Look here, we live in a global society whether we like it or not. Our markets are likewise global whether we like it or not, and it's actually been that way as long as this country has existed. If Nike has decided that the Middle East is a big enough market that it should be specifically marketed to by them, then that's their decision. Sorry, but I started out as a Free Market conservative. I understand you don't get to have a free market when you like it, and a not free market when some corporation does something you don't like. It's their company, they're going to do what's profitable for them. Personally, I think These Fucking People are just pissed off because we live in a global society and the Middle East has become a big enough market for American companies to specifically market consumer products there in a visible manner. Of course, I'm sure the Sport Hijab will get marketed lots of other places too, like here or in Europe or Australia. Personally, I think it's a great idea.
I don't even get why this is a problem, we've been buying Arab oil and selling at least some of those people weapons pretty consistently for longer than I've been alive. How is a Hijab or a pair of expensive basketball shoes any damned different? Capitalism. If there's money to be made eventually somebody's going to give it a shot. If there's a market for it, hell, maybe in a year or two, Nike will make sport Turbans for Sikh men? Perhaps Buck or Gerber or K-Bar will start making Kirpans (Sikh daggers or swords) with some particular American ingenuity? For that matter, with Baptized Sikhs now able to observe the tenets of the Khalsa (the "Five K's") without a waiver while serving in the US military (and for that matter, with female Muslims also able to wear Hijabs now) I wouldn't be surprised if digital camouflage Hijabs (or at least the black form-fitting ones) and Turbans according to the different services digital patterns are already being manufactured.
This is no big deal, this is normal. This is how American tradition works.
Of course, it's also tradition that people bitch about it. That's just how this country is.
In some countries, like Iran or Saudi Arabia, a Muslimah might not be able to go jogging or train for an athletic event or play association football or whatever without her Hijab. Wouldn't one that fits and is designed for that type of activity be appropriate? Nike being an American brand...it might just be a big thing to be able to have.
And that, too, is just how those countries are.
Doesn't make it right.
In the era of Trump, those people have been sounding pretty damned "First World Problems" to me.
You know, like when you get the wrong food item at the Drive Thru at MacDonald's or when your battery is dead on your phone or when your WiFi is out?
Never mind that even though something as simple as a Mobile Phone weather app can literally be a lifesaver for a subsistence farmer in Niger, not very many people have Mobile Phones. Often, there's no electricity so maybe charge it in the car if you have a vehicle (Most people don't) and certainly outside of the cities and more populated areas, fuck 4G LTE, you're pretty often lucky to have any "G's" or service on any level at all. Yet to a subsistence farmer, largely dependent on the weather...a cell phone weather app or access to the internet (through the national ISP, SONITEL if they can afford access and live where it's available) and a website that shows longer-range weather forecasts can affect planting and watering schedules and can literally make the difference between survival and maybe even having a little money...or poverty and starvation.
Actually, given the country's low literacy rates, Radio is the big medium for news and weather. The BBC's Arabic and Hausa services, which also cater to Nigeria...are pretty heavily used in Niger. How many Americans even bother with the radio anymore? I know I sure don't.
Think about that, for a second. Something we take for granted or might not even notice or use here, can be a literal lifesaver in other parts of the world. Something ubiquitous here, like cell phones with internet access, is rare as fuck over there.
One of the feeds I follow on both Facebook and Twitter for news is Al-Jazeera English. Last week I read a couple of articles about the East African country of Benin that really got me thinking about these kinds of things and fed into me writing this post.
The first one was about parents (and other people) selling kids into forced labor. So, basically, it was about slavery. These kids are being sold sometimes for as little as $30. A kid might get told they're going to go away and get some great job, and end up performing agricultural work, working as a shoe-repairman/kid or working in a grocery store in Nigeria. If a parent or guardian is poor, they may feel like they don't have a choice, or they might simply give a kid to the village shoe repairman so the kid can learn a trade and they have one less mouth to feed. Did I mention that a lot of these countries do not have (and cannot afford to have) much or even anything at all in the way of social safety nets or social welfare programs? The article I read went into some depth about various non-governmental organizations and individuals that work with the Beninese government and law enforcement (or on their own) to bust these kids out of slavery.
The second article that I read was about Voodoo in Benin and how children, if they are believed to be possessed by an evil spirit, are often exiled to Voodoo convents where they are given a new name and all they get to learn is Voodoo songs and dances to try to "cure" themselves. (Note that "Possessed by an evil spirit" may be the local interpretation of some kid's medical problem that no one around has the capability or the knowledge to deal with.) Also, note that a vast majority of these kids would rather be going to school and doing normal kid stuff. The article talked about NGO's trying to shorten the time these kids were exiled, and getting them into school instead of doing crazy woo woo religious hokum. Funny thing, at the end of the article, the President of all the Voodoo priests in the area where these NGO's were working spoke with some of their people and, saying that "Where others can't, I can, I am the god of the thunder, of the lightning, and of snakes" he admitted he'd been ignorant, he apologized and agreed to reduce the time that the kids were exiled to three months (where before, some of them might be locked away for up to ten years) and to help get them into schools where they would get caught up on learning.
If an old Voodoo Priest in a country most Americans have never heard of and can't find on a map, can admit to error and make amends for previous mistakes, why can't so many Americans do it?
The next time somebody bitches about illegal immigrants or refugees...and remember, there's more than just Mexican illegal immigrants and there's a lot more people besides Muslims who become refugees...
Some of them, too, might be fleeing from religious persecution or slavery...
And people here want to complain about people who come here to do the jobs that they literally Will. Not. Do?
First World Problems. Seems kind of fucked up, I think.
If we don't get over these entitled attitudes, and this country comes flying apart or people like Paul Ryan get their way and get rid of the social safety net...we're absolutely going to find out what it's like to live in a country that's like Benin. We already have enough problems with crazy religious woo woo shit here already.
We live in a global society, with global problems, which will require global solutions. Like the man said...injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We'd better start acting like it.
As long as we are ruled by others we shall lay our mistakes at their door, and our sense of responsibility will remain dulled. Freedom brings responsibilities, and our experience can be enriched only by the acceptance of these responsibilities. ~Kwame Nkrumah, 1st President of Ghana.
