From the BBC:
Ayshah Ishmail, a teacher at a Muslim girls’ school in Preston who wears the niqab away from the classroom, told the BBC that wearing the veil promotes equality.
She said: “You’re judged for who you are and not what you are, so I think there are two arguments to the whole equality issue.”
I know that I don’t understand religious dress very well, and I certainly don’t see a reason to distinguish between a Niqab, Hijab or a Balaclava in any meaningful way, but even trying to see through that, I feel that the above statement doesn’t make a lot of sense. By wearing a veil, you are judged by who you are and not what you are… however, by wearing a veil in a secular or Christian society you invite yourself to be judged for being a Muslim. Presumably a Muslim is who you are, not what you are…
Patrick Mercer
Thursday, March 8th, 2007From the BBC:
A Tory frontbencher has quit after saying he had met “a lot of ethnic minority soldiers who were idle and useless” and used racism as a “cover”.
What a waste of a perfectly good shadow minister. Why is it that politics is more about what buzzwords you say, or anti-buzzwords you don’t say than how good you are at your job? Maybe this gentleman said something bad, but the BBC article nowhere suggests that that is the case. He pointed out a situation, noted the fact that some people of ethnic minorities used racism as a cover (which I can easily believe, though would be careful, as I’m sure he was, not to assume that all are like that). He also pointed out that calling someone a “black bastard” is no different from calling someone a “ginger bastard” or a “fat bastard”, and this is quite true. All are unpleasant and childish, only one is said to be racist, and the fact that only one is said to be racist is a sad indictment of the intelligence of many people who use the word “racism”.
Labour MP Sadiq Khan said: “I find these comments shocking and most members of the public will find them outrageous.”
I bet they won’t. None of the racists will (and there are many of them) and a large percentage (a majority I couldn’t guarantee) of the reasonable minded intellectuals won’t either.
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