sharkfin
I am going purely by the experience with Asian immigration which preceded immigration from Lebanese and other Middle Easter nations.

At that time it was thought to be the end of the world for some Australians and time has shown that Asians have integrated well into Australia society while still managing to maintain their cultural traditions. Later generations perhaps not as much having been to school and influenced by contact with their peers.

I think most people are aware there is a militant element among some Muslims groups and fostered by some ignorant Imans who are no longer in touch with the times nor do they speak for the majority of Muslims. Many Muslim groups in Australia are distancing themselves from those sorts of Imans. In Australia there are laws against terrorism and other laws that protect other types of human rights.

This subject is about the burqa not about terrorism. Leigh as a generally libertarian bloke, you would normally be jumping up and down if the government started telling you what to wear. Why is this different?

“This subject is about the burqa not about terrorism”

The burqa as with all religious paraphernalia is psychological terror, an expression of superiority and disdain for people not of their mythology who have an acceptable approach to public life. Make all the excuses you want for these people, who in this day and age are doing all they can to disrupt and force their psychological suppressions onto others.

These people look upon us with disgust and are pushing their agenda's as hard as they can, the burqa is a symbol of the depth of suppression, primitive and psychological torture of the wearers and children who are forced to under go this form of psychological and psychical health abuse.

Asians fitted in more because they're not monotheists, and have no trouble assimilating with a society close to their belief, reality. Earlier migrants from Europe were mostly christian and didn't force their beliefs onto our society as muslim's are doing. There's those from other societies who come here and maintain their cultural habits within their home, but the majority try to fit publically, unlike muslim's.

Muslims demand time, an exclusive place for prayers in the work place, most smoke, demanding more time for that and are prepared to discriminate against customers who don't fit into their stereotypes. I've worked with and treated them, they mainly come for treatment to enhance their claims for a disability pension. People may not know the high percentage of muslim's on welfare, compared to other ethnic or Australian groups. Many have more than one wife, living in separate government houses on welfare, all known to Centrelink with nothing done.

But if a secular Australian admitted more than one partner, they'd be charged and probably jailed. Muslim's are treated as superior to us, by our own government. Only societies run by sick ideologists act in this way, discriminating against their own to support their real enemies

So, I guess online_east is a "moral racialist". Not much more dialogue to be entered into there, methinks.

What about sharkfin and stormbay - are you "moral racialists" too, or just garden-variety Islamophobes?

Dear CJ
Sorry for my tardiness in replying to your earlier comments.
" just like the majority of persons in democratic Germany in the 1930s decided that Jews should have to wear identifying symbols"
I would hardly think Germany under Hitler could be described as democratic. Indeed once in power Hitler and the Nazis remove nigh all democratic institutions eg rule of law, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, ownership of private property. The list is endless.
My objection to the burqa and niqab is quite simple; in Australian and Western society exposure of one's face is a requisite for civil intercourse. When talking to people we look at their faces, not their feet. Indeed bowing one's head is a sign of shame or guilt. A smile or a frown can only be seen if the face is exposed.
Put your head in a bag with holes and see what talking to other persons similarly attired would be like.
I certainly recognize that democracy and individual liberty are not always compatible and that simply because a government is elected by a majority means that the minority become fair game for the majority.
Banning the burqa on public transport,in banks, driving vehicles is really no different to banning burqas everywhere in public; the very small percentage of Muslim people who wear these garments would still consider it discriminatory.

“What about sharkfin and stormbay - are you "moral racialists" too, or just garden-variety Islamophobes?”

Personal slurs are always the way of those unable to see the world rationally, goes with the ideology they are manacled to.

CJ Morgan, I dislike all ideology, religious or otherwise. I also understand there's still a majority of humans who see their particular form of ideology as real and the only approach to life against acceptable evidence. Islam is the current out of control ideology in all facets of life, whether it's a majority or minority is irrelevant, it's the outcomes which matter, not the number.

Morals are a construct of ideology and not real, I follow life with what I class as universal ethics, seen throughout the various living species on earth, but few humans. Then you can act and think according to the current circumstances, not under emotional or moral constraints. I'm against jews wearing their fundamentalist garb, nuns priests and any who represent the outcomes of the evil ideology they follow and represent, in public. It's the same if a king strutted around all the time in their regalia or the laughable upholders of justice dressing up like clowns and trying to act superior. Or the saying of the lords prayer in parliament, then they go and slander people, argue, threaten, abuse and belittle the people, whilst overseeing the collapse of society and acting superior.

Their all the same CJ, my interest's in the human psychology behind ideology, my only belief's in our personal ability to learn and evolve, beyond reliance on ideology of every persuasion. We need to mature as a race, you can't do that whilst allowing primitive beliefs free rein to disrupt and fracture. They don't have a place in public in our free country, they are alien.

Religion is a personal issue and we should be free of it in the public domain, or we are not free, just intimidated.

Apparently the Flemish towns of Ghent, Antwerp, Sint-Truiden, Lebbeke and Maaseik have officially banned the burka. The fine is about 120 euros.