Originally Posted by
samircreep
It's an opinion piece, obviously the author is going to take a side, what did u expect?
Ok adel, I'll elaborate.I think the best way to go about doing that is to go about disecting the author's argument and see how much water it holds (at least according to moi).
1. Muslim countries are just as intolerant to non-muslims, so muslims shouldn't expect tolerance when they live in non-muslim places.
This is a central argument throughout the author's piece and it's a pretty lame one. i agree with the muslims being intolerant part though: from my experience, muslims are either very intolerant or just intolerant, they're basically like what the christians were in the latter parts of the 15th and early 16th centuries. But that in now way means that intolerance should be tolerated in any form either in muslim or non-muslim places.It's basically saying that just cos i was rude to my parents when I was a kid, my kids should be rude to me.No, one rude kid is one too many thank you!
2. The veil is impractical and joked about even in muslim countries so why tolerate it here?
The impractical aspects of veiling i think pretty much most people agree with.But the problematic aspects of veiling, methinks, should be independent of the cultural milieu of the veiler. this i can elaborate on later.
3. The veiler has a political agenda.
Yes, this to me is the stongest observation about whats going on these days and the author unfortunately has hardly hit upon it. Veiling nowadays is just as much about religion as it is with identity politics since religion is intrinsically political as well. What jack straw et al. don't seem to realize that most of the women taking up the veil are not deeply religious; they are veiling because they want to make a political statement about their identity and the veil is a manifestation of pereived hyopcrissies and attack of identity that muslims now suffer in the west. To ignore the political aspect of veiling is to miss the point altogether.
I'd just like to add a side note on personal attacks made my people on "muslims" who dare to criticize their kin. I find it amazing that any such criticism is immediately branded as a sell-out. Thus taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie, et al have all sold out to the west: they are basically trying to be shada chamras according to the intellectual bulwarks of the muslim world.
This is a very very dangerous phenomena. just imagine if german nazi detractors were simply dismissed as jewish sympathizers and put to jail in the 30s (wait a second, that DID happen hehe). All ideas, regarless of who they come from, should be considered from itheir own merit just as every delivery should be played according to its individual worth, and not judged on the repute or political belief of the bowler
