Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Tolerance Toward Intolerance

In this jihad over humor, tolerance is disdained by people who demand it of others. The authoritarian governments that claim to speak on behalf of Europe's supposedly oppressed Muslim minorities practice systematic repression against their own religious minorities. They have radicalized what was at first a difficult question. Now they are asking not for respect but for submission. They want non-Muslims in Europe to live by Muslim rules.

Marvelously put by Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff of the German paper Die Zeit. Read the rest here.

One other Muslim rule that leaps to mind is the wearing of the headscarf by women. It will be a cold day down below before I and many other women do submit to that, but I wonder how long it will take before it enters the realm of serious discussion. We're already heard about a few cases of Western women (remember the riots in Australia, where the press somehow made the Australians out to be the intolerant ones?)being assaulted/raped by Muslims, with their lack of covering given as the excuse. From the point of view of the fanatics: they see a lot more women with hair showing in the streets of Europe than they do cartoons of Muhammed. If they are rioting over cartoons that are easily avoided, what's it going to be like when they decide to riot over women's hair? Currently that battle is not winnable, so they aren't going to start it. Yet.

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