I wouldn't call it a hate crime, but certainly its an atrociously mean thing for a kid to do. Anyone that's doing that to a person has issues they need to hash out. :down:

I admit I wouldn't care to work with pork products but there's no Jewish prohibition against it.

And if there was? I'd just have to learn to live with it. That's how I was brought up.
Your recollection is important. I can think of things 1000 times worse that we read about high school age kids doing to each other. But the response here is absurdly disproportionate. And to actually think that this can be legally construed as a hate crime?
I didn't say otherwise. Read it solely in the context of my reply quoting U-533 about grocery stores.

Is it so "atrocious" that this should even have reached the press? Ask yourself why it did.

To quote Jihad Watch's Robert Spencer (you knew I would eventually):

"You know, I hated middle school too. Children treated each other horribly every day. I remember one time some idiot spit into sandwich of some guy who had walked away from the table. It it is an age at which children can be especially cruel and brutal. But the sandwich-spitter was the same race as his victim, and it was a (marginally) saner time, so that story didn't end up in the newspaper.

This culture of softness and victimization is no good for anyone. Obviously we are on the way to treating Muslims as a privileged class, around whom everyone else must tiptoe, so that they are protected from all possible offense, even offenses committed by boorish prankster schoolchildren.

I also wonder if these Somali students would prefer a ham steak on their table, or life in Mogadishu. As I recall there were incidents in Nazi Germany in which Jews were beaten and forced to eat bacon. Those were hate crimes. Ham steak on a table in a lunchroom? Come on."

Look - i dont like the article originally posted, in the sense that it pokes fun at a religions.. distaste for a particular product. Whilst i find it a strange aspect to islam, i dont understand the reasons behind it and so wont poke fun at it - certainly not to the extent of referring to cucumbers and tomatoes..:down:

However. If a strict muslim, well any muslim really, is going to live in a society where it is commonplace, it is something they must adjust to. Travel advice here for instance, when travelling to somewhere like malaysia for instance (a popular destination) advises us strongly to dress modestly, particularly women. Most people respect that, and do so. It is the same thing, It is for want of a better term "customary" for western people's diet to consist of pork-related products, those who are not of the background need to accept and adjust to that.

The story doesnt pertain to muslims adapting to western society. It pertains to kids bullying muslim kids for their religion. Sure its something kids are going to do, and it did get blown out of proportion. But the kids who did it do deserve to get reprimanded in my sincere opinion. This would of not even come close to making it to this forum if it was any other religious affiliation.

Picture being jewish and sitting with your jewish friends at lunch in a public school.....get the picuture? Same thing.

Yep. A reprimand. Not national coverage. Nor a day in court.

Certainly you are correct. My response is also in relation to the implication of muslims demanding unreasonable changes. In your link it proves that they are as reasonable as anyone else in many cases.

Hmm, with the litigious environment some of us live in, I'm not surprised this became a "hate crime". More a case of stupidity, over-reaction, and a slow news day

To which I repeat: in the meantime.

But here's some recent food for thought on such changes:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...ck=2&cset=true

http://www.expatica.com/actual/artic...story_id=38945

http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/20...-get-only.html

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...ems/article.do

http://www.startribune.com/1557/story/1123808.html

http://www.startribune.com/191/story/1122449.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle1654995.ece

http://www.expatica.com/actual/artic...story_id=38657

http://www.startribune.com/191/story/1115081.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...404?hub=Canada

http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/04...by-muslim.html

All from just the past few weeks alone and an incomplete listing at that.

Many years ago I would have thought that all of these are parodies. Not any more.

I don't see what the 2nd link has to do with Islam, other than the passing reference to it. Islam is far from the centre of that article actually. In fact most of those articles aren't particularly bad. Most of them are silly, like removing hot cross buns from a hospital, or where the day care in Quebec wouldn't give a meat accommodation to a muslim child while it gave the same requested accomodation to a different child with a meat allergy.

I particularly like the painted compass on the ceiling of the jail cells. I don't see how thats anything more than allowing them to practise their religion.

A few though I couldn't read as they required a membership and logging on.

Other thank the cabbies that refuse the blind with their guide dogs, most of those articles aren't particularly controversial to me. Even with the cabbies, the Taxi Association says that they won't be accomodating that particular sentiment.

Did you read those thoroughly AL?;)

Next thing they'll want is for every one who has eaten pork products to where a sign stating the time and date of the consumption...

:roll:

:sunny: :sunny: :sunny: