorant though that opinion may be).
This fixation of visible female oppression is doing nobody a favour, because it doesn’t address the underlying cultural bigotry that harms everyone. In cultures where people are harmed for garment violations, the fashion police is often quietly hurting men too, for ideas as bland as haircuts. And this is something we had in the west to boot. Remember the suffering long haired male hippies had?
While I’d never argue that hurting women is okay, I must gently observe the bee flying about in your bonnet when it comes to the subject of constrictive, moslem based conformity. It’s not the clothes that matter, it’s what they do to you if you don’t wear ‘em. Objecting to Pelosi in a scarf is treating the sneeze, not the cold.
April 13th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
I’m surprised by this conversation. I refuse to talk politics but I find it somewhat comforting that not everyone on here is liberal.
Back to the subject at hand. I have to say, I don’t like her scarf. Regardless of why she was wearing it, I think it is ugly, and I agree that it doesn’t look great on her. In fact, I’d venture to say that the scarf actually makes her look older by drawing all the attention to her head/face.
April 13th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
I also am pleasantly surprised by the wealth of ‘right’ political expression here. Good fashion sense transcends all political bounds. I also find that the scarf, no matter its quality, makes her look like an aged eastern European woman.
April 13th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Slightly OT but for what desertwing said:
I have some friends that are from the Russian Orthodox Church. They’ve joked with me that “topless” means “a woman in church whose not covering her head.”
April 13th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
There is nothing wrong with aged Eastern European women. Both my grandmothers were “aged Eastern European women” and they were beautiful, warm, caring, elegant ladies.
Whenever there is a discussion about how the scarf is an instrument of oppression, I think of two things:
- the cultures where people traditionally wear much less than Westerners; what would they think of Western women that are forced to cover their breasts?
- the prude, sexually-frustrated US that cannot deal with topless sunbathers or the sight of Janet Jackson’s nipple.
April 13th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Many delightful women in various cultures throughout history have possessed both great beauty and unflattering clothes.
This is certainly true of the modern wearer of the Croc, and I would venture to suggest this describes many people’s aged Eastern European grandmothers. It is not to disparage their personal dignity and beauty to point out that, like the Croc, the under-chin tied scarf is a frumpy garment.
I defy (and would be interested to see) anyone to present a picture of a woman wearing a scarf tied under her chin that does not make her look shorter (by hiding her hair), fatter (by covering the neck and giving a greater impression of roundness to the chin and cheeks), and older (because we will all enjoy a bit more shortness and roundness as well as loss of hair with our age).
I could never be interested in belonging to any culture that mandates that I dress in unflattering, ugly clothes. People who would insist such things of me obviously do not have my best interests at heart. That is all I have to say about Islam.
April 14th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Hello,I don’t mean to be a stickler but i just wanted to correct the mistake you made about romanians being from rome,they are from romania,totally different places,ya,ok,thanks a bunch,desiree
April 15th, 2007 at 8:25 am
The female politican who wears a head scarf most elegantly of all must be Benazir Bhutto.
April 15th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Desiree….I was thinking that exact same thing…but then I got distracted by the ugly scarf.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
For Desiree and the small:
The reason none of us commented on that is because the Manolo, he was making a literary reference/ joke. The original phrase, of course, is “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” But, considering the political blowback was because it appeared that Pelosi was bowing to a culture which has been hostile to the west and western values, the Manolo likened her apparel to a different culture which has not been recently calling for the demise of this country, that of Romania (and most of the Eastern Orthadox churches). In doing this, the Manolo appeared to be taking the line that one should observe another country’s mores, but not to an extreme.
April 16th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Thanks for clearing that up, Mouse. Apparently my brain is not equipped to understand the “joke.” Your explanation of it makes even less sense to me.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:33 am
You know the picture, the one in which she and Kim look as if they are attending Hell’s version of the “Enchantment Under the Sea” high school dance.
LOL!