Goddess

I support the right to protest. I don't think think was a very well-planned protest, however. Why pick a random mosque to protest Islam in general? I think some of the signage crossed the line into hate speech. I don't agree with screaming insults or impeding people. (I also don't agree with Muslims impeding when they pour into the streets and block traffic to pray.)

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/remove-islamophobia-from-motion-cotler/ar-AAn1vkZ Some politicians are also saying it needs to be better defined. Why would Khalid have a problem with the motion mentioning all types of racism/discrimination?

I teach classes for beginners, if you're interested.

My end game? Well, I go to work and pay my bills, go to flamenco classes, like to watch TWD and sometimes engage in discussions like this. That's about it.

I think you are either not reading my post in it's entirety and understanding it or being deliberately argumentative. I will go with the former. I used the facebook convo illustration to ask if that would be considered Islamophobia. I'm wondering what exactly that covers and why our current laws are not a protection to Muslims but enough for other minority groups that experience discrimination?

Do not Muslims in Canada already have the same protections under the law as the rest of us? What exactly are they entitled to that they are not already getting?

If you read the rest of my post, I explain what I don't understand. Yes, I understand antisemitism.

I don't quite understand the "islamophobia" thing, either. What does that mean? If someone rips the headdress off a Muslim woman walking down the street, that's assault. We already have laws against that. If someone refuses to hire someone or fires someone for being Muslim, we have laws against that, as well. And legal recourses for the person discriminated against. If someone like Bissonette shoots up a mosque, is that not dealt with by the authorities? What exactly are they after with this? If I have a discussion on my facebook about child marriages in Islam and say anything negative about it, is that Islamophobia? This is what worries me, because some, here on this site, feel anything negative about Islam is "Islamophobia" and racism. Who decides what's offensive? Muslims? Because everything seems to offend them.

I ask because it seems to me that Islam's propaganda portrays Muslim women's desire for progress as a mimicry of the "West" and therefore offensive to their culture and religion.

Do Muslim women WANT Western feminists to demonstrate on their behalf?

Yes, quite familiar. It's nice to see women tackling this issue in a respectful way.

I hope you enjoy it

Not sure if anyone else in interested in this, but I will continue until I'm told to shut up: Letter 4 – Conviction & Piety The author begins with telling of a visit from her friend in Algiers in 2007. She was wearing a hijab, which was surprising to the author. Her friend immediately blurts out, “I am wearing it out of conviction. You can well imagine that if I did not wear it when the Islamists were pressuring us, I would not be wearing it now that they are no longer a threat.” The author says she was surprised by her quick invocation of “conviction” as the reason for which, in the nine months since she had seen her friend, she had donned the hijab. After discussing it, her friend admits that during Ramadan, she had to wear it a lot (as is customary) and keeping the headscarf on was just easier and more convenient that taking it on and off. When the author pointed out that that was not “conviction” her friend ended the discussion. The author returns to her friend who recently took up the hijab, and their conversations about it:

I ate scorpions on a stick when I was in China. They are salty and crispy, like potato chips. I would not want to eat them every day, though. I could not eat the tarantulas on a stick.

I think it's mostly the latter. I think we all have an inborn humanity that tells us sexually assaulting/harming others is wrong. But when a religion is telling you that other humans are inferior to yourself, it overrides any sense of natural humanity. I believe there's a lot of truth in the saying, " Without religion, we'd have good people doing good things, and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." Stephen Weinburg

A dress code for golfing lets everyone know you are a golfer. This "dress code" is to let everyone know you are a piece of crap woman and inferior to men.

My understanding is that they elected a terrorist government - Hamas. On purpose.

No. In Canada, you are free to practice whatever beliefs your religion imposes on you, within the framework of our laws. If you want to treat your wife like crap and force her to stay home, with a blanket over her head and force your daughters to wear covers everywhere they go, that is your choice. But NO....I do not HAVE TO respect that. This makes me very angry. Because you are the one who said that all Israeli children are future murderers and criminals. You insult and denigrate everything Canadian. You only want respect and free speech for yourself, not for all.

Thought I would add this Youtube. L. Ron Hubbard's grandson.

This part is of concern to me. There was a just a rash of Muslims claiming to have been assaulted and screamed at that turned out to be liars.....I suspect that some (certainly not all ) of the cases of graffiti and vandalism may also be done by Muslims to push forth this agenda.

Hmmm....a law on the books banning "Islamophobia" with no definition as to what that would entail. What could go wrong?

Haha! Yes, that's sometimes true. My prediction is that within the next couple of generations, religion will go the way of the dinosaur. It has waned a lot in the last generation, and the slight upturn these days in interest for religions of one's culture is merely its death throes. Of myself and 4 other siblings, 3 of us are completely out of the religion we grew up in. Out of 12 grandchildren, 6 are still in, but they are still very young and under their parent's direction. The older ones have all left.

Letter #3 - Cultural Identity The author begins with the story of Amina, a senior at a NYC college, who began veiling and wearing the long coat in 2003. She was critical of the treatment of Muslims in the media and felt that wearing the hijab would show that she was proud of her Muslim heritage. The author relates the story of Qama, who similarly took up the hijab to “make a statement, to say that you don’t have a hold on me and tell me what to do. Given the circumstances, I’m going to do what you don’t like me to do and there’s nothing you can do about it.” She continues with Qama’s story: The next story is quite long but it's very enlightening, so I'll post it all: The author mentions briefly some of the lawsuits brought about by Muslims for their rights, including the "private swimming times for Muslim women" one: (But it reminds me of the woman who sued the Canadian government for the right to wear the hijab during the oath of citizenship.) She tells of an interesting personal experience and her thoughts on it: (Bold parts here are mine) This part struck me because I don't think Muslim people are aware of the feelings the shrouding evokes in others. They may fell that Western objections to hijabs, burkas, etc. is nothing but racism and Islamphobia, but I think it is mostly just a natural concern for other human beings when we see them being mistreated.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this, but it makes me sad when women participate in their own oppression. I think it would be different if it were just the headscarf and it was strictly cultural. The religious spin on women's covering makes it difficult - most people will suspend logical thinking and go against what their "gut" tells them is right or wrong when it comes to religious things.

Again, I believe the issue is the scale of it. As Argus made the point: I've known families who allow their young girls to dress in ways that I would consider too provocative for their age. But that is their choice. And again, it's fairly rare. Not the norm.