Letters to the Editor
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Ms. Anthropia, DuranDuran ain't listening, he's already shoved you into his preconceptions and he's mainly here for the stroking now
Most of the Broadsheet commenters haven't figured out that a good argument consists of listening to the other person an responding accordingly. They're mainly here to keep their preconceptions intact from crusaders.
So, no, you'll probably always be pegged as a conservative voice wrt Islam issues regardless of what you write.
As an example, look at Drunkistan who found a bar with wifi tonight and goes on at length that anyone that disagrees with him must be an idiot posting from mom's basement. He also argues and (apparently loses) to his own strawman, which is that people posting here are somehow under the delusion that these posts will affect anyone in Spain or Turkey or .... I guess all of these discussions are useless to Drunkistan, because talking about what other people are doing and comparing that to life elsewhere is somehow a futile or arrogant act.
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homeschooling in Spain
Tina--Homeschooling is legal in Spain, as it is in the majority of Western European nations. The Spanish constitution specifically gives parents the right to have their children educated in accordance with their religious principles. Look it up.
A Spanish homeschooling association:
http://www.educacionlibre.org/
Look, I don't like seeing little girls in headscarves any more than you do, but we're (and I'm speaking of the general Western world, since as Canuckistan Bob pointed out, I don't actually have a vote in Spanish elections) not going to get anywhere by banning the practice.
In Afghanistan, they've been opening up schools for girls, but something like less than half of girls are enrolled. A big reason is that the classes are often held in open tents and the girls' parents will not let them attend if they can be seen by men. This is obviously horribly oppressive, but the best bet to improve the long-term status of women in Afghanistan is to put walls on the tents and EDUCATE THE NEXT GENERATION OF AFGHAN WOMEN. Change does not happen overnight, and sometimes you have to work with what you have and compromise on small matters rather than steamrolling your way over others' viewpoints.
I think a few days ago, I saw a Salon post about Democrat/ Republican onesies for newborns. Now, obviously, a baby cannot have political opinions and is being dressed that way to further his/her parents' political beliefs. I find this practice incredibly offensive and indoctrinating, but I'm not about to call for a ban on political onesies in daycare centers or to call the parents child abusers.
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I think what Bob is saying is that it was WWW Bulletin Boards that caused the Algerian elections results to be overturned and he's scolding Tracy for even bringing up the topic
for people to discuss.
I think he lucked into a $0.25 per bottle night, all night, up there in Canuckisland.
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What is the difference between wearing a head scarf to school for religious reasons
and allowing the religious members to practice:
a) polygamy
b) animal sacrifice
c) female genital mutilation
d) underage arranged marriages
e) eating of what we consider domesticated pets
f) killing their own animals for food according to their practices that may differ from our regulations.
I get that wearing a headscarf doesn't hurt a child, but I think that not wearing a headscarf can lead to hurting a child. But acknowledging that wearing a headscarf doesn't hurt a child, countries (including the US) have long said religious members cannot practice polygamy (Mormons), animal sacrifice, female genital mutilation, underage arranged marriages....
And animal sacrifice doesn't hurt people and doesn't even have to hurt the animal (the killing can be swift and humane). Underage or forced marriage doesn't hurt anyone either, at least, that's what the various religions claim.
And there's a clear difference between kippot and headscarves: few people are killed for failing to wear their kippah.
In most countries, immigrants are welcomed, but expected to undergo some amount of assimilation. That's true in both the melting pot as well as the tossed salad (snicker) models. What is wrong with a country saying, "sure come on in, but we expect you to understand and seek to join our culture?"
We often regulate the behavior of religions. We tax them. We limit their political speech. We outlaw certain practices. What's the issue?
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Lecturing Strange People That Don't Belong to your Community
is about as productive as mocking and insulting and jeering and slandering them, just because you have some sort of imagined right to do so (and if so, everyone else has an equally strong right to regard you as a complete asshole when you do). If you ever went to any of those benighted countries, you see, your 1st amendment speech and privacy rights would be about as valuable as the Geneva Convention is in Gitm, which is kinda the point really. (That was for you, (TM)/symbol/kunt/obnox-anon dude, in case you only read every other sentence or so, as is your usual practice.)
Neither Turkish nor Spanish, nor for that much, German voters give a shit what Tina nor Tracy nor I or anybody else on these boards thinks they should do. But they do hear hostility, intolerance, and bigotry loud and clear, and they are hearing no little amount of it these days.
All I am trying to say is that while grinding your personal ax may feel good for the moment, it does have consequences. If we want to share the Enlightenment with the rest of the world, it stands to reason that we have to be enlightened ourselves as we do it, not the bunch of baboons you can see in these threads.
(Sorry, I think that might have been an insult to many of the fine upstanding actual baboons this old anthropologist has known over the years.)
Respect (which does not imply agreement, as most of us learn in daycare) can only be given where it is returned, and that applies to me and you, and to Muslims and feminists, and to pretty much every human situation I know of.
I don't think it applies much in mom's basement, because there you are all alone, really. (Dude, you started this legitimate mocking thing, hope you are enjoying it.)
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School uniforms are the answer
None of this nonsense would be going on if schools, public and private, required uniforms. Then, after the bell rings and kids go out the door, they can put whatever they want on their heads or their feet or their noses.
Why some so simple gets so complicated is beyond me.