Joan Acocella, in a review essay entitled “Turning the Page” in the latest New Yorker (Oct. 15 issue), discusses the long struggle of women to become literate. Literacy for men and women didn’t become widespread until the printing press, but for centuries reading by women was considered potentially dangerous to their health or their religious well-being.
Which brings me to today’s front page headline in the New York Times: “Taliban Gun Down a Girl Who Spoke Up for Rights.” On Tuesday in Pakistan masked gunmen entered the school bus on which 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai was riding and shot her in the head and neck. She survived, but her condition is critical. See <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/world/asia/teen-school-activist-malala-yousafzai-survives-hit-by-pakistani-taliban.html?_r=0>.
A Taliban spokesman said that Ms. Yousafzai had been targeted because of her fight for education. He called her struggle “obscene.” She had hoped to become a doctor.
I have been critical of the administration’s drone policy, but if we can locate the men who boarded that bus or the spokesman who tried to justify their actions, drone the bastards.
One can only hope that this horrific event spurs the adults in the community to defend the rights Malala Yousafzai was fighting for. What a remarkable young woman. I hope she survives.
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