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I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

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Re: I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

#51

Post by ceejayoz »

mgkimsal wrote: post #24
ceejayoz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm surprised to see women dressed like that out in public on their own, because I've been led to believe they need male escorts, and assume that one might be around. That's a very, very small subset of hijab wearers, and you're unlikely to see any of them at a Western mall.

Possibly, but how can I be sure? Really not trolling at all, but trying to make any assumptions about what's 'safe' in situations where someone's life may be at stake, I err on the side of caution.

How can you be sure they're not part of a fringe cult that doesn't require head coverings but still kills people for making eye contact?

Re: I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

#52

Post by guylhem »

Timothee wrote: post #18
guylhem wrote: post #9

If wearing a hijab cause people to call you names, throw bad looks or more generally makes you feel discriminated against, what about trying not to wear an hijab?? Maybe I'm clueless and prejudiced and all that but it seems to me that religion was a perfectly "open" choice, ie something you can change at any time. Comparing that in any way to racism is insulting. People do not chose their ethnicity. People can chose…

You're trolling, right?

Unfortunately not - sad truth.

Re: I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

#54

Post by guylhem »

antoko wrote: post #41
guylhem wrote: post #9

If wearing a hijab cause people to call you names, throw bad looks or more generally makes you feel discriminated against, what about trying not to wear an hijab?? Maybe I'm clueless and prejudiced and all that but it seems to me that religion was a perfectly "open" choice, ie something you can change at any time. Comparing that in any way to racism is insulting. People do not chose their ethnicity. People can chose…

Wearing a hijab doesn't cause anything. People having prejudice is the cause. The hijab just allows this white girl to experience it. People CAN choose their religion, but should they based off of how other people make them feel about it? You're missing a step... "Your religion makes you feel bad" NO! Other people make me feel bad about my religion. That's pretty obviously prejudice. Also for most groups of people th…

This "white girl trying to wear an hijab" screams to me as a kind of self sabotage. She won at the genetic lottery : she conforms to the usual expectations about "looking good" in the country she lives in - did she never realized that privilege/advantage before??

Re: I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

#55

Post by [deleted] »

ktizo wrote: post #50
Jach wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of us have walked in the others' shoes, at least in this limited case of discrimination based solely on clothing. Guess what? Humans discriminate on clothing! You can drum up the social justice network and try to remove this neural programming without drugs, good luck with that. You can try and fight it, again, sincerely, good luck, I agree that clothing is irrelevant when judging other people, but I don't think…

If I were a muslim girl getting discriminated against for wearing a hijab, I'd stop wearing the hijab. So you would, I guess, also suggest that Sikhs should stop wearing turbans, Jews should stop wearing a kippah, nuns should stop wearing habits, pagans should stop wearing pentangles, etc. Not only is your suggestion frankly both offensive and pretty idiotic, but the world it would lead to would have even more discri…

[deleted]

Re: I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

#56

Post by ceejayoz »

dgesang wrote: post #48
ceejayoz wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting that you think "look at you funny" and "called me a terrorist" are equivalent.

The latter was said by a child, so it's not even worth talking about. The mother acted wrongly, not the child. But lets twist it, only without the masquerade: Imagine 'Ela' is on holiday in the Near East and wears a tank top. Don't you think that people would 'look funny at her'? She also might get molested for not being dressed properly. Local women even get stoned for that.

> The latter was said by a child, so it's not even worth talking about. The mother acted wrongly, not the child.

Chances are the kid's asking the question because the parent or another adult equates a head scarf with terrorism.

> But lets twist it, only without the masquerade: Imagine 'Ela' is on holiday in the Near East and wears a tank top. Don't you think that people would 'look funny at her'? She also might get molested for not being dressed properly. Local women even get stoned for that.

NONE OF WHICH IS THE LEAST FUCKING BIT OKAY, EITHER!

Re: I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

#57

Post by mgkimsal »

ignignokt wrote: post #36
mgkimsal wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly, but how can I be sure? Really not trolling at all, but trying to make any assumptions about what's 'safe' in situations where someone's life may be at stake, I err on the side of caution.

Don't you think that your thinking that she might be killed for you looking at her is prejudicial against Muslim men? Seems offensive to me if you won't look at someone because you assume a man will kill her for it... Do you not look at all women because they might have insanely jealous boyfriends who will then kill them for that too, hey it's technically possible right, so you should err on the side of caution?

I tend not to. Yes some may have insanely jealous boyfriends, but it's harder to tell in the absence of visual clues. Typical muslim garb is a signal which does tend to stand out in some circles, and that's one of the things I infer.

No, I don't think every time I look at a woman in a hijab she will be killed, but it does come in to the back of my mind more often than it does when seeing other women in local shops/stores/malls.

Is it prejudicial, as in pre-judging? Yes. People wearing certain types of garb send out signals intended to portray specific meaning. Sometimes extra meanings they didn't intend are also inferred.

Re: I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

#59

Post by guylhem »

ktizo wrote: post #50
Jach wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of us have walked in the others' shoes, at least in this limited case of discrimination based solely on clothing. Guess what? Humans discriminate on clothing! You can drum up the social justice network and try to remove this neural programming without drugs, good luck with that. You can try and fight it, again, sincerely, good luck, I agree that clothing is irrelevant when judging other people, but I don't think…

If I were a muslim girl getting discriminated against for wearing a hijab, I'd stop wearing the hijab. So you would, I guess, also suggest that Sikhs should stop wearing turbans, Jews should stop wearing a kippah, nuns should stop wearing habits, pagans should stop wearing pentangles, etc. Not only is your suggestion frankly both offensive and pretty idiotic, but the world it would lead to would have even more discri…

Excellent point. But "if the result of happiness_from_identification_with_current_religion + happiness_from_how_people_make_me_feel" is negative, maybe a) you are unhappy, b) it's not an untractable problem because c) there is something you can change in the equation, and there is something you can't change.

You know the saying - you can't change the others, only yourself.

Re: I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

#60

Post by Kopion »

I was walking through TSA about a week ago and someone about 5 people in front of me was wearing a hijab, and of course they didn't have to take it off while I had to take off 2 of my layers and then be patted down. I wouldn't have had to do any of that if those same people who wear hijabs hadn't taken many American lives over the years. I'm pretty sure I have a right to have my well reasoned and justified prejudices. If nothing else, I am much more aware of my surroundings when I see someone wearing a hijab. This heightened awareness is simply my human nature taking over.
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