[CLUE-Talk] "barbarians"

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 06:20:34 -0800
Randy Arabie <randy at arabie.org> wrote:

> Uhh, gee, we are NOT barbarians!

By some standards, we are. Europeans tend to look down on the U.S.
because we still use the death penalty -- I'm not advocating that
particular viewpoint, but according to quite a few countries we are
"barbaric" because we have the death penalty. (We are not the only
country that still has it, of course.)

> France...Muslim women can't wear berkaa's?

France has proposed a ban on the *burqa* or hijab in schools. (I find
the practice of requiring women to wear a burqa to be equally barbaric,
but... to each their own.) It isn't a wholesale ban on burqas in all
places. It isn't French law, yet. I wouldn't necessarily call it
"barbaric" if the ban is enacted, but it's definitely a violation of the
freedom of expression. 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the same idea came up in a number of
school districts in the U.S., following 9/11. Weren't trenchcoats
summarily banned in many high schools after Columbine? I know my younger
brother was told he couldn't wear a trenchcoat to school in Pacific. 

And I could go on and on about bans on various shirts and books by
various and sundry school districts across the U.S. -- but all I want to
point out is that we certainly can't claim the moral high ground when it
comes to unfettered freedom of expression in schools. 

> Spain...bull fights?

Mexico as well, I believe... and England still has fox hunts. 

Zonker