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A review by jmanchester0
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.0
For so many reasons, it was really hard to get into this book. It was a bit of a slow burn. (Though part 3 - living through those life-and-death moments with her - was riveting.) It wasn't really any fault of the book or the author or the reader (I got it on audio); just because of anything she talks about makes me think about so many other things.
I couldn't help but draw parallels between the Taliban and evangelical Christianity.
It was chilling to read about the rise of the Taliban. The state is meant to protect the rights of its citizens, but it's a very difficult situation when you can't tell the difference between state and non-state and can't trust the state to protect you against non-state.
While I was scared of the parallels between the Taliban and evangelicals, it's more their ideology. But there were things that divested me of that fear. I don't think they could marshall the same forces - at least, I think they would have more opposition here in the U.S. Plus, I think they're too selfish to be suicide bombers. They'd be happy to kill other people, but wouldn't die themselves. Mainly, I think, because their whole ideology is selfish - they wouldn't sacrifice anything for it - much less their own lives.
And some of the same quotes could be used here in the US; again I compare the Taliban to Christian evangelicals.
How will you accept Christianity if I put a gun to your head and say Christianity is the true religion? If they want every person in the world to be Christian, why don't they show themselves to be good Christians first?
(This is a direct quote. Except I replaced Islam with Christianity and Muslim with Christian.)
And before you argue I'm exaggerating, remember that last month Alabama nearly elected a Senator because he would wave a gun on stage and because he was known for breaking U.S. law in favor of his own personal interpretation of Christianity. If that's not pretty damn close to terrorism I don't know what is.
Plus, 3 days ago (3!) my very own representative in Alabama introduced a bill that would allow for someone in a church to shoot someone else if the first person merely perceived a threat. That's insane! So, if I am carrying a gun inside a church, and I see a young white kid bullying a younger kid, and I think the older kid might pull a weapon, I can shoot him. WTF? [Again, I don't think I'm exaggerating - these laws state that if you believe you or someone else is about to come to bodily harm, you can use deadly force on (i.e., kill) them to prevent it.) E.g., George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin because he thought he was about to be hurt. Or something. (Yeah - with Trayvon's skittles.) This is the kind of thing "Stand Your Ground" Laws support. Supporters say they are not "Shoot First" laws. But in the wake of George Zimmerman, how are they not?]
And she does a fantastic job of describing how the United States government created the Taliban. And interesting analogy between this and the Republicans creating the hateful religious right.
And other parts were thought-provoking. For example, this section made me think about the illusion of ownership, particularly land ownership:
The Yousafzai divided up all the land among the male members of the tribe. It was a peculiar system called wish, under which every five or ten years all the families would swap villages and redistribute the land of the new village among the men so that everyone had the chance to work on good as well as bad land.
But learning about other cultures is also fascinating. Like why the people where Malala is from do not say thank you, I find both fantastic and horrified.
Kindness I can only be repaid by kindness. It can't be repaid by expressions like "thank you".
The dark side of that?
...we rarely say thank you, manana, because we believe a Pashtun [Pashto-speaking person from NW Pakistan] will never forget a good deed and is bound to reciprocate at some point, just as he will a bad one.
(That last emphasis is mine.)
But what happened in the lives of the people here is horrifying. And it's a lesson for us today. What an amazing girl. Giving interviews in resistance? Writing against the Taliban?
Of course, reading a book like this makes you wonder what you've accomplished in your own life - after reading about a girl who addressed the UN on her 16th birthday.
But I guess there's still time. Read about this brave girl.
I couldn't help but draw parallels between the Taliban and evangelical Christianity.
It was chilling to read about the rise of the Taliban. The state is meant to protect the rights of its citizens, but it's a very difficult situation when you can't tell the difference between state and non-state and can't trust the state to protect you against non-state.
While I was scared of the parallels between the Taliban and evangelicals, it's more their ideology. But there were things that divested me of that fear. I don't think they could marshall the same forces - at least, I think they would have more opposition here in the U.S. Plus, I think they're too selfish to be suicide bombers. They'd be happy to kill other people, but wouldn't die themselves. Mainly, I think, because their whole ideology is selfish - they wouldn't sacrifice anything for it - much less their own lives.
And some of the same quotes could be used here in the US; again I compare the Taliban to Christian evangelicals.
How will you accept Christianity if I put a gun to your head and say Christianity is the true religion? If they want every person in the world to be Christian, why don't they show themselves to be good Christians first?
(This is a direct quote. Except I replaced Islam with Christianity and Muslim with Christian.)
And before you argue I'm exaggerating, remember that last month Alabama nearly elected a Senator because he would wave a gun on stage and because he was known for breaking U.S. law in favor of his own personal interpretation of Christianity. If that's not pretty damn close to terrorism I don't know what is.
Plus, 3 days ago (3!) my very own representative in Alabama introduced a bill that would allow for someone in a church to shoot someone else if the first person merely perceived a threat. That's insane! So, if I am carrying a gun inside a church, and I see a young white kid bullying a younger kid, and I think the older kid might pull a weapon, I can shoot him. WTF? [Again, I don't think I'm exaggerating - these laws state that if you believe you or someone else is about to come to bodily harm, you can use deadly force on (i.e., kill) them to prevent it.) E.g., George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin because he thought he was about to be hurt. Or something. (Yeah - with Trayvon's skittles.) This is the kind of thing "Stand Your Ground" Laws support. Supporters say they are not "Shoot First" laws. But in the wake of George Zimmerman, how are they not?]
And she does a fantastic job of describing how the United States government created the Taliban. And interesting analogy between this and the Republicans creating the hateful religious right.
And other parts were thought-provoking. For example, this section made me think about the illusion of ownership, particularly land ownership:
The Yousafzai divided up all the land among the male members of the tribe. It was a peculiar system called wish, under which every five or ten years all the families would swap villages and redistribute the land of the new village among the men so that everyone had the chance to work on good as well as bad land.
But learning about other cultures is also fascinating. Like why the people where Malala is from do not say thank you, I find both fantastic and horrified.
Kindness I can only be repaid by kindness. It can't be repaid by expressions like "thank you".
The dark side of that?
...we rarely say thank you, manana, because we believe a Pashtun [Pashto-speaking person from NW Pakistan] will never forget a good deed and is bound to reciprocate at some point, just as he will a bad one.
(That last emphasis is mine.)
But what happened in the lives of the people here is horrifying. And it's a lesson for us today. What an amazing girl. Giving interviews in resistance? Writing against the Taliban?
Of course, reading a book like this makes you wonder what you've accomplished in your own life - after reading about a girl who addressed the UN on her 16th birthday.
But I guess there's still time. Read about this brave girl.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry