“Islam is Right About
Women.” This meme stuck on a signpost in America shows better in five words
what it takes some commentators thousands of words to capture - it is a
brilliant piece of provocation that so acutely digs in to the current zeitgeist
that it's possible to offend groups on opposing sides, bewilder groups on
opposing sides, and leave people quite unsure how to respond to it. When words
have this much power, social media is rather exhilarating.
“Islam is Right About
Women.” - It bewilders people from all ideological groups because it is
cleverly vague enough to be devoid of any precise meaning, but clear enough to
elicit some kind of negative emotion.
Islam is Right About
Women.” - It has the power to offend the
snowflakes, because they are always offended at anything like this, without
ever knowing why, or whether they should be.
"Islam is Right About
Women.” - It has the power to offend the
feminists, because 'Hello, Islam and women' - this sign can't be right!
“Islam is Right About
Women.” - It has the power to offend
misogynists (either Muslim or otherwise) because they would see the sign as an
ironic attack on the oppression of women.
"Islam is Right About
Women.” - It has the power to offend the
radical left, because they'll see it as both Islamophobic and misogynist, while
at the same time being puzzled because they think it ticks a diversity box.
It is a truly brilliant
meme: it offends all the right people, yet leaves them unsure about quite why
they are offended - which almost perfectly encapsulates the modern bipolarities
of extreme snowflakery on the one hand, yet radical, uncompromising, intolerant
entitlement on the other.
