What's he on about now?

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   Tuesday, July 25, 2006

   FAIR'S FAIR

Since I'm always all "Bad America! No donut!" it's only proper that I rant about Canada occasionally (and thankfully, 'occasionally' is all I need to). The ever-glamourous Miss Retro Virus alerted me to this post from 'RightGirl' at the Shotgun blog of Alberta's Weekly Standard:

Islam must be stopped
I cannot abide by apologists calling Islam a religion of peace. Not when every new day brings fresh tales of violence. Not when the devil that they call Allah rewards murder with polygamous sex. Not when their undeserved supremacy is fought for in countries big and small around the globe...If everything from smoking to lead paint to pitbulls can be banned because they are dangerous and deadly, why can't Islam?

"Jane, you ignorant slut."
There's a little acorn of frustration here that I totally understand but RightGirl grows it into a big tree of crazy. She's obviously unable to separate a religion from its zealots and, while I've been accused of that once or twice, I've never advocated for the banning of Christianity -- no matter how toxic many of its enthusiasts can become. As Miss RV rightly points out, her rhetoric is one step away from Communist Russia's enforced atheism and look how well that turned out! It kills me how these people with the simple solutions of simple minds never see where their illogic is leading them. Fortunately, one of RightGirl's commenters offers a practical five-point plan:

We need to stop Muslims from manipulating our Government, policies and ways of life.

1) Immediately restrict Muslim immigration.
2) Citizens must be loyal to Canada before their native nations.
3) Stop the political correctness and false accusation that our concerns are bigotry or racism
4) Muslims who are already here must assimilate or we can unleash a backlash.
5) Eveyone must show patriotism and loyalty

Jawohl, Mein Fuhrer! At least Alberta's reputation as 'Canada's Texas' is secure. Don't I sound like a smug yuppie liberal, though? Am I not just tossing around snark in lieu of factual rebuttals? Well...yes. That's what I do. But let's assume RightGirl is, erm, right when she insists that I can't just write her off as a racist, that I must engage her argument on its own merits.

I can't speak for Islam, of course. I'm still holding a grudge from university, where I knew a gay Muslim named Naseer. He was funny, somewhat excitable and Madonna-obsessed. He took great pride in his Islamic faith, struggled with his shifting sexuality and swallowed a bottle of pills at the end of the school term, killing himself. Do I hate the entire religion for that? I'm not sure, since I've seen Christianity have the same general effect.

All I know is that I like the Emami's, the Iranian family who run Millie's Place, an old diner around the corner on Sherbourne Street. Their two kids are in university but the entire family works in the restaurant. They smile constantly, serve the crazy homeless people with care and patience, and gasp in shocked delight at the zany stories of the gays who pop in for the all-day breakfast. I suppose RightGirl and her gang would call them 'the good Muslims,' the ones they'll allow to remain here after the Glorious Revolution, but I still suspect that the Emamis aren't as rare as they think.

And at any rate, if I had to choose between having a greasy lunch at old, worn-down Millie's versus a fine meal at one of Alberta's gorgeous steakhouses with RightGirl, well I'll have the banquet burger with fries, please, with some political correctness on the side.

Labels: Canada