Both ideologies seek to erase the individual--through clothes, argot, and art. In Islam, women wear black to hide their hair and skin. When I recently travelled through Kuwaiti International Airport, I saw women totally covered in black robes, headscarves, gloves, stockings, and face-masks. They were waiting in line for expressos at Starbucks.
Here in Yusufiya some men wear western-style clothes: jeans, t-shirts, or slacks. But most wear dishdashas of neutral color and headscarves. The restaurants all serve the same 4 dishes (falafel, tikka, roast chicken, or carp). Everyone is muslim. Everyone plays soccer. No one owns a musical instrument.
"Could you imagine wearing the exact same clothes as your dad? As your granddad?" I asked a friend of mine in Angel Company.
He shrugged.
"They all wear the same clothes! It's strange, man."
"Yeah, but so do we."
And so it was--both of us standing outside the chow hall in our Army Combat Uniforms.
All citizens are silhouettes. A mob. The arabic says "there is no god but god."
This poster proclaims "the march towards a unitary, classless society." Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Republic, is pictured. Also notice the sickle and rifle.
On one side is the old, degenerate way of learning. On the other is Utopia.
Notice how on the right, everyone is identical.
