Immigrants wishing to live in the small Canadian town of Herouxville, Quebec, must not stone women to death in public, burn them alive or throw acid on them, according to an extraordinary set of rules released by the local council.
“We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here,” said the declaration, which makes clear women are allowed to drive, vote, dance, write checks, dress how they want, work and own property.
“Therefore we consider it completely outside these norms to … kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc.”
Last year a Montreal gym agreed to install frosted windows after a nearby Hasidic synagogue said it was offended by the sight of adults exercising.
The declaration is part of a wider debate over “reasonable accommodation,” or how far Quebecers should be prepared to change their customs so as not to offend immigrants.
I think that Andre Drouin, the councilor who devised the declaration, said it best: “We invite people from all nationalities, all languages, all sexual orientations, whatever, to come live with us, but we want them to know ahead of time how we live.”
“…must not stone women to death in public”
How about if they do it in private?
There’ been a bunch of “reasonable accomodations” debates over the past year or so.
To my knoweldge it all started when a Sikh teenager fought over the right to wear a ceremonial knife to school… and won, with conditions.
Since then, other issues include:
-Policewomen being told to let their men counterparts handle arrests of hassidic jews.
-A dockworker wanting to wear a turban instead of a hardhat
-Someone asking to pass ahead in a public medical clinic because they had to go to their place of worship (don’t remember which ethnic group)
-A father going to a swimming course with their child were asked to leave at the request of muslim women who wanted to go swimming.
-Some jews in a school commission getting more PAID holidays than non-jews.
-People washing their feet in public bathrooms. (Muslims?)
In the past few months we’re hearing issues like that about once a week on the news. Some are more reasonable than others, but it’s a heated debate in Quebec.
Last week a policeman was put under disciplinary investigation for composing a song that voiced his concerns on the issue in a less than politically-correct manner. An imam asked that he be fired. (If you understand french, search for “policier chansonnier”)
On the story above, though, it’s an isolated incident and I heard that it has no real bearing, it’s a statement, but it cannot be enforced.
Not enough space to throw indoors, you can’t get any velocity unless it’s a really big room.
#1
Or just until they’re barely dead?
“We invite people from all nationalities, all languages, all sexual orientations, whatever, to come live with us …”
Good luck with that.
I just invited the Black Panthers and the Ku Klux Klan; the San Francisco gays and the Taliban to a party. Bring a bottle … or not (as the case may be).
Think it’ll go swimmingly?
you people of earth are-“STUPID, STUPID, STUPID”
Perfectly acceptable solution; every town should consider this.
#7.
Only if the complaining party pays for the accommodation.
for crying out loud,,we already have laws against assault, abuse,etc.etc,most of what i am reading on this post relates to religious beliefs,,,that’s a good reason to keep religion out of politics (law making),what a bunch of nonsense!
give your head a shake…
“We invite people from all nationalities, all languages, all sexual orientations, whatever, to come live with us …”
…as long you are just like us. All you Quebecers who aren’t First Nations are immigrants. We didn’t tell you not to stone your women.
#3 You forget Newtons Second Law of Motion Force = Mass x Acceleration. Therefore the smaller the room the bigger the rock. Not that we would want anyone to try this at home.
#8 – By establishing the community through taxes, the people living in the community have meet this requirement.
If you research this story a bit, it turns out to basically be legislated racism. Herouxville, Quebec is a town of 1300 people 180 km north-east of Montreal.
Having come from a similarly sized town in a similar area of Ontario I can tell you that it is very likely that there isn’t one Muslim or even non-white person in the whole town. In fact, I’d bet virtually everyone in the town is of European descent.
What probably happened is that a bunch of townsfolk got themselves all worked into a tizzy over the prospect of a immigrant moving into town and created a bunch of laws based on stereotypes they saw in the news.
#12 – My opinion of course, but not when the request is out of the ordinary or has nothing to do with public safety. –
#13.. well you are almost right. There is one teenage boy who is black. Adopted Haitian. This is happening because Montreal media have been reporting and blowing out of proportion some stories #2 mentioned. People out from the main centers in this province, that never see anything other then other white french-canadians. Think that Montreal is getting overrun by immigrants that are imposing they religious beliefs on the rest of the population.
Funny but I have been living downtown for the last 12 years and I don’t feel like they are taking control…
Uh oh, more cultural problems from the peace loving religion of Islam. This must me Bush’s fault somehow, either that or global warming.
Ain’t diversity grand?
#13 – Eric Hacke
“If you research this story a bit, it turns out to basically be legislated racism.”
O, Christ. That by-now-meaningless word again. The virtually-100% reliable signal that an adherent of the knee-jerk school of pseudoliberalism is in da house.
“…a bunch of laws based on stereotypes they saw in the news.”
Yes, yes, of course. We tolerant, non-racist folks all know how suicide bombers are no more likely to be young Muslim males of Middle Eastern descent than, say, elderly female Swiss dairy farmers, or how demonstrative of irrational prejudice it is to assume that the Mafia’s membership isn’t composed of equal numbers of people of Brazilian, Swedish and Thai descent, as all right-thinking people know it to actually be.
It makes you wonder why stereotypes exist. I mean, in our sexist culture, it’s so unjust that murderers are stereotyped as being male, despite the fact that men commit well over 90% of all murders. And how about those unenlightened throwbacks who viciously and irrationally stereotype a young urban black male who wears baggy pants and gang insignia as being any more likely to bust a cap in yo ass than a white suburban housewife?
And the racist justice system? Don’t get me started. What possible explanation is there, other than pure, unadulterated racism, for the LAPD to concentrate on looking for crime in East LA, or South Central and ignoring the innumerable carjackings, liquor store robberies and crack dealing that Bel-Air and Malibu are so rife with? Those racist bastards! They also don’t want you to know the truth about all the South Africans and French who belong to the Yakuza, instead promoting the vile racist stereotype that they’re all Japanese. All us tech-types around here are clued in to the evil male conspiracy that hides the fact of the countless killer apps written by women and perpetuates the unfounded stereotype that women aren’t just as fascinated by and skillful with high-tech as males.
You gullible libs, with generally the best of intentions, are naïvely and blissfully ignorant of the fact that stereotypes have their origins in common observation of what people actually do and what people are actually like. They are generalizations. It’s impossible to live without making and using generalizations. Bogus liberal “logic” sez: “Some generalizations are partly or even completely wrong. Therefore, all generalizations are wrong.” Bad news, kids. You can’t go through life stopping and considering each and every individual case.
If you read about a girl who has suffered genital mutilation at the hands of her parents, you do not have to do any in-depth research into the backstory to be able to come to the virtually certain conclusions that: (a) the girl is African or of African descent; (b) the girl’s parents are Muslims. This is stereotyping. This is generalizing. And most of the time, it works. It’s nice to want to make sure that people are aware that maybe, f’rinstance, a certain jet pilot mentioned in a news story is not necessarily a man – but it’s pretty downright dumb to NOT generalize and assume that that pilot IS, a man, since the vast majority, in actual fact, ARE.
That’s a long way from what is really objectionable – the use of stereotypes to justify treating people unfairly. But because bigots misuse and abuse the normal human tendency to generalize means that stereotypes are powerful concepts and we must know when they’re not appropriate. It does not, however mean that most stereotypes are either unfair or wrong.
IOW, grow up, fer crissakes and quit with the reflexive parroting of “racism, racism” when someone notes that, as with the story here, Muslims immigrating into Western culture usually expect to, and do, bring their customs and mores along with them, and that many of those customs and mores are violent, primitive, and simply not acceptable to civilized people. This is in no small part because, exactly as the Muslim stereotype informs us, the Muslim culture is, like most all primitive cultures, ethnocentric.
In the stereotype, and in reality, slicing off your daughter’s labia is a Muslim thing. Baptists don’t do it. Catholics don’t do it. Atheists don’t do it. And fuck this cultural-relativist bullshit about “Well, what’s good for us isn’t necessarily what’s good for them. Who are we to say what’s right or wrong? They have just as much right to their beliefs as we do.” My ass they do. Only when their beliefs are acceptable to us – the hosts. We didn’t send for them. They want the opportunities and benefits that our way of life provides, they must respect and follow it.
Those “stereotypes they saw in the news” are accurate. Muslims do those things and they expect to come to the West and not respect our culture, because they “know” that Muslim culture is superior.
Bet you never noticed, but the only major culture that doesn’t claim to be superior to all others is ours. It’s obvious and a given wherever you grow up on Earth, outside of Western Judeo-Christian European cultures, that “our culture, naturally, is the best.”
I’d like to leave you with the timeless wisdom of Groundskeeper Willie:
“Enjoy your multicultural hooey.”
A good analysis of the town/ issue in a Montreal paper:
http://tinyurl.com/3583p4