Honor Killing: deeds speak louder than words

The term “Honor Killing’ has now joined the list of unacceptable phraseology in our vastly growing lexicon of misspeak. Islamic organizations throughout Western nations are objecting to the use of that word, claiming it is racist and Islamophobic. The outcry by American Muslims has been so strong that even the FBI has knuckled under the politically correct speech code and changed its terminology on a wanted poster seeking the arrest of one Yasser Abdel Said who is alleged to have murdered his daughter. Many women’s groups have come out in support of condemning the term as they claim it detracts from the real issue, which to them is domestic violence perpetrated by “the patriarchy”.

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Anything that the Left in our culture frowns upon always tends to wind up being racist, sexist or (fill in the blank)-phobic. The argument that the media’s reporting on domestic violence among whites rarely if ever mentions Christianity or Judaism is true enough. But then the killings of wives, daughters or sisters among Christians and Jews are usually not because of reasons that relate to their religion or their inherent culture. These are usually crimes of avarice or passion. The outcry by Muslims, who are offended by the term “Honor Killing,” bears no validity in light of the general lack of objection to these practices by those who claim to be offended. The argument that the Koran does not specifically sanction Honor Killings makes the practice cultural rather than religious is also specious in that other religions born of the same cultures generally do not engage in this practice. Many are arguing that a crime of violence is just that, a crime of violence, and labeling it an Honor Killing merely serves to enhance the notion that western culture is morally superior to others. If that is the case, then why bother labeling any crimes according to their motivation? What about “Hate Crimes”; do these not fall under a similar classification because they tend to revolve around race, religion or sexual orientation? If it’s unacceptable to label the murder of one’s sister because of her promiscuous sexual conduct an “Honor Killing”, then doesn’t it make equal sense for it to be unacceptable to label the killing of a gay person a “Hate Crime”? Or is that too logical? The real racists in this debate are those who would not hold people from other cultures to the standards accepted within our society, imagining that their moral relativism somehow renders them more liberal or more enlightened. It’s the racism of cutting other cultures slack because they don’t appear to know better. If those who do not originate within our society choose to join our culture, the expectations are that they adopt some modicum of our cultural norm, multiculturalism notwithstanding. The idea that individuals can flee their native land and find refuge within ours is what has made our culture exceptional and yes, morally superior. However, when those who come here to seek a better life want to impose cultural mores at odds with our own, it’s time to draw the line. So long as Hate Crimes are crimes in a class of their own because they speak to the nature of the crime, then Honor Killings are also crimes that are uniquely motivated and should thus fall within a specific definition in the legal framework, the war on words notwithstanding.