It might be interesting to take a look at what the mainstream media has been printing over the last several weeks regarding the upcoming historic elections in Afghanistan. Historic in my view since they are an ancient culture and this is the first elections they have had in their long history.
You would think that the average American would consider this an event that we should be proud of. We have replaced a brutal dictatorship with a fledgling democracy that is about to take its first tentative steps towards the enjoyment freedom can bring to the average oppressed masses.
You might expect that the papers and web sites would be full of human interest stories and speculation as to how the average Afghan woman or young female student might be feeling about such dramatic change. You might even expect some analysis as to what effect it might have in this region if these things go off with reasonable success.
I guess I am expecting to much. Put Afghan elections in your browser and up comes almost exclusively, stories about how the elections are going to be impossible or that they are going to be disrupted by the Taliban. Go to Al Jazeera and there is a story of how villagers have been told that if they don't vote for Karzei, the American puppet, their family members will be killed and left unburied and they won't be able to marry off their daughters! The threat of that doesn't seem to be as bad as actually having your hand cut off or being shot in the back of the head in the soccer stadium as was the practice of the former regime.
You would think that one of the stories might mention that over 10 million voters have registered and that over 40% of them are women. How about just one story hoping for a smashing success and speculating just how momentous an event this will be if it brings representative government, stability and economic progress to these poor people.
Oh by the way the elections are being held this Saturday.
