By Micah Halpern
I've Been Thinking:
Yazmany Arboleda is a 31-year-old artist who lives in New York. He created quite a controversy by giving out free pink balloons in Kabul, Afghanistan over the weekend. The Taliban called it an attack on Islam.
How can giving away 10,000 pink balloons be an attack on traditional Islam? How can it symbolize the West's attempt to destroy Islam?
The artist wanted to put some joy and fun in the lives of the residents of Kabul who he says have suffered so much over the past years.
But on Sunday this is what Qari Habib wrote in Pashto about the balloons.
"Was it a balloon show or a mini-skirt show?"
"The West is using different techniques to promote their culture in Afghanistan. Sometimes they do it in an undercover way."
"Some girls were without headscarves, with tight jeans and tops on, and even with mini-skirts on the streets.
The boys were also dressed in Western-style outfits."
"After distributing some balloons, they wandered around Kabul aiming to break the culture of hijab."
Pink balloons could mean so many things ... and yes some could be offensive to Islamic society. But as Freud famously said: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
Micah@MicahHalpern.com
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