The dehumanizing sympathy

When Meryl Streep sought to convey the depth of her empathy and perhaps the pain she felt regarding the plight of Afghanistani women under the repressive Taliban regime, she drew parallels to the freedom that she assumed was enjoyed by cats, squirrels, and birds. 

Today in Kabul a female cat has more freedom than a woman. A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face, she may chase a squirrel in the park.

A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban.

A bird may sing in Kabul, but a girl may not in public. This is extraordinary. This is a suppression of the natural law. Souce: Forbes

While this gesture appears innocent and compassionate on the surface, a closer look reveals a devastating truth: it reflects the Western perspective, a composite of arrogance, patronizing view, and paternalism that still persists in Western feminist discourse concerning women in Islamic societies.

Comparing humans to cats, squirrels, or birds to illustrate concepts of freedom, basic human rights, or the distinction between natural and social liberty may not be entirely without merit; however, the pitfall is that such comparisons can lead to dehumanization. Historically, likening groups of people to animals has been a tool used to strip them of their human dignity and fundamental rights, effectively marginalizing them from society. Such tactics are often a precursor to genocidal violence, as is currently happening against the Hazaras in Afghanistan under the Taliban. 

This seemingly innocuous perspective can be characterized as a form of "benevolent humiliating" or "humanitarianly dehumanizing." Streep attempts to convey the magnitude of the tragedy not in the human terms needed to capture its reality, but through "innocent" imagery that reduces human dignity to primal, biological instincts. In short, this represents yet another form of dehumanization directed at the women of Afghanistan.

Read Farsi version here.