Friday, March 12, 2010

Is Violent Anti-Religion Extremism in the Cards for Quebec?

On Wednesday I wrote about the niqab clad women who was kicked out of French class. I remarked that it signalled a change in the official attitude of the government and could signal a dangerous deterioration in relations with minority communites.

In reaction, a reader,  Pierre-Luc commented that;
 In Charlesbourg (a suburb of Quebec City) a citizen kicked out a Muslum from a supermarket.
(À Charlebourg, y'a un citoyen qui a kické out une musulmane intégriste d'un supermarché)
He referred me to a link that played a portion of the radio-show Radio de Quebec that discussed the matter and quite frankly when I listened to the extract I was disturbed.

It seems that the good citizen assaulted a Muslim women in a Quebec City supermarket and forcibly ejected her from the store because he was offended by her veil.

The radio panel and the idiot assaulter spent a great deal of time discussing the veil and it's evil impact on Quebec society, while conveniently forgetting to mention that the attacker committed nothing less than a criminal assault.  Nobody even mentioned calling in the police.

The attacker was quite pleased with himself and declared any one wearing religious regalia in public, 'fair game.'
Attitudes have changed dramatically in Quebec, vis-a-vis accommodations and it seems that it is now open season on women wearing veils.

What's next? Bearded Hasids, Turban wearing-Sikhs, Sari-clad Indians?

There is an anti-religion movement growing in the province, led by a radical coterie of secular, white Francophones, failed Christians, and I'm shocked that it has developed so rapidly.

Is there a vigilantism growing in Quebec, in the spirit of the Nazi BROWNSHIRTS that terrorized minorities in pre-war Germany?
Is this the beginning?

Next week I shall write about this unprecedented attack by secularists on all religions.

12 comments:

  1. I think you are getting a little carried away here. I would mention that your various other comparisons are somewhat weak. None of the faces are hidden with your various other examples. In a larger sense perhaps immigration ITSELF needs a timeout and a rethink.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The most rabid attackers of religion these days are neo-atheists a la Dawkins. Check the posts and comments out on this blog:
    http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

    ReplyDelete
  3. The reaction (and I use the word advisedly) against religion in this province grows apace. Note the *unanimous* motion in the provincial legislature against religious instruction in publicly-subsidized daycares, days after the minister responsible said it was tolerable. First they came for the niqabis ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. "First they came for the niqabis ..."

    Actually, first they came for the anglophones.

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is a legitimate issue here with the niqabi and the burkha. It is an issue of concealment and evasion. Say what you will about Sikhs and turbans but at least you can visually see and identify them. The burkha is akin to a ski mask. You just DON'T KNOW who or what is under there. I think subconsciously people are just not comfortable with other people concealing their faces from them. When you are dealing or interacting with someone you cannot identify there is a natural wariness. Why shouldn't a shopkeeper be just as perturbed when a burkha wearer enters his store as he would be when somebody comes in wearing a ski mask? I MOST CERTAINLY wouldn't open my door to ANYONE who had deliberately concealed their face. (Unless it is a couple of children at halloween). Political correctness can get you robbed. It could get you killed.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What if someone wearing a burkha/niqab accused you of a crime? Wouldn't the person have to 'unveil' in court? Doesn't everybody have a right to FACE (no pun intended) their accuser? I certainly don't want someone testifying against me or making accusations while hiding behind a mask.

    ReplyDelete
  7. If your going to allow immigration from all over the world you can expect these types of problems. It would have been better to have given some thought to matters like this before hand. People need to know where they stand. Quebec should make veil-removal a REQUIREMENT of immigration to the province.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "Quebec should make veil-removal a REQUIREMENT of immigration to the province."

    Sure, why not? They're already doing their best to make a linguistic and cultural removal from immigrants, so why stop there? Down with all non-white French religions too. Maybe they can make a poster similar to the Nazi one that had a picture of an orthodox Jew and questioned if this was a German. Next in line, Muslims in Quebec. Is this a Quebecer?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Reply to anon at 6:37 am:

    Oh god, the Nazi word has been invoked. Now all rational thought is gone. Immigration to Quebec (and elsewhere) is a privilege, not a right. Why shouldn't immigrants lose their languages when they come to Quebec? If the burkha is not considered compatible with generally accepted cultural norms in Quebec then prospective immigrants should be told of this. UP FRONT AND IN ADVANCE. Lop off trouble in advance. I say again. I wouldn't open my door to anyone whose face was concealed. Nor would I want their business if I were a storeowner.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Now now, let's not overgeneralize this, shall we? Some moron in Quebec City "thought" it wise to manhandle a veiled woman, he should be charged with assault, but I don't think the majority of french-canadians approve of this.

    Don't base your opinions on this radio show listeners, it seems their target audience are ignoramuses and morons. I'm sad to say that there are such idiots in Quebec City (most of the brains leave that smallish town to come here in Montreal), but then, I believe that, contrary to wealth, stupidity is pretty well distributed...

    I just hope that idiot gets charged with assault.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I just wrote an article about how moronic this dude was (in French, sorry lol):

    http://tymmachine.blogspot.com/2010/03/quand-sylvain-bouchard-du-933fm-se-met.html

    And as you guys say in English: "Two wrongs don't make a right."

    ReplyDelete
  12. "If the burkha is not considered compatible with generally accepted cultural norms in Quebec then prospective immigrants should be told of this."

    If someone attains Canadian citizenship and decides to relocate to Quebec from another province your cultural norms are largely irrelevant. I don't see you tripping over yourself critiquing the ever common pracice of voodoo and its animal sacrifices by the Haitian immigrants. But then again, they speak French as a first language and can be relied upon for a yes vote.

    ReplyDelete