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| Avoid rape - dress sensibly | |
The word 'freedom' is a
powerful tool in political
argument. It is perhaps
unfortunate that most people regard freedom as the freedom to help
themselves to other people's belongings, or the freedom
to control other people's lives, but the race is not the swift, the fight is
not to the strong, and indeed the argument is not to the rational
thinker. Invariably, the argument is to the sophist. Perhaps in the midst of Libertaire, Egalitaire, Fraternitaire' the
French have lost their way with the proposed banning of Muslim headscarves in
French schools. Or perhaps they are dealing with an irrational situation in
the best way they can. Somehow, when the French opened their borders to the Muslim hoards they imagined they
would stay for a while, and either integrate or leave. Mais non, why
should people go back to an economic mess and leave the generous semi-socialist first-world welfare payments behind?
Sitting in a Parisian highrise flat watching Al Jazeera is not so bad if the
French taxpayer is paying for
it. And if young Abdul gets into a local gang .. well, it could be even worse
back home. They didn't go home, and they didn't integrate. In 2004, Franky Frenchman doesn't know how to cope with 5 million Muslims
in his country, or with the ethnic violence sweeping his country, and in any
case (other than France) one
could almost sympathize with people adopting irrational measures out of pure
desperation. The scarves symbolize the problems with France, and the
realization that, not only are some people free-loaders, but they aren't even
grateful! But there is also a more sinister side. With gangs of young Muslim men
forming rape packs and
singling out Arabic women without headscarves as their victims, it takes on a whole
new meaning. It is an effective means to preserving a cultural power base. It seems that many, possibly even most, women wear the head scarves not
through free choice but
due to the threat of violence. So what is the best way to combat this violence? One way is to try bring
the perpetrators to justice, and readers are welcome to discuss this at length
with the tooth fairy, Santa Clause, and the man-friendly lesbian at the bottom
of the garden. The other way is to ban the scarf - a clear violation of the rights of women who want to
wear it, but a removal of the violation of those who do not. There are of course other far more effective ways to combat the problem -
private schools, private cities and an abolition of welfare would solve much of
the problem, but the French are not ready for that solution yet. French
chauvinism is not ready to tackle the facade of French pride - but removing
the veils of Arabic women is easy. Removing women's clothing is a concept which
which the average Frenchman is quite comfortable with. And sophistry works best in small doses.
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