And the world will tolerate it.

The Taliban and Islamic extremists are far from alone in their abysmal treatment and violent persecution of women.

“Respectable” allies of the United States and Europe like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States (to name just two of many) treat women like dogs. Women are the virtual property of either their fathers or their husbands, and while education is sometimes possible, professional opportunities are severely limited and exist only with permission of male relatives.

High profile stories, like the imprisonment and probable torture of high-status women belonging to ruling families, make the news from time to time. But the daily lives of severely oppressed women don’t make the news.

Our leaders never make a big deal about it, and we treat the leaders of those states like they are actual civilized people instead of brutal oppressors.

We tolerate evil. We behave as if brutal oppression of women is just a fact of life instead of something we have to vigorously fight against.