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In the comedic film "Goldmember,"(2002) starring Mike Myers, Goldmember's personal assistant seems quite competent and even handsome, except for a ghastly mole just above his upper lip. The joke is that everybody tries to ignore the blemish as if it weren't there, but it becomes obvious that they are unable to.I can't help but apply this situation to the recent revelations about author/adventurer/educator Greg Mortenson. Mortenson wrote two books, the most prominent of these being his first work entitled "Three Cups of Tea," detailing his attempt to educate young women in Afghanistan and Pakistan. These books were lauded in the media, and he was widely praised for his work. But the obvious question, which the media pretty much seemed to ignore, was why this man was concentrating his efforts on young women. It was somewhat like the embarrassing mole sported by Goldmember's personal assistant that everyone tried to ignore, but that was yet so obvious and distracting.
This is not to say that there is anything necessarily wrong with a man focusing on women's education. One is reminded of the famed Catholic clergyman and composer, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), who led a troop of young female musicians from the Italian orphanage where he taught in the early 1700s. Vivaldi's reputation never seemed to have suffered from his work at the school or his concentration on women. At the same time, as a clergyman who took the customary vow of celibacy, Vivaldi carried an image of one who was excused from the normal suspicions that would follow a man who was associated with a troop of woman musicians.
Mortenson's situation is somewhat different. He came to educate women in Afghanistan. There is first the element of condescension that accompanies that effort. There is a sense that the West knows how to educate these poor girls, and Mortenson is there to show the people there how to do it right. And yes it true that, throughout the world, there has been a tendency to give women short shrift when it came to educating them. Men, perhaps considered the natural breadwinners, were usually given first choice in educational opportunities, under the assumption that women would take on the supportive role of taking care of domestic matters like making sure the babies were fed, the children were clothed, and supper was put on the table.
However, regarding Mortenson's pastime, the element of Western know-it-all-ism is too strong to ignore, particularly considering the fact that Americans have played a significant, if deleterious, role in Afghan history of late. To think that Mortenson would be aloof from the intense military activity taking place in that country would be simplistic.
In terms of what the West likes to foist on other countries, one of its great concerns appears to have been the birth rates in underdeveloped lands. Attempts to correct this, both in the United States and abroad, are often couched in terms that hide the intent. Thus, the term "women's health" pretty much refers to women's reproductive status. The same can be said of women's education, however unfortunate and constricted an association that may be.
So that while one might not conclude prematurely that there was any immodest intention on the part of Mortenson in focusing on young women in his attempt to educate the Afghan population, red flashing warning signs could not help but go off. Assuming however, that Mortenson had no immodest designs, the question still remains why he would focus on women's education.
The one thought that immediately came to me when listening to an interview with Mortenson on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" in 2002 was that he wanted to educate young women because women are seen by the public health establishment as the key to implementing a birth control regime. With a high priority placed on limiting underdeveloped nations' birth rates, this would be a natural reason to concentrate on women's education, if a severely misguided one. The likelihood that funding could be obtained from the various sources that bequeath huge sums for this purpose was high, and one might examine Mortenson's balance sheet to see if this was indeed so.
During the radio broadcast cited above, host Terry Gross could not avoid that figurative "mole above Mortenson's upper lip." She actually popped the question, which I must paraphrase from memory, as I can't seem to gain access to a transcript of the show. Gross asked Mortenson why he was concentrating his efforts on young women. And Mortenson, quite expectedly, brought up the family planning issue. I was gratified to see my suspicions confirmed, and thankful to Gross for confronting Mortenson with that difficult-to-ask, if obviously necessary question.
At any rate, there is much talk about the many schools Mortenson established, and the thousands of girls he educated. But a rudimentary knowledge of conservative Islamic society makes these claims improbable. One cannot help but think how Mortenson was even able to get a single school established under such a premise. Certainly there would be immediate skepticism on the part of any parent over such a scheme, in any society. However, in an Islamic nation where women are often covered up more than in other societies, and kept segregated from their male counterparts, the danger bells would go off with greater intensity.
I never read Mortenson's book because lies bore me. The incredible media hype behind his work tells us something about his high-level connections, and that is also undoubtedly a reason he was able to obtain funding for his odd ventures. How embarrassing that the media are now harping on what was wrong with this guy. Perhaps after the attention paid to his second book, "Stones Into Schools," the contradictions became that much more obvious.
I am embarrassed by all of this, not so much because of anything Mortenson did, but rather because of the lemming-like praise that Mortenson garnered from elitist circles, and now for the embarrassing downfall of this man. The blame does not belong to Mortenson alone, but to the vast infrastructure of media and foreign policy dupes who characterized Mortenson as a hero, rather than the bogus showman he has come to be known as. I hope some of Mortenson's efforts bore useful fruit, even if was merely to provide the occasional vacant school building for keeping goats or cattle warm over the winter months.
Among those with a college education, I'll be the first to admit that I probably have less than the average skill set. But one talent we would all benefit by cultivating is to know when we are being lied to, to our faces.
