This is definitely possible. I’m not counting on TFD to be able to provide us with an objective assessment of the situation, or any situation really.
Japan has no natural resources. Was burnt to the ground not long ago. They do pretty well and have for a long time. Even the Nazi’s got their act together.
And I never said it was the ONLY factor.
In a democratic country, the government is the people. If the people of a country decide that some cultural activities go against their common values, they have the right to consider them unacceptable. A nation isn’t just a collection of discrete individuals, it is a collectivity with its own ethos.
I will admit that I do not like the idea of blanket burqa bans like the ones recently passed in France and Belgium. I fully understand why they did it, and I don’t think it’s a racist move – I think it is viewed as quite progressive, to be honest – but I can’t see anything good coming from it. Yes, I do believe that burqas are a tool in the oppression of women (even though I cannot read in other people’s minds to find out why they act and dress as they do, as Paul in Qatar will probably remind me) but you won’t improve women’s conditions by banning the burqa. In fact, you’ll make it less likely that these women and their families will eventually adopt your more progressive culture. It’s counter-productive.
This said, I have no problem with requiring people wearing full-face veils to remove them to identify themselves in situations where other people would be required to show their face. I don’t want to attack this type of clothing or anyone who wears it, and I’m even willing to accommodate them up to a point, but there is a limit where it starts to cause more problems than it solves. As Martini Enfield says, there is a line to place, and deciding where to place it is a significant challenge.
I don’t think he can read.
Oh, he wasn’t denying that there was racial animosity, he was just acknowledging the true cause of it, just like the OP inadvertently did (and you won’t).
I don’t know if this is true, but I once read that the Canadian national magazine Maclean’s ran a contest to complete the phrase “As Canadian as . . .” and the winner was “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.”
That depends. How was the soup?
Novels and poems nobody can understand (except deeply angst-ridden undergrads), films nobody is interested in (except deeply angst-ridden undergrads), and art that costs a fortune but could be replicated by Buddy Whatzisname from next door, wielding a paint roller. The deeply angst-ridden undergrad who would be living next door to Buddy is too busy agonizing over Canadian novels and Canadian films to pay him much mind.
So the guys in the OP might have been jerks.
So?
Are we to believe Chinese are likelier to be jerks based on this pathetically miniscule data sample? How did allowing them to immigrate increase the average jerk quotient in Canada?
As a matter of fact, not that it changes anyone’s underlying point much (and I have no idea of the composition of the muslim population of Queensland, specifically), but I probably see a burqua-wearing woman every few weeks or so. Nowhere near as popular as hijabs (maybe 1%? half a percent?), but they’re there.
[/random anecdote]
I thought it was a euphemism for hockey.
Tell us about Canadian romance novels!
There’s not much to tell; once you get all 25 layers of clothes off, the book’s over.
To be fair there are a lot of domestically- or even internationally-popular Canadian books and movies. Maybe it’s more likely to happen with the French-language ones.
I’m struggling to think of many, besides the Anne of Green Gables, The English Patient, Porky’s, and… not much else.
Let’s be fair here, to the average viewer a “Canadian” film isn’t appreciably different from an American one for the most part.
Whilst I can’t recall seeing a full-on Burqa, I have seen plenty of Middle Eastern women wearing the next best thing (the long robes and headdress with the face coverings leaving only the eyes visible), especially on the Gold Coast during the tourist season.
I completely and totally disagree with you- it is indeed the Government’s place to help dictate (or at least guide) the culture of a country. And people do have a place in dictating other people’s culture- especially if they’re in the majority.
The vast, vast, vast majority of immigrants to this country want to assimilate and are welcome, productive, valued members of the community. Absolutely no sane person has any problem with Mr. Wong from China who (for example) practices Confucianism and speaks Chinese in the privacy of his own home or with other members of the Chinese community or as part of recognised cultural events. But if Mr. Wong starts insisting that all female children should have their feet bound and that the country should be run according to Confucian principles or else, then I think the rest of the community is entitled to tell him to STFU and either keep his extremist minority views to himself or move somewhere more accommodating of said views.
I would suspect that generally, if they strongly identify with a culture that offends you, there’s almost no way they’re going to be extending any sort of “Respecting Differences” PC tree-huggery your way, regardless of how tolerant or accepting you are, since they very likely think of you as a Heathen/Infidel/Imperialist Running Dog/You get the idea.
Why do you think the government should dictate (or guide) the culture?
I specifically added the disclaimer if it’s not hurting anyone else. Female children having their feet bound is hurting someone; namely, those children. As for thinking that the country should be run according to Confucian principles, sure, he can campaign for it, and like anyone else, if he can win enough people over, the government may change that way.
I’ll put it this way; if someone directly attempts to stop me doing things my way, I’ll tell them to back the fuck off. Other than that, I tend to be extremely laid back about what people do.
It must be very upsetting to have a culture in which everybody has always looked just like you, spoken the same language, dressed & worshipped the same–for untold centuries. Then, all of a sudden, different people appear! Oh, no, what shall we do!
Except–where are these monocultures? Wouldn’t they be inbred backwaters rather than modern, diverse urban environments? Even Texas has been multicultural since the beginning. Cabeza de Vaca, the first Texas anthropologist, documented numerous tribes. We’ve certainly had our disagreements over the years. (But not purely on ethnic lines–Tejanos died at the Alamo.) People assimilate–but not like the Borg. And we keep getting new people. Who settle down, open restaurants & send their kids to school.
We have laws to protect people. If any new cultures have practices that violate these laws, let’s deal with them. (Authorities raided the Fundamentalist Mormons. But they’re white, so they don’t count.) We do not have Kultur Kops to ensure uniformity of behavior.
The OP is so upset by two situations (one related by a known racist) that he wants to stop “minority immigration.” How sad. (And British Columbia has not been a monoculture. There are several First Nations groups. And there were enough Japanese that Canadian officials copied our dreadful practice of interning the “aliens” during WWII.)
What bullshit. You couldn’t find any previous indication where I showed interest in multiculturalism and thus conclude I’m lying? Fuck you. I posted quite recently and positively on Canadian multiculturalism. Hypnic Jerk can attest to that.
It amazes me how you can draw such simple negative conclusions about my brother in law simply on my brief characterization of him.
Rather rude? Not at all. That would imply deliberation on the part of his co-workers. Even my brother in law wouldn’t impy that. Simply ignorant. As a young immigrant myself, I had to advise my parents now and then to refrain when they spoke to each other in Dutch around people who couldn’t understand what they were saying. Simply ignorant is all, though it can be quite discomforting.
Fuck you.
Where have I posted that I want to stop “minority immigration”
fuckwit. All I ever said or wanted to imply is that minority immigration isn’t all peaches and cream. There are downsides for some people and when they complain, they might have reason to. But people like you just don’t want to hear it. After all, they are usually white, and should feel priveleged instead of complaining.
There is no desire on my part to constrain the current level of immigration to my country. Unlike your buddy Hypnic Jerk I have no desire to have the government control their cultural expressions either.
I LOLed.