Iteresting and true

[birdy]

An incident occurred in a supermarket recently.when the following was witnessed:
A muslim woman dressed in a Burkha (black gown/facemask) was standing in a queue with her shopping.when it was her turn to be served,and as she she reached the cashier,she made a loud remark about the english flag lapel pin,the female cashier was wearing.
the cashier reached up and touched the pin and said
"yes i always wear it proudly.my son serves abroard with the forces and i wear it for him"
The muslim woman than asked the cashier when she was going to stop bombing and killing her countrymen,explaining she was a Iraqi.
At that point, a gentleman in the queue stepped forward,and interrupted whith a calm and gentle voice,and said to the iraqi woman:
"Excuse me,but hundreds of men and women,just like this ladies son have fought and sacrificed their lives so that people just like you can stand here,in england,which is my country and allow you to blatantly accuse an innocent cashier of bombing your countrymen"
"It is my belief that if you were allowed to be as outspoken as that in iraq which you claim to be your country,then we wouldn't need to be fighting there today"
"However-- now that you have learned how to speak out and criticise the english people who have afforded you the protection of MY country,I Will gladly pay the cost of a ticket to help you back to Iraq"
"When you get there, and you manage to servive for being as outspoken as what you are here in england,then you should be able to help straighten out the mess in YOUR iraqi countrymen have got you into in the first place,whith appears to be the reason that you have come to my country to avoid"
Apparently the queue cheered and applauded

[Eeyore]

Urban myth and racially provocative, I'm afraid to say.

and liable to get moderated in these parts.

Cheers
 8)
Eeyore

[beast5680]

urban myth? possibly but i,m afraid i fail to see the reasoning behind it being racially provocative?

[thermidorthelobster]

That's funny, I thought the reason we were bombing Iraq wasn't so the Iraqi people could have freedom of speech, but because we didn't like their ruler, which is why the government made up something about weapons of mass destruction.  They didn't say anything about freedom of speech at the time.

Of course, maybe I'm wrong;  maybe it's because Iraq has huge oil reserves.

I love this idea of us gallantly going to defend the right of the Iraqi people to democracy, but even our lying, thieving corrupt government didn't go so far as to say that.

[thermidorthelobster]

urban myth? possibly but i,m afraid i fail to see the reasoning behind it being racially provocative?

Well, if it didn't happen, and it's stereotyping an image of an Iraqi Muslim woman wearing a burqa and criticising the British, it's hardly designed to promote balanced debate, is it?

Surely it's no better than saying Jews are scheming money-grabbing misers who eat their own babies or something.

[thermidorthelobster]

More on the fact that it is not apparently true here.  It began 4 years ago as happening in an American grocery store.

[lambert]

This event may or may not be true. However it is representative of a wide spread view held by some ethnic groups in this country.
 
Now befor any one bites my head off, I work in a deprived area of bradford which has a majority asian and other ethnic demographic, and on numerous occasions i have similar and worse things said to me, even as far as to be verbally abused over the fact that my van is white with a red cage! Apparently it is a abstract of our flag, not so you can see it for safety sake!

[Lee_D]

H'mmmm I suspect this thread is best ended here.

It's too much of a hot potatoe for a club forum IMHO.

[Eeyore]

H'mmmm I suspect this thread is best ended here.

It's too much of a hot potatoe for a club forum IMHO.

Good point, and well made.

I'm not going to enter into why I felt the 'joke' was contentious - I'll leave that to membership to try and figure out for themselves.

The view 'expressed' by the woman in the joke is representative of a view held by many residents of the western world - ethinicty is irrelevent.  

I'm not locking this thread yet, but if we get a sniff of it becoming a spud too hot to juggle, it will get shut. Discuss the points it raises by all means, but disrespect won't be acceptable.

Cheers
 8)
Eeyore

[rollazuki]

Surely the opinion is of the individual, not of the forum as a whole.
Its not a forum designed, or arranged to incite racial hatred, and surely as such, if  a member chooses to discuss such an issue, or even has an opinion which appears to be racially motivated, then the opinion is purely their own.
 :?:

[lambert]

Indirectly linked thought.
How come is being patriotic construed as a hate crime nowadays?

[Eeyore]

Patriotic isn't a hate crime. How words are expressed can lead to upset, hence we ask contributors here to be carefull.

For info, much like any published material, the forum Admin are responsible for anything they allow to be published (yes, electronic dissemination is the same as printed matter in the eyes of the law). If they don't wish to seen to be associated with potentially distasteful material, then who are we to argue.

Cheers
 8)
Eeyore

[Manicminer]

I have been led to believe that the reason for invading Iraq was to stop China from getting their hands on the oil.

[rollazuki]

So basically, what youre saying Eyeore, is that if I make some dodgy statement, then because its on your website, then you effectively 'own' the statement, and all the grief that comes with it.

Seems unfair on the website owner/mod doesnt it, after all, people often have plenty to say, and surely ought to be responsible for their own opinions.

Oh well, the intramanet isnt as free as we all hoped...

[Eeyore]

Oh well, the intramanet isnt as free as we all hoped...

Sadly not, no.

Cheers
 8)
Eeyore

[spinkster]

back to the original thread (well the second or third comment about the racial side of things) muslim women wear burkas FACT if we refer to them as burka wearing women we are branded as racist and (if the statement were on the news) the muslim community would be up in arms and the do gooders would be calling for the stateee (sp) to retract his comment and issue an apology...all this while the religous zealots would be issuing a death order on him/her

now then the other side of the coin.......Some Irish people are ginger...fact...yet if they are referred to as a red haired irishman no one bats an eyelid (this analogy can be used for sheep humping welshmen, (i'm welsh) skirt wearing jocks, or any other stereotypical WHITE british person) but when its directed at us its acceptable........we, as a nation, have become to tolerant of the abuse laid at OUR door on a daily basis and yet our leaders rush to the defence of the immigrant minorities

proud to be british??? am i ****.............i'd like to be but I can't see it happening until WE run OUR country

[Eeyore]

No problem with the phrase 'burkha wearing woman' as it appears at the time the woman was wearing said clothing.

The significance here is in the sentiment that the 'joke' is deliberately designed to raise. It justifies an artificial standpoint (war for demoncracy, and Western supremacy) and by making a specific party (the Muslim woman in this case) look bad. It also assumes that the Burkha wearing woman was not a national of America (taking the origianl version of the post into account), which of course she should have been.

Lets look at it this way. Would the joke have any impact if the questioner had been a white, middle-Amercian, catholic, family man? No.

It's not necessarily about the words - it's about the contexts and connections. All to often people try to hide those contexts in order to discuss a point, or win an arguement (and I'm not saying that is happening here at all). Yet, it's only those contexts that give the words any meaning.

Cheers
 8)
Eeyore