Xenophobia

[Guest *Ste***cque**]

Pronounced like Zeno phobia except no need to fear me... unless evil lurks in your heart? ;)

 

It's an irrational dislike or fear of people from another country. Until this Niqab issue I would have said it's only a minority of people in Canada who were guilty of it. Now I see polls suggesting 90+% of Quebec and 80+% of Canadians feel you should have to remove it during your citizenship swearing in, even though they have confirmed your identity earlier. So, since Identification is not the issue, let's get that out of the way first. It seems to me to be a dislike of a culture where women cover there faces and a lack of tolerance for other cultures.

 

What else could it be?

[Greenly 791]

I do not have an issue with moderate, progressive forms of Islam. It does not bother me when I see Muslim women with head coverings that do not cover the face. After all, there are other religious groups that have head coverings too (Hutterites, Amish, Orthodox Jews, Sikhs). What bothers me about the Niqab is that it tends to be associated with the more intolerant, misogynist, and even violent strains of Islam found in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Islamic State.

[Ice4fun 78407]

Is the public outcry around the Niqab realistic... well in my opinion no but that's the thing about public opinion it is made up of all the various opinions some informed and some not so informed...

 

We come to our opinions based on our knowledge of the topic...our life experiences... the way we are raised and of course the way the topic is portrayed in the media and by people of influence in our community including public officials and political leaders.

 

We wonder how people can be so short sighted to have issues with the wearing of the Niqab but let's face it we have been bombarded with negative imagery of Islam since 9/11 by the media and our public leader we are at a point where many in our community become concerned any time they see someone who might be Islamic but yet there are millions of Islamic people in the world and I would be willing to bet that most are as peace loving as any of us. We have a war or terrorism in north America yet far fewer people have died at the hands of of terrorist then by guns within our community.

 

The fight against terrorists is important but it has become a political lever in the country and the US a way to get votes... keep people afraid and convinced that you will protect them...

 

What we are lacking in this debate is honest political leadership... leaders who look to bring people together instead of apart.

 

Just my Opinion

[Guest *Ste***cque**]

Yes, I'm not a fan of orthodox forms of religion either, Greenly. Islam has violent, one-sided, misogynistic, conquering practices as its basic tenets so one needs to be concerned about those who practice an orthodox form of Islam.Still, many orthodox forms of other religions had their problems too. Hopefully Islam will have its reformation as well.

 

My question remains, why the intolerance towards the Niqab? Would these same people have a problem with an immigrant wearing a cross visibly to show she is a staunch Christian? It has an uncomfortable history as well. Obviously not. So, why not?