This gentleman's blog ("Anh Khoi Do's blog") is part of the Progressive Bloggers aggregator, and yet his take on religious accomodations in Québec is bizarre and ugly and extremist, and the fact that he belongs to a racial/cultural minority in Québec does not excuse it. Let's face it: the argument over religious accomodations is an argument about Muslims, and that's all it's really about. Yes, a very conservative fringe was a little bit scared of Sikh turbans in the RCMP, but it hardly generates the angst that this does.
And it's not just about Muslims, but about Muslim women. Muslim women who wear the hijab. The hijab is involved in a complex conversation and conflict which the gentleman completely fails to understand, but he can be forgiven that. There are issues about it that can be discussed and are among Muslims in the West.
But what must be understood: he hates the woman who wears it. To argue against "religious accomodations" is exactly to argue that it is legitimate for the state to tell a hijab-wearing Muslim woman that she just take her hijab off when she attempts to make use of the services offered to citizens. That is hatred.
First of all, I read this guy's blog and to tell you the truth, he doesn't hate Muslim women wearing the veil, despite his wishes to see Canada become a secular country. Mandos, stop seeing all remarks on religious accommodation as racism.
Seriously, buy a brain.
Posted by: Inaritu | February 23, 2007 at 01:50 PM
I'm sorry, it is racism and hatred. A "secular" country promoted by making people's personal choices of dress extremely inconvenient is country that is not secular, but one based on hatred, just as much is it if it forced people to wear clothes based on a religious principle. It is the same.
Posted by: Mandos | February 23, 2007 at 04:15 PM
I'm sorry, I've read Anh Khoi Do's blog many times and he doesn't have any bone of racism in his mind. He never said that Muslim or any other religious groups are inferior to Westerners.
A secular country is a country that strictly separates religions from the state. Therefore, religiously accommodating minorities is a complete violation of the principle of secularism. In fact, while the state refuses to accommodate Christians, it grants prerogatives to religious minorities. As a result of that, the only way to treat people equally is to copy France, which means that nobody is to be treated on religious consideration by the law.
Moreover, a secular country doesn't entirely "make people's personal choices of dress extremely inconvenient". It only says that you can't wear religious symbols in public places. In fact, France doesn't forbid people to wear their religious symbols in religious places. By implying that European countries are racist, you definitely show an extremely weak analysis.
Racism and secularism are not the same thing, you stupid son of a bitch.
Posted by: Pipi | February 23, 2007 at 07:03 PM
I agree with Inaritu and Pipi. It looks like you're an offended Muslim who is desperately looking for attention, Mandos. If Anh Khoi Do was so racist, he would tell Muslims to leave.
By the way, stop playing with the words. Anh Khoi Do is not an "extremist", because he never said that he wants to kill people for a "Holy War".
Mandos, by looking at your extremely perfunctory analysis, I'm not sure that people will take you seriously.
Posted by: Gina | February 23, 2007 at 07:07 PM