Monday, 19 July 2010

UK: Muslim bus drivers refuse to allow guide dogs for blind on board

When in Muslim countries, non-Muslims must conform their behavior to Islamic sensibilities. When in non-Muslim countries, non-Muslims must conform their behavior to Islamic sensibilities. Got it? Dogs are "unclean" in Islam, with a few exceptions, and so the guide dogs have to go. "Muslim bus drivers refuse to let guide dogs on board," by Andy Dolan in the Daily Mail, July 18 (thanks to Eleanor):

Blind passengers are being ordered off buses or refused taxi rides because Muslim drivers or passengers object to their 'unclean' guide dogs.

One pensioner said he had twice been confronted by drivers and asked to get off the bus because of his guide dog, and had also faced hostility at a hospital and in a supermarket over the animal.

The problem has become so widespread that the matter was raised in the House of Lords last week, prompting transport minister Norman Baker to warn that a religious objection was not a reason to eject a passenger with a well-behaved guide dog.
George Herridge and his guide dog

National Federation of the Blind spokesman Jill Allen-King said the problem was common, and 'getting worse'.

The tension stems from a strand of Islamic teaching which considers a dog's saliva to be impure....

U.K.: Manchester mall installs squat toilets to cater to Muslims

By itself, this story is absurd, and even comical. If nothing else, at least it's not public money for a change, unlike the squat toilet recently installed for the use of inmates at Canterbury Prison. But it is most noteworthy, of course, as part of a larger trend of self-congratulating, self-righteous, politically correct pandering to Muslims, and to the exclusion of other groups.

One would be remiss not to consider one other matter. Muhammad prescribed the use of an odd number of stones with which to clean up. If the mall is taking the extraordinary step of installing a culturally correct loo, will stones be complimentary, or will there be a Bring-Your-Own-Stones policy? Or would considering that still be too absurd?

"Shopping centre bosses approve 'Asian squat toilets' following cultural awareness course," by James Tozer for the Daily Mail, July 18 (thanks to Basil):

For centuries, the great British loo has been a matter of envy to the rest of the world.
Thanks to the efforts of pioneers like the legendary Thomas Crapper, we have long since led the world in comfort and hygiene.
Now, however, that could be about to change.
For most of us, the squat toilet is nothing more than a staple of horror stories about old-fashioned French service stations or the exploits of adventurous backpackers in far-flung parts of India.
But this basic form of plumbing, also known as a Turkish toilet or Nile pan, could be coming to a shopping centre near you - and all in the name of cultural sensitivity.
From next week, shoppers in Rochdale who push open the cubicle door expecting the reassuring sight of a modern, clean lavatory could instead be faced with little more than a hole in the ground.
Bosses of the Greater Manchester town's Exchange mall have installed two as part of an upgrade costing several thousand pounds after attending a cultural awareness course run by a local Muslim community activist.
A familiar sight in parts of the Middle East, and still sometimes seen in France and Italy, the toilets require users to squat above them, rather than sitting.
With one in ten of Rochdale's population of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin, centre managers say they have been told some members of the local Asian community prefer them for cultural reasons.
The town hit the headlines during this year's General Election campaign when pensioner Gillian Duffy was dismissed by Gordon Brown as a 'bigoted woman' when she voiced concern about immigration.
News of the introduction of squat toilets was met by disbelief, however.
'This strikes me as a classic case of excessive pandering to a politically correct minority,' said Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley.
'We in Britain are rightly proud of our toilets, and the onus is on people who come to this country to appreciate them for what they are.
'It's absolutely ludicrous - Thomas Crapper would be turning in his grave!'
Proponents of what some campaigners call the natural posture toilet claim there are health benefits to squatting, rather than sitting.
Canterbury Prison recently installed one for foreign inmates as part of a £17,000 upgrade.
But they are regarded as unhygienic and backward in many parts of the world - infamously, a controversial sculpture briefly displayed at EU offices in Brussels last year lampooning member states depicted Bulgaria as a squat toilet.
Mike Bone, of the British Toilet Association, warned the washing facilities associated with squat toilets could pose a hygiene hazard.
'We really don't see a need for them,' he said.
'Space for public toilets in places like shopping centres is already at a premium, and if this is meant to cater for Muslims we would point out that the vast majority use normal toilets in their own homes.'
U.K.: Immigration minister nixes burqa ban as "un-British"

Going against the will of 2/3 of British people. Are 2/3 of Britons un-British, then?

Green also says that such a ban would run contrary to the conventions of "tolerant and mutually respectful society." Clearly, he knows nothing of Islamic law and its knack for doing just that. And for that matter, how does concealing one's face in public foster a mutually respectful society? It is a mark of separation and distrust, and of non-engagement with "the other," to borrow a well-worn multiculturalist term.

But, of course, one must remember that multicultural "tolerance" is a one-way street on which Western values must yield the right-of-way to galloping Sharia.

"Burka ban ruled out by immigration minister," by Patrick Hennessy for the Telegraph, July 17:

Damian Green said such a move would be "rather un-British" and run contrary to the conventions of a "tolerant and mutually respectful society".
He said it would be "undesirable" for Parliament to vote on a burka ban in Britain and that there was no prospect of the Coalition proposing it.
His comments will dismay the growing number of supporters of a ban. A YouGov survey last week found that 67 per cent of voters wanted the wearing of full-face veils to be made illegal.
Mr Green used a wide-ranging interview with The Sunday Telegraph, his first since taking up his post at the Home Office in May, to issue a "message around the world that Britain is no longer a soft touch on immigration".
He said the summer would see a major crackdown on the main streams of illegal immigration -- including sham marriages, illegal workers and people trafficking -- and confirmed that this autumn the Government would set an overall cap on migrants entering Britain from outside the European Union.
His firm decision to rule out a burka ban will disappoint some Right-of-centre Tory MPs, including Philip Hollobone, who has tabled a private member's bill that would make it illegal for anyone to cover their face in public....

Posted by Britannia Radio at 06:42