Honor Killings - or Battle of the Sexes

Three news items from three separate sources all about virtually unrelated events but seemingly addressing the same issue: violence against the less powerful, a plague that has eaten very deep into the fabric of our society.

News item one comes from Canada in the form of a warning from Canada's female affairs Minister, Ms. Ambrose who was issuing a warning to those who commit heinous crimes in the name of honor to be prepared to face the music as this kind of activity will not be tolerated in Canada. Full coverage of this news item can be found here



News item two was about Mel Gibson's alleged meltdown and his total dumping on his former girl friend Oksana. Audio tapes of his violent rantings were supposed to have been exposed on some websites leading to investigation by law enforcement authorities. Full coverage of this news item can be found here

News item three is about an estranged lover who set out to kill his girlfriend at her workplace but ended up killing six innocent employees before turning the gun on himself. Full coverage for this news item can be found here

It should not take an Einstein to recognize a common thread in these three unrelated stories. It does not matter how well people try to cover it up, relationships between the opposite sexes on this planet is totally out of sync with innate wishes of its inhabitants.



Starting with honour killings, this is a so-called religio-cultural activity designed many years ago to gain and maintain absolute control over the female species. The rational behind it could be anything including jealousy or the wish of a man to have absolute access to his female partner. The biblical theory that God created Eve by means of a bone extracted from Adams side seems to cement the idea that for every man there is a woman whose role in life is to be the slave. Add to that the idea that "thou shalt not commit adultry" and it will start to become clearer why some men feel challenged to go to the extremes to maintain their honor. It is appalling though that human beings can take the laws into their own hands violating God's commandment that says "thou shalt not kill".



The problem with honor killings though is that it has a name and a face with many cultures which seem to accept it as a way of life. In the Eastern and Arabic countries, honor killings are practiced openly with the backing of the law in some cases. In the west however it is an entirely different story. Canada's Minister for Women affairs is pushing for a law that will see people engaged in honor killings be subject to punishment to the full extents of the law. From her perspective, it will seem as if honor killings are a special kind of crime associated with a particular group of people. This is far from the truth however. Murder of an innocent victim by any name at all is still murder and should all be treated accordingly. A spate of knifing of innocent women these past few weeks in the Toronto area are samples of what might be classified as honor killings.

Honor killings are not an isolated practice. When women were accused of witchcraft and burnt at the stake by the church, that was more or less honor killings. When somebody as highly placed as Mel Gibson rants and raves about killing his girlfriend, that qualifies as an attempted honor killing. The estranged lover in news item three who set out to kill his girlfriend but ended up taking the lives of many other innocent citizens has committed the act of honor killing. Criminal organizations all over the planet will kill anyone of their own who strays from a set code of ethics.

Murderers, serial killers and other such criminal elements do what they do, either because they are absolutely insane or are out on some kind of personal vendetta. Some murderers are known to have even set out to kill other people, only because they cannot destroy the object of their affection which happens also to be their major irritant.

What this all boils down to is that the war of the sexes that has been part and parcel of humanity since the beginning is an ongoing saga and its presence can be felt across all cultures and nationalities. Perhaps if the big picture is viewed from this perspective, then the healing can begin.





Bookmark & Share

How Are The Mighty Fallen? - Toyota recurring recalls

When in college I had a professor who vouched for the fine and lasting qualities of the Toyota brand. His Toyota at the time was at 1 million kilometers and was still going without rust or engine damage. This of course was in the late nineties, before the era of exotic computer chips under the hood.

Today, the news is different. First it was a slew of recalls that has now ballooned into what seems like an auto-Armageddon for Toyota. Toyota itself has attributed the fault in its most recent recalls to a faulty accelerator pedal that can be quickly and easily fixed. The easy fix does not seem to be working as the recent news about a self accelerating Toyota Prius which may indicate a more deep rooted problem.

So, what could be the root of Toyota's problem? Steve Jobs the CEO of Apple Computers has tried to point out the possibility that the problem might be electronic in nature. One other expert has testified that it was possible to tweak the electronics in Toyota Cars to make them self accelerate.

Without sounding like an apostle of doom or trying to scare all car drivers out there, the computer chips under the hood of many modern cars are probably vulnerable to cracker or hacker attacks just like the computer chips inside desktops, huge road signs or even your washer at home. So. perhaps the issue is security rather than electronics. If some people have found a way to use their wireless devices to tap into computer chips that modern cars rely upon for virtually all their functionality, then no car on the road is eventually going to be safe.

Toyota ought to take very seriously the issue of the security from external influence of the computer chips that operate their vehicles. If security is an issue that has been overlooked, then it is probably better to inform their customers of the real issue and to start immediately to find a permanent solution.


Bookmark & Share