H/T Nick at Night
Category Archives: Debate
Net Neutrality explained.
This is an important issue and video. Please watch and pass along. Grab the embed code if you have a web site and please repost. Thank you
Eeyore
MEMRI: Interview with Coptic leader
Here is a heartbreaking interview with the leader of the Egyptian Coptic community. After seeing this, I understand why Canada elects every second Prime Minister as a French speaker from Quebec. This Coptic seems to me to show a broken and defeated community, and the Copts where in fact the dominant group in Egypt before they where attacked, slaughtered and most forcibly converted by Mohamed’s armies. Below this MEMRI clip, please see the excellent history of Egypt and Islam by Occidental Soapbox:
US textbooks show Jesus was a palistinian and the USA was discovered by Muslims
Comment from Bostom’s video on youtube
The Andrew Bostom video I posted (Thanks Jdamn) last week on youtube and embedded here has garnered a few views. The comments thread is rather interesting so I thought I would re post some of them over here. I’ll also post the video as well for anyone who has not seen it. It is a short lecture on the facts of ‘dhimmitude’ meaning life under Islamic rule or a Muslim dominated nation.
And now, a few of the comments:
First, the usual relativist nonsense attempting to mitigate the horrors of Islam with the claim that Christianity was as bad or worse some time ago, so Islam should not be considered to be a great threat. I sincerely do not understand how this line of reasoning works because in my universe, if it was bad then, it is bad now so even if these ‘temporal relativists’ are correct it does nothing to mitigate Islam. In any event, here is the comment that inspired a great response:
TheHobgoblyn (14 hours ago) Show Hide
You need to do more research.
In Catholic controlled lands, people? were put to death for Pagan or Jewish rituals. Jews were considered to be bad luck and kept under close guard in parts of the city then killed whenever something went wrong to appease “God”.
Scholars were generally suppressed, most of pre-Christiandom learning was destroyed in Europe because it contradicted the bible.
All barbarism in the Koran has an equivalent in the Torah/Old Testament. It is not at all inconsistent.AlexiusComnenos (13 hours ago) Show Hide
Will Durant in his book “The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage”:
“The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. The Islamic historians and scholars have recorded with great glee and pride? the slaughters of Hindus, forced conversions, abduction of Hindu women and children to slave markets and the destruction of temples carried out by the warriors of Islam during 800 AD to 1700 AD. Millions of Hindus were converted to Islam by sword during this period.”
<AlexiusComnenos (13 hours ago) Show Hide
Prof. K.S. Lal, suggests a calculation in his book Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India which estimates that between the years 1000 AD and 1500 AD the Hindu population decreased by 80 million. Even those Hindus who converted to Islam were not immune from persecution, which was illustrated by the Muslim Caste System in India as established by Ziauddin al-Barani in? the Fatawa-i Jahandari.where they were regarded “Ajlaf” caste and subjected to severe discrimination by the “Ashraf” castesAlexiusComnenos (13 hours ago) Show Hide
Aurangzeb, one of the last Muslim emperors had 10,000 Hindus massacred? everyday for a year. He alone was responsible for the massacre of at least 3,650,000 Hindus and destruction of more than 11,000 Hindu temples. William Durant, author of the voluminous “Story of Civilization” has described the Muslim conquests in India as constituting the saddest and goriest chapter in human history. Muslims have destroyed and looted the whole country and have killed countless innocent Hindus in the process.AlexiusComnenos (13 hours ago) Show Hide
For greater detail, try reading Will Durant’s The Story of Civilization, Vol. I, Our Oriental Heritage, New York, 1972; K. S. Lal’s The Legacy of Muslim Rule In India.You’ll find Muslim rulers kept records of their genocide illustrating the unbelievable cruelty? of Muslims and the prodigiousness of their slaughter.
TheHobgoblyn (2 hours ago) Show HideAnd this is all so different than the Christian invasion of the Americas… HOW?…
If India’s population ever dropped by 80%, they would not be the second most populous country in the world.
On the other hand, we can say without any hesitation that Christians killed and? raped 90% of TWO ENTIRE CONTINENTS of people.
Compare what the Muslims did to the Indians compared to what Christians did to the “Indians” and it is clear the followers of Jesus are even more violent and bloodthirsty.AlexiusComnenos (1 hour ago) Show Hide
Different?
Without hesitation?
If you had hesitated to check your facts, you would know that the majority of North American Indians who died, did so because? of their lack of immunity to smallpox and other European diseases, few were forcibly converted to christianity or the victims of orders for the execution of 10,000 per day.What is the relevance of your remark about India’s population dropping by 80%?
AlexiusComnenos (1 hour ago) Show Hide
90% of “TWO ENTIRE CONTINENTS”?
Which two continents?
Please provide evidence for your figure of 90% of people from “TWO ENTIRE CONTINENTS”I see, you think that the followers of Jesus were more? bloodthirsty than Aurangzeb and his blood lust for 10,000 deaths a day?
If it is so clear, you will be able to provide some evidence for that too.
AlexiusComnenos (1 hour ago) Show HideSome more perspective:
The first Crusade began in 1095 460 years after the first Christian city was overrun by Muslim armies, 457 years after Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim armies, 453 years after Egypt was taken by Muslim armies, 443 after Muslims first plundered Italy, 427 years after Muslim armies first laid siege to the Christian capital? of Constantinople, 380 years after Spain was conquered by Muslim armies, 363 years after France was first attacked by Muslim armies…… cont’d….
AlexiusComnenos (1 hour ago) Show Hidecont’d……..249 years after? Rome itself was sacked by a Muslim army, and only after centuries of church burnings, killings, enslavement and forced conversions of Christians.By the time the Crusades finally began, Muslim armies had conquered two-thirds of the Christian world.
Europe had been harassed by Muslims since the first few years following Muhammads death.AlexiusComnenos (1 hour ago) Show HideAs early as 652, Muhammads followers launched raids on the island of Sicily, waging a full-scale occupation 200 years later that lasted almost a century and was punctuated by? massacres, such as that at the town of Castrogiovanni, in which 8,000 Christians were put to death. In 1084, ten years before the first crusade, Muslims staged another devastating Sicilian raid, burning churches in Reggio, enslaving monks and raping an abbey of nuns before carrying them into captivity.AlexiusComnenos (1 hour ago) Show HideThe Crusades were provoked by the harassment of Christian pilgrims from? Europe to the Holy Land, in which many were kidnapped, molested, forcibly converted to Islam or even killed. (Compare this to Islams justification for slaughter on the basis of Muslims being denied access to the Meccan pilgrimage in Muhammads time).AlexiusComnenos (1 hour ago) Show HideThe Crusaders only invaded lands that were Christian. They never attacked Saudi Arabia or sacked Mecca as the Muslims had done (and continued doing) to Italy and Constantinople. Their primary goal was the recapture of Jerusalem and the security of safe passage for pilgrims. The toppling of the Muslim empire was? not on the agenda.AlexiusComnenos (1 hour ago) Show HideThe period of Crusader occupation (of its own former land) was stretched over less than two centuries. (The Arab/Muslim occupation is in its 1,376th year).
Unlike Jihad, the Crusades were never justified on the basis of New Testament teachings. This is why they are an anomaly, the brief interruption of centuries of relentless Jihad? against Christianity that began long before the Crusades and continued well after they were over.
Bruce Bawer interviewed about Islam, Christianity, Europe and the USA
Remember, The Free Thinking Films Society is bringing Bruce Bawer in to Ottawa Canada to speak September 14th 2009. This is a fantastic opportunity. I hope people come out to hear him in droves and ask the tough questions and buy his new book ‘Surrender’. Bruce was one of the very first of the intellectuals to recognize the threat Islam posed to liberalism and democracy. Tickets are $15.00 at the door and available now at The Ottawa Folklore Center 1111 Bank St.
h/t KitmanTV for this clip! That guy is amazing. He has the ‘Library at Alexandria’ of the Anti Jihad in video!
David Horowitz tears Duke U a well deserved new orifice.
This is a bit old, 2007 I think. But if you have not seen it, get a drink and or a sandwich and settle down and watch this astonishing and daring lecture where Horowitz explains to Duke U what is wrong with it, and more courageously, who is wrong with it. I will post the Q&A session later today so check back for it, it is worth it. In the meantime enjoy this. I know it’s long but if only David had the time to go to all the universities especially perhaps Canadian ones and deliver this lecture exposing the various profs and their lack of credentials and not-so-hidden political agendas. This isn’t a speech so much as it is a spanking. A well deserved one.
Link: 
Link:
The perfect companion film for this lecture would be the documentary ‘Indoctrinate U. I highly recommend this excellent film.
Link:
Africa Vs. The Arab World. Excellent article from Forbes
Why does Obama treat the two so differently?
Africa Vs. The Arab World
Anne Bayefsky, 07.12.09, 01:55 PM EDT
Why does Obama treat the two so differently?
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h/t Alex A
Speaking in Ghana on Saturday President Obama lectured Africans on local repression, corruption, brutality, good governance and accountability. The startling contrast to his June speech in Cairo was revealing. Stroking Muslim and Arab nations has become the hallmark of Obama’s foreign policy.
In Egypt, he chose not to utter the words “terrorism” or “genocide.” In Egypt, there was nothing “brutal” he could conjure up, no “corruption” and no “repression”.
In Ghana, with a 70% Christian population, he mentioned “good governance” seven times and added direct calls upon his audience to “make change from the bottom up.” He praised “people taking control of their destiny” and pressed “young people” to “hold your leaders accountable.”
He made no such calls for action by the people of Arab states–despite the fact that not a single Arab country is “free,” according to the latest Freedom House global survey.
Before the Muslim world Obama donned the role of apologist-in-chief. Over and over again his examples of shortfalls in the protection of rights and freedoms were American: the “prison at Guantanamo Bay,” “rules on charitable giving [that] have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation,” impediments to the “choice” of Muslim women to shroud their bodies.
Christian Africa was to be treated to no such self-flagellation. In a rare tongue-lashing for Africans from any American president, he chastised: “It’s easy to point fingers and to pin the blame of these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense helped to breed conflict … But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy … or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants … tribalism and patronage and nepotism … and … corruption.”
He might equally have said to the Arab and Muslim world: “It’s easy to scapegoat Israel and blame your problems on the presence of Jews–albeit on a fraction of 1% of the territory inhabited by the Arab world–but Israel is not responsible for poverty, illiteracy, torture, trafficking, slavery and oppression rampant across your countries.” But he did not.
In Ghana he pointed to specific heroes that had exposed human rights abuse, singling out by name a courageous investigative reporter. In Egypt, though journalists and bloggers are routinely threatened, jailed and worse, no such brave soul came to mind.
In a Christian African nation he said, “If we are honest, for far too many Africans, conflict is a part of life, as constant as the sun. There are wars over land and wars over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes.”
To the Arab and Muslim world he could have said: “Since the day of Israel’s birth Arab and Muslim countries have made conflict with Israel a part of life, warring over land and manipulating whole communities into fighting in the name of Islam to render the area Judenrein.” Continue Reading →
Michael Coren: ‘An Islamophobe is someone who is winning an argument about Islam with one of their friends…’
Not that we need one, but in this clip Coren finds guests who give brilliant examples of the kind of banal moral equivalence so common in western peoples. What I call, ‘intellectual slight of hand’ in as much as one guest here actually compares someone showing a picture of an aborted fetus with the London 7/7 bombers. This video clip might be called, ‘The anatomy of leftist sophistry.’ One might also find amusement that Coren does a show on the 7/7 bombings and the guest insists on distracting to the one act of Christian terrorism he can think of, McVeigh and Oklahoma. Interestingly Timothy loathed Christianity. But the attempt to distract from the literally thousands of terrorist attacks by mentioning the one that isn’t needs to be seen for what it is.
Daniel Hannan in the USA. Cannot have too much of this guy
History distinguishes the genius from the paranoid.
I have recently come across a rather startling document listing a number of people who write under pseudonyms for the anti-jihad. This document, in fact, documents these people’s real names and approximate places of residence. It asks that certain governments disallow these individuals from being allowed entry to certain countries and it does so partially because these people make the claim that Europe is becoming so anti-freedom-of-speech that it is a cause for alarm.
To be clear, a public document has been created naming people, thereby putting their lives in danger, for the purpose of asking that they be forbidden from entering certain EU countries, as they make the claim that the EU is anti-freedom-of-speech and therefore a threat to Europe.
While I’m certain that the irony of this will be lost on the author of the published document to which I refer, this is not the point I wish to make. (I will not link to that document here as I do not wish to add to the damage the author has already done, nor do I wish to aid him in his cause.)
History is full of people who are considered larger-than-life for their ability to recognize a threat to freedom, liberty, and what is in the best interest of a given people, and to mobilize a defense against it. Winston Churchill comes to mind. He is by no means unique but is one of a dozen men which all nations and peoples have.
The refusal of the elite class to protect Western nations from Islamic terrorism is the biggest betrayal in history. It is rooted in the mindset that breeds the claim that “force is not an answer” to terrorism, that profiling is bad and open borders are good, that Islam is peaceful and the West is wicked. The upholders of such claims belong to the culture that has lost its bond with nature, history, and the supporting community. In the meantime, thanks to them, the quiet onslaught continues unabated, across the Straits of Gibraltar, through JFK and O’Hare, Heathrow and Schiphol. Far from enhancing diversity, it threatens to impose a numbing sameness and eradicate the identity of target-populations, to demolish their special character and uniqueness.
The above is the message that those people ‘outed’ in this document attempt to disseminate. It is also the message of us here at Vladtepesblog. We, the anti-jihad, in nearly all cases, in fact, seek to preserve classical liberalism. We are the real liberals. We believe in genuine diversity. This means fighting against Islam, which seeks to make a mono-culture. We believe in individualism over the State. This is why so many work so hard to endanger us. It was absolutely clear to the person who wrote the document of I write, that by giving the real names of well-known bloggers they were exposing them to potential danger at the hands of Muslims, as we have seen so many critics of Islam be murdered for it, or be forced to live their lives in near-prisons in order to avoid being murdered. The left stands for the State above the individual and sees Islam as its natural ally, using the language of guilt and political correctness, rather than facts and reason, which are anathema to the left today.
History ultimately will judge who are today’s geniuses and who are the small-minded, bigoted, or crazy. Silencing anyone and forbidding debate is the province of tyrants. This is an historical constant.
Eeyore for Vladtepesblog
Barbara Kay: France liberals and the Burqa
Personally I believe that Barbara Kay is right and Sarkozy is wrong. Sarkozy is attacking the symptom and not the disease. By doing so, he risks driving underground the identifying marks of the disease, Much like finding a way to stop the plague from producing pustules would be, which nearly guarantees all will die of it. Islam must be made illegal exactly as Shintoism was in WW2. Just removing the freedom to wear what you want as a token move for women’s rights is frankly worse than doing nothing. At least if you do nothing eventually the public will get fed up and angry enough to actually do something in the absence of government action on the behalf of liberal values and indigenous Western peoples.
If sarkozy’s plan is effected, people won’t know who is seething with hatred and contempt for the nations they live in. Real racism may result as people start to suspect all South Asians or Arabs of harbouring anti French sentiments as opposed to those clearly Muslim irrespective of their ethnicity tribe or pigmentation level.
Eeyore for Vlad
Barbara Kay, National Post Published: Monday, July 06, 2009
In his June speech in Cairo, U. S. President Barack Obama said that Westerners should “avoid dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear.” On the other hand, French President Nicolas Sarkozy says that burkas and niqabs, both of which cover the face, are a “debasement” of women and shouldn’t be permitted in France.
So who’s right?
Sarkozy, of course. France has done a lot of dumb things vis-a-vis the Arab world, but on the “cover” issue, which has nothing to do with women’s choices in clothing and everything to do with Islamist aggression, France got it right when it banned the wearing of hi-jabs in schools in 2004.
Post columnist Jonathan Kay took Obama’s side in the debate, arguing on June 23 that it is “part of the liberal tradition to wear what you want, pray how you want and generally conduct yourself as you please — providing you don’t harm others.”
Jonathan Kay wears what he wants, but if he wanted to wear nothing at all in public, our liberal tradition would not support that choice. Although not set down in legal codes, human beings in social groups are hard-wired to find a psychological comfort zone within a spectrum of decency. Full nudity is not accepted in any society at all.
At the other end of the spectrum is full coverage. Full nudity arouses discomfort because the naked human is seen as animal-like, and therefore less than human. Full coverage arouses discomfort because the wearer is depersonalized and therefore non-human as well. No rational human being chooses full nudity in the presence of strangers. No woman, left to her own devices, would ever choose to wear a burka. Continue Reading →
The C.A.F. responds to the National Post. With Pure taqyyia bullshit
First, you may or may not have seen the National Post’s handling of the opinion of some senior members of the Canada Arab Federation towards Canada, a land which took these people in presumably when their own nations had become so inhospitable that it was easier to move to Canada away from all friends, family, language, familiar surroundings, religion and decent weather. I would also wager that most of those in the CAF had come as refugees as opposed to legal immigrants but that is a small matter.
When the NP pointed out these opinions one CAF member responded with a blog post of his own resorting to the predictable sanctimony of alleged mistreatment of aboriginals in Canada and saying he would never accept Canada Day until they did.
A doomed culture if Islam touches it
Here is that post:
Thursday, July 2, 2009
I will celebrate “Canada Day” when the natives doBy Omar Shaban
This statement is in response to all the speculations and assumptions made about me in the media regarding a position that I took in a personal message on facebook. My facebook status did read “F*** Canada Day”, and it was followed by a few other comments in response to some of the questions that people posted. Some consider that taking this position is disgraceful and shameful but I tend to disagree.
First of all, my statement clearly did not reflect CAF’s position; it was my own personal opinion.
Secondly, I said “F*** Canada Day” and I regret the dark history that this country has. On our silent government’s behalf, I apologize to the indigenous people for this, and sincerely wish it had not happened to you. I apologize to the indigenous people of Canada because their feelings are not taken into consideration at “Canada Day” celebrations. I apologize to them because they had to be slaughtered, killed, massacred, diseased and dispossessed to establish Canada. And I apologize to the indigenous people because they continue to live in reserves under miserable and dire conditions that no so-called “Canadian” would accept to live under.
I also apologize for being a citizen of a country that followed George Bush’s orders and went to Afghanistan. I apologize for being a citizen of a country that imposed sanctions on the Palestinian people because they followed Canada’s own advice and elected a new government democratically. I apologize because it was Canada’s own Lester Pearson that masterminded the notorious Partition Plan of Palestine, and it was Canada’s own Paul Martin who compared Canada’s values with Israel’s values, and it was Canada’s own Michael Ignatieff who legitimized Israel’s onslaught on Gaza in Dec 08/Jan 09.
I did not resign from CAF because “it was felt that [I] had to correct that” and that “[I] decided that the best thing for [me] to do was to resign” (http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/07/02/9997971-sun.html); I resigned from CAF because I do not want to be part of an organization that openly refuses to acknowledge Canada’s colonial and shameful history.
We are only lying to ourselves if we deny the dark past that Canada was founded on. Canada Day is seen as tragic by its true indigenous population. When Canada Day is celebrated for true freedom and not mourned by the indigenous population of Canada for its colonial and dark past, I will gladly show them my support. When the country I was born in, shames me with its colonial mindset, I refuse to celebrate it, and will not apologize for refusing to do so.
I WILL celebrate Canada Day, only when it is accepted as legitimate by the indigenous people.
Omar Shaban
Perhaps it is time to have a look at how aboriginal people are treated in the Islamic world. They do not get special land rights. They do not own casinos. They do not have the unfettered right to their own religion, beliefs, and history and have it subsidized by the Muslim majority. Let’s have a look:
Link: Interesting? Perhaps you may want to have a look at this. Make sure your airplane bag is on tight first…
Link:
How about a little contemporary reading on the subject of Islam and Aboriginality? Lets start with Islam destroys Aboriginality – Destructive Muslim fishermen: Part 1 of 3
Research by anthropologist Ian McIntosh shows that contact between Aboriginals and the Muslim Macassan fishermen was extremely disruptive with an evil power entering Aboriginal society for ever. The result was Aboriginals learned they were ‘black’ and came to believe they lost power and wealth to the ‘white’ other (Muslim Macassans) and will forever be impoverished and dominated! (Australian Folklore 11, 1996 131)
Islam is targeting Aboriginals by feeding them a false rosy picture of the first contact with Muslims who came to take from Aboriginal land along with false tales of ‘similarities’ etc! At a recent Brisbane conference ‘Challenges and Opportunities for Islam and the West – The Case of Australia’ (3-5/3/08), Ms Peta Stephenson presented a paper ‘Reaffirming Aboriginality through Allah: Indigenous Muslims in Australia’ promoting this rosy view, absurdly linking Aboriginality with Islam and promoting the view that the world was Muslim! In reality Aboriginality is destroyed by Islam (see also parts 2, 3 – to come).
Parts two and three are here linked.
‘Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled and incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country of the world. But those who study Islamic holy war will know why Islam wants to conquer the whole world…. those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam councils against war. Those (who say this) are witless….. Islam says: kill the unbelievers … Kill them (the non-Muslims), put them to the sword and scatter (their armies)…. Islam says whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except by the sword! The sword is the key to paradise which can be opened only for holy warriors! There are hundreds of (koranic) psalms and hadiths (sayings of the prophet) urging Muslims to value war and to fight…(Ibn Warraq 1995 P11-12, quoting Amir Taheri pp226-227 Holy Terror London 1987)
So, before Omar the Canadian Arab Federation ingrate starts to pretend that in some way he has a right to shit all over the nation who foolishly and mistakenly took him and hundreds of thousands of his people in and then justify it with the gossamer thin rationanalization of evil deeds done to aboriginals some hundreds of years ago well, people who live in glass houses Omar. Have a look at what Arabs and Muslims are doing NOW all over the world. While Darfur may be the most horrifying contemporary example it is by no means the only one.
For anyone as yet unconvinced, you may want to read Sword of the Prophet by Serge Trifkovic cover to cover. This book will explain what Islam does to aboriginal culture. The respect it shows and the museums it builds to the customs, music, and art of aboriginal peoples wherever Muslims find them.
Suffice it to say, your taxes will not go up to pay for these institutions.
Eeyore for Vlad.
Special thanks to some extraordinary people who contributed to this article. Grace of Vlad for wading in the muck of the hate literature of Islam posted all over the place. jdamn for educating me on all things Islamic and KitmanTV for having perhaps one of the best repositories of video exposing Islam and irrational violent leftism for what it is anywhere on the net.
Addendum:
It is worth noting that unlike the Canadian Arab Federation who have a large part of their budget paid by the Canadian Government AKA the Dhimmi taxpayers, people like Kitman, Jdamn and Grace have devoted their free time to studying Islam and other threats to western liberal democracy at their own expense. The fact that so many people choose to devote so much of themselves and at their own expense often working harder to earn the money to study and blog alone should offer some idea of the severity of the threat in North America and Europe offered by Islam and irrational leftism.
Pat Condell: Be my burka baby
Pat Condell, a fair-minded, well-spoken, intelligent, atheistic, witty asset to the secular world is the near-perfect proof of the existence of God. Watch and enjoy. Agree or no, his thoughts are worthy of your attention.
H/T jdamn & ControlGFK
H/T
No sane, free person would choose to wear a burka
In all the fallout that is likely from Sarkozy’s statement on the non-acceptance of the burka in France I thought I would post this article which was generously brought to my attention by Vlad’s exceptional commenter Proud Kafir.
I think it’s important in this discussion to consider a few counter-intuitive things. Some Jews did vote for Hitler and some black people fought for the South. I mention this because, in fact, many women may claim that they want to wear the burka. Well, some blacks did fight for slavery and some Jews thought Hitler would be good for Germany, what with the price of gifelte and all after Versailles. So perhaps it may be time to look past what each may think in terms of personal preference. We didn’t seem to have any problems with that when we banned tobacco smoking from all non-Arab establishments in the western world. What people wanted to do was of small consequence when the juggernaut of municipal and other legislative bodies decided that smoke was bad and was to be eliminated no matter what. Unless you are Arab, of course, in which case it is your culture and you can have your hookah and smoke it too — unlike having an ashtray at any Ontario bar.
The argument I like the very least is the one at the end of this article:
“Kanwar, a Muslim who has written eight books, including one on the sociology of Islam, echoes Sarkozy’s comments. “The burka is not mandated by Islam or the Qur’an and is therefore not religious and protected under the Charter.”
The idea of using some absurd holy book as a basis for determining what is legal or no in France or Canada or frankly anywhere at all including, but not limited to, Saudi Arabia, is repugnant to me and should be to anyone. Imagine Canadian legislators bringing in imams or rabbis or priests to argue a point of biblical minutia in order to determine the legality of some bit of barbarity which they wish to make acceptable in a democracy. Sorry. Democratic nations have laws based on secular principles and constitutional ones. These are the only sources that should ever be considered for making a thing legal.
This may seem like I am driving a zamboni across by own behind and in a way I am. I disagree with Sarkozy’s attack of the symptom and not the disease. Even so, a case can be made for it if no other course of action is politically feasible.
Eeyore for Vlad:
No sane, free person would choose to wear a burka
A while back I was asked to give a talk at my kids’ school about my December 2003 trip to Afghanistan.
As I waited to be introduced, I hid in an auditorium storage room wearing a burka I bought in that war-ravaged country, thinking I’d be out in a minute, maybe two. But the introduction took a lot longer than I had anticipated and by the time I came out to greet all those shining faces, I was very nearly hyperventilating from the oppression of it. I didn’t time my self-imposed confinement to the burka, but I probably wore the suffocating tent-like garment with mesh over my eyes for no more than 10 minutes. I told the kids I felt like I was buried alive.
I also told them that while in Afghanistan, I asked all of the many women I met there whether they liked wearing a burka. Not one said yes. In fact, they all said they hated it almost as much as they hated the Taliban.
It’s no wonder. The burka’s toll on these women was harsh. Many had lost most of their teeth and hair as a result of not having enough vitamin D, which comes from the sun. During the time of Taliban rule–from September 1996 to November 2001 –no portion of their skin, save their hands, was ever allowed to be exposed to sunlight. Think about the horror of that. The Taliban insisted that homes with women in them had to blacken their windows, lest a man pollute his delicate sensibilities by gazing upon the uncovered face of a woman behind the glass. Continue Reading →