Matilda,

I admit my ignorance - but what a failure on behalf of the government to provide lessons on the philosophy of Rousseau to all immigrants, then have them tested to ensure they thoroughly understood it, as part of the requirements for attaining an Australian citizenship.
In fact, the Australian consul who interviewd us, should probably be sacked for not even mentioning Rousseau and his implicit contracts before granting us permanent-resident visas.

Instead, my explicit contract with the Australian government, in plain English, is: "... that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Australia, Her heirs and successors according to law, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Australia and fulfil my duties as an Australian citizen".

I made no other contract, and those born in Australia have never signed or verbally agreed to any similar contract at all.

My example was offensive indeed, deliberately in order to demonstrate how offensive the demands of authorities are. For someone who has not requested protection in the first place (notwhistanding the reality that the state is unable to protect anyone anyway and that respresentation has become a farce), the demand to follow laws and regulations (or else...), when placed on unconsenting individuals, amounts to just that.

As an Australian, I treasure my right not to have to talk to every Tom, Dick or Harry if I don't want to. However, it appears that some contributors here are demanding that Muslims must make themselves available at all times when they in public to be talked to, that they must engage in conversation with whoever demands it and that they must keep their faces bare at those times.

Did somebody mention profiling ?

If I were Muslim, or any sort of believer, I would tell you guys to go to buggery. Stop being so up yourselves, you're not the centre of the universe.

By gee, the authoritarian impulse is not very far below the surface, is it ?

Joe

@ Loudmouth.
Zing! Awesome post, the staunchest Lefty goes all Twinset and pursed lips when the subject of Islam comes up.
Might have something to do with the fact that Islam has thus far proved impervious to the Trotskyites "Scientific Racism" as well as Right Wing assimilationism and every other Wacky "ISM" at our disposal.
Anti Racism and Leftism are highly regimented, authoritarian and reactionary, just Imagine if, as these people are saying the government Running dogs were let loose on "morals", it'd make the Anti Terror laws look like the CWA constitution.
I can see the current crop of Lefty busybodies and Ward Heelers let loose in Lakemba and Coburg with video cameras hidden in their Sherpa hats, they love power and they love to rat on people.
Oh! And to whomever mentioned Rousseau, I think you'll find he was almost immediately proven wrong by a little soiree called the French Revolution, "egalitarianism" always comes with a body count.

Many people feel uneasy when confronted by young adults wearing hoodies, especially when there is no obvious climatic justification for wearing them. In some public locations, hoodie wearing is banned. Are the unease and the ban justified? Would a community be justified if it took exception to swaggering young men walking around with their faces concealed? Would taking exception be more or less justifiable if the young men claimed that they were required by religion or culture to keep their faces concealed? Is there a point at which the right of the majority to feel comfortable with the way others dress becomes more important that the right of those others to dress as they please? Should the answer be different if right to dress as you please is replaced with right to drive on your preferred side of the road?

GlenC and other sympathesisers, you must be morethan half daft if you cant see that hoodies and burqa wearers are making political statements that are NOT in public interest. All we are saying is that neither head dresses are justified except fpr inimical purposes.
socratease

Except that hoodie wearers are routinely associated with violent crime whereas crimes committed by Muslim women wearing burqas are exceedingly rare.

Just google "hoodies" and "crime".

How do you like that Jay .... more knowledge from the "forbidden zone" :-)