The paper this morning carried news of riots in Afghanistan (remember Afghanistan? How we cleaned it up and all?), allegedly in response to abuses by the U.S. military. While the military is unfortunately used to being seen as the bad guy around there, I was stunned to learn the other target of their fury.
They were chanting “death to dog washers!” Yep, dog washers.
Apparently dog washers are the worst scum of the earth in Afghanistan, which leads me to wonder: what about the dirty dogs? Here in ‘Merica, dirty dogs are pretty low. You call someone a dirty dog, them’s fighting words. So do Afghanis consider clean dogs to be worse?
“I hate you,” screamed one protestor in my imagination. “You … you washed your dog!”
I just don’t understand the Middle East.
Remember, this is from a bunch of people who ride around on horses, wrestle over a dead calf/goat, and call it a “sport”….