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“A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality.” — Yoko Ono
Sep
6
Woman’s Murder a “Sordid Soap Opera”
Filed Under International, class and economics, media, misogyny, objectification, patriarchy, pop culture, sexism, slut-shaming, violence against women and girls | Posted by Cara |
A Lebanese singer named Suzanne Tamim was murdered through decapitation. Senseless. Vile. Not quite what this story over at CNN calls it:It’s the Mideast version of a sordid soap opera. A Lebanese pop star is brutally slain in her luxury Dubai apartment, her throat slashed. Arrested in her death: One of Egypt’s most politically connected businessmen, accused of paying $2 million to have her killed.
Oh, I see. Because she was famous and attractive, he was rich, and they were rumored to be having an affair, it’s not so much like the murder of a real, actual human being as it is like Days of Our Lives, where fictional characters die all the time and then are brought back to life.
The next paragraph is even better, though:
The killing of Suzanne Tamim has gone beyond a lurid crime story to something more serious — a glimpse into the close links between Egypt’s government and powerful business tycoons long viewed as above the law.
Yes, more serious! Screw the dead woman — her murder has allowed us the more important opportunity to wag our finger at Egyptian corruption!
For fuck’s sake, I’m sure that the corruption is a big problem. It seems that way. But how about just the tiniest amount of respect by, you know, not mentioning the murder of a woman in a sentence that simultaneously dismisses it as a vehicle through which we can discuss something “more serious”?
But wait, one last insult before they’re through:
The killing was an embarrassment to Dubai, a boomtown trying to shed its reputation as an anything-goes corner of the conservative Muslim Gulf. The emirate has recently cracked down on tourists going topless on beaches, and has launched a public anti-corruption effort.
Hey assholes: this woman’s murder is not a soap opera, it is not less serious, and it is not an embarrassment akin to publicly bare breasts. It’s tragic, senseless, and an outrage. I can’t claim to know Tamim from Eve, but the fact is that she was a person, and she doesn’t deserve to have you shit all over her because she was pretty and famous and because she was most likely murdered by a wealthy man who she may or may not have been sleeping with. Her murder is not less horrible because of her fame, beauty or sex life. It shouldn’t be considered anyone’s entertainment. And this “women’s lives aren’t really so important” bullshit needs to stop.
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“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” — Susan B. Anthony
I love how they seem to think this murder is embarrassing because they’ve been trying to get rid of topless beaches….so if they supported topless beaches the murder would be less of a problem. It is disgusting how this women is a footnote in this story when it should be focusing on her life and what was lost just because some men think they are above the law and are incapable of empathy.
My unhusband and I were just discussing this over dinner. He took the position that it was positive that her murderer had been arrested. I reserved judgment feeling that the outcome of the arrest would reveal the true value of this action. From what I am reading in your post Cara it seems I was right not to assume that her murder would be accorded the respect that it deserves.