South By, the great liberal cluster f$#@ in Austin, the best city in the world, put it in it's mouth this week when a much loved US Olympian was asked to take off her hijab for her ID photo. She screamed religious exemption, and the newspapers found a file photo of her with more stars and stripes than at the Republican convention.
Makes me mad. Because muslims shouldn't be singled out. But mostly because the religious exemption clause is a bunch of bull. Are you going to allow every type of religious exception? To qualify does the said religion require a certain number of documented followers? Does it need to prove the test of time? Do you need to prove that you belong to that religion or can anyone avail of any religious exemption? How sincerely held does your religious belief have to be? Most importantly, who decides all this? Is it worse to ask a US Olympian or just a regular South By attendee to take off her hijab?
Starts getting pretty fuzzy pretty quickly. The harder you try to enforce religious exemption, the more illogical bigotry you need to engage in. The pastafarian movement exposes some of this tomfoolery.
Don't make people jump through religious hoops. Allow headwear, give anyone an exemption, and get on. Agree that we'd never be able to identify you in your religious ninja mask, and that's precisely why we should use smarter technology to ID you. Keep your hat on and still be safe.
On an unrelated rant, have you noticed that a premier interactive conference requires people from all over the world to meet in a brick and mortar building to interact. Gah.
Makes me mad. Because muslims shouldn't be singled out. But mostly because the religious exemption clause is a bunch of bull. Are you going to allow every type of religious exception? To qualify does the said religion require a certain number of documented followers? Does it need to prove the test of time? Do you need to prove that you belong to that religion or can anyone avail of any religious exemption? How sincerely held does your religious belief have to be? Most importantly, who decides all this? Is it worse to ask a US Olympian or just a regular South By attendee to take off her hijab?
Starts getting pretty fuzzy pretty quickly. The harder you try to enforce religious exemption, the more illogical bigotry you need to engage in. The pastafarian movement exposes some of this tomfoolery.
Don't make people jump through religious hoops. Allow headwear, give anyone an exemption, and get on. Agree that we'd never be able to identify you in your religious ninja mask, and that's precisely why we should use smarter technology to ID you. Keep your hat on and still be safe.
On an unrelated rant, have you noticed that a premier interactive conference requires people from all over the world to meet in a brick and mortar building to interact. Gah.
No comments:
Post a Comment