Contrast, and Clash of Mentalities

Rihanna
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Rihanna, see the contrasts and the contradiction? For the sake of argument, and for the sheer beauty of a captured moment this is, for me, the best and most telling of the shots taken by the photographer!! How did he get those older women in the background, by chance? Were they secretly wishing to rebel and get a cameo? Was this their act of civil disobedience? - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 10.29.13

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This is a sultry woman. Is Rihanna seductive clothed in a black fashionable version of modesty, or to American taste humble of attire in front of the mosque? In this controversy the administration of the Sheikh Zayed mosque in Abu Dhabi felt her body beneath the cloth and the way she used her body was too much for the sanctity of the grounds, their tradition, and the environment of prayer and reverence common to sacred space. 

It is very hard for millions of Americans to understand how religion fits into the fabric of the Arab world. The Europeans and the Americans by definition of  their law and bullying, and missionaries spent 500 years ripping this ideological merge of elements out of the cultures of the indigenous peoples of the North American continent. Knowing that it is no wonder a Rihanna and a creative crew would miss the nuances of worship and reverence, custom, and politics Arabs practice and have a fashion shoot in a holy place. 

In practice, Americans do not hold land sacred. To other peoples in the world that is a dangerous spirit. A people who would invade the holy land of their proclaimed religion without reserve, or regret is an incomprehensible creature. With the same horror the Apaches felt watching the Spanish/Mexican sheep herders copulating with their sheep millions of Arabs were horrified watching American bomb the cities of Iraq, where the Garden of Eden once existed for Adam and Eve. With that as a backdrop here comes Rihanna. 

You see? - Gregory E. Woods 10.29.13

Rihanna lying in the court yard of the sacred place of the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu  Dhabi  in 2013.

the Story 
is translated from Arabic into English, I believe. So don't be put off by the language usage in the short script. - Gregory