Discrimination It Ain't

I watched RedaksjonEN last night - it's a live broadcast political debate program which I don't often watch because ... it's so annoying. People hit each other over the head with their various arguments and the guy who's supposed to be running things just sits there like an idiot and watches it. But I watched it yesterday - started watching and actually wanted to hear the arguments for once. The topic was the proposed alterations to the Norwegian police uniform so that Muslim women can wear hijabs with it. On which issue my opinion is, unsurprisingly, fuck that shit.

What's wrong with our government? First they screw up so royally with the revision of paragraph 185 (which has now been withdrawn, so yay) and now this, which I guarantee that the Norwegian people is equally opposed to. Not that that's a good indication as to the right course of action, but if this is supposed to be a democracy, then the right course of action isn't really the number one priority. There's an election coming up this fall - a parliamentary election. Labor would do better to remember that and not let their coalition partners - first the Center Party on paragraph 185, now the Socialist Left on this stupid hijab thing - push them around like this and make them look ridiculous. First the Department of Justice announces that the hijab will be permitted as part of the uniform, then the government discovers that Parliament and the people - and the cops, for Pete's sake!! - are against this, and then the information is pulled off the Department website and now we suddenly need more discussion. This vacillating is making the government look so ridiculous that I really cannot comprehend how they can possibly let it happen in an election year.

As for the Socialist Left, unsurprisingly one of their semi-bigwigs has been at the forefront of the usual gang of idiots ... ie the group that favors the milder uniform restrictions. Yes, Akhtar Chaudry proves yet again why I have so little respect for him as a politician and why he will never really be a force to be reckoned with in national politics. Actually, 'respect' ... I have to say that my feelings are so far from respect, I almost rather feel disgust for his attempts to enforce newspeak and stop us all from using the word 'hijab'. Seriously. He doesn't want us to call it 'hijab', he wants people to say 'kerchief'. Fuck that shit. It isn't a kerchief, a kerchief is something completely different. It's a hijab, Chaudry, we all know what it is. STFU.

On RedaksjonEN last night there was a pretty young thing who is the head of the Muslim Students Assocation at the U of Oslo campus. They've picked a woman as leader, quel surprise. (Oh, I am such a cold-hearted cynic!!) She made such idiotic arguments that I couldn't help but think to myself, Here's my blogpost for tomorrow. >:-) And now Kari Vogt, who's an authority in the field of history of religion in this country (but still a tremendous idiot IMO) says that she 'doesn't understand why we can't just try'. Stupid cow. Here's why:

It's a slippery slope. I know, I hate that argument too, but it's actually true in this case. If we allow the hijab, then we must also allow the turban and the kippah. And then what's next? Crucifixes and crosses, stars of David? How do you define a religious symbol and who decides on that definition? It's either nothing or it's everything. The nothing approach has worked fine so far. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

The whole debate is just completely screwed up IMO. The arguments people are using are so off target it's ridiculous. They're doing it in Britain and in Sweden, so that makes it harder to argue against it in Norway? WTF? Let's try another version of that argument: It's legal to slap your kids around in Britain, so that makes it harder to argue in favor of the strict child abuse laws we have in this country? No, fuck that shit!! The fact that others are screwing up should really only inspire us to do better here.

It's 'discriminatory' to not allow the hijab. This was one of the arguments the students ass. president used. That is such BS, I can't understand how people have the gall to use it. I hate it when I hear immigrants using that argument. They whine about being discriminated against, and then they go right ahead and prove that they don't even understand what discrimination is. The Norwegian police force does not discriminate in its uniform regulations. It does exactly the opposite. One set of rules applies to everybody, absolutely everybody, every last person on the force. The same rules apply to everybody. That is not discrimination. That is the very opposite of discrimination. Being treated the same as everyone else doesn't make you a 'second-class citizen'. Gag me with a spoon.

And in any case, all this whining about the hijab being banned on the force has no truth to it anyway. The hijab isn't banned. No headgear and no clothes whatsoever are banned on the force. The uniform regulations aren't about anything not being permitted. They are about something being mandatory. Can you spot the difference? Allah hasn't told anyone to wear the hijab, even though some people think so. Choosing to wear it is just that - a choice. By making that choice, you also choose to not become a police officer. WTF is so difficult to understand about that??

If you can't show yourself out of doors without having your hair 'decently' covered, can you manhandle a strange man? Be alone and unchaperoned in a room with a strange man, talking about literally anything, perhaps something entirely indecent? Ooh, sinful ... !! Smite away, Allah ... !! If anyone's discriminating against anyone here, it's rather these Muslim women who are doing it to themselves by refusing to accept the rules that apply to literally everyone else. Get over yourselves, girls. If you can so happily break the rules against working, against going to school, against associating with men you're not related to, against protecting unbelievers and all the other stupid rules in that outdated pile of claptrap you call a holy book, you can break this rule too. That god of yours obviously isn't paying attention anyway.

Not to even mention the fact that the whole hijab thing these days is ridiculous anyway, in itself. Don't they wear it to show their modesty and not make spectacles of themselves? Umm ... so what's with the wearing of the hijab/tight jeans combo that I see all over town? And all the fancy hijabs you can get ... it isn't longer ago than tonight that I saw some woman with a hijab made out of some eyecatching silvery sparkly material. Hard to miss. Doesn't this completely defeat the purpose of the hijab, thus making the wearer a hypocrite and rendering the whole exercise pointless? Hm.

Back to the point: The Norwegian police force is intended to be wholly neutral, its officers to represent the state and only the state. They may not display any signs of religious affiliation or any other loyalties. That is such a good thing. If someone appreciates our police force enough to want to join it, why do they want to change this wonderful quality?? Those who are already on the force do not want this change in the regulations (the Muslim officers included). They think it would impact negatively on police officers nationwide. Who would know this better than they??

Fuck that shit. If you want to express your religious beliefs, you can do that on your own time.