Is Jack Straw a racist for requesting that women remove their veils?

[magicfarawaytree]

just watching the news. didnt personally think he had done anything terrible in asking.

lmao Jaffa

I used to fit bras in Selfridges Lingerie dept as a Saturday girl

was always weird when a burka'd woman came in for a fitting (lifting up the robes and clothes to reveal norks while leaving head covered)

No, she is for real, and today told me that we need to have debate over whether I should teach Intellegent Design in my science lessons. I told her it would be an Endothermic day in Hades when that happened and that it was akin to making French teachers teach the kids German in lessons, while telling them it was French!

Fume! Intellegent design my arse.

TBF I did tell her that I was happy for it to be taught as a philosophy, but not as science, because it isn't

She is a 'young earther' too

jangly, I don't find ir as easy to talk to people on the phone as I do face to face. And i find this most the case why I don't know someone. As would be the case with JS in his constituiency.

Humans get a massive amount of information from facial expressions. There is a whole area of the brain tyhat does nothing but decode facial expression. It is why we are so goo at seeing 'faces' in coulds, or flames. we are programmed to do it

Yeah, but we're not top pliticians. They ought to be able to manage.

Pathetic if they can't. Actually I think Jack Straw is pathetic.

I don't know whether this is true or not but I am reading a teach yourself book about Islam at the moment and it states that most muslims do not like women to wear the full veil burkha type thing as it is seen as attention seeking. Apparantly the burkha started off as something arab princesses would wear as a symbol that they were better than the masses. Please note these are not my views I am just repeating what I have read!

Look they guy didn't insist, he asked, politly, making sure that there was a woman chaperone in the room at all time. and if the woman refused he accepted it with no worries. Even the head of the Muslim council of Britain isn't incenced by what he said!

Well, I am.

why

I think I've said why. I think its bloody rude of him to ask her to take it off. Let him manage. Wanker.

I live close to Jack Straws constituency (Blackburn) and I agree with him. I think he has gone out on a limb making these remarks and that they probably wont do his political career any good. The local news interviewed people regarding his comments... but they only interviewed asian people!

The last word of my previous post referred to Jack Straw.

'Dr Daud Abdullah of the Muslim Council of Britain said individual Muslim women could choose to remove part of their veil.

"Even within the Muslim community, the scholars have different views on this.

"Our view is that if it is going to cause discomfort and that can be avoided then it can be done."

Dr Abdullah added, however, that covering hair remained "obligatory" for Muslim women.'

which I think is a very nice, well thought out considered, adult, mature response and the Muslim council should be lauded for it.

never thought other, jangly

jangly, you're not David Cameron are you?

When I was doing my first teaching practice I was teaching evolution to year 12, and we had some teacher-trainers from Turkey over working with the education department and partner schools. One sat in on my lesson and proceeded to hijack the entire hour saying "so you believe man evolved from monkeys?" while I did my very best to give a balanced account of Darwinism and evolutionary theory. It was all very unnerving for a trainee!

I wondered that myself.

Sorry, nothing to do with veils. I apologise.

About jangly

Surprised at that Becky.
Turks in jobs like this are really discouraged from expressing religious views.

Not as surprised as I was. Definitely Turkish. Perhaps he was just giving me a bit of a test. Dunno. Very unnerving, but it did prepare me for some later encounters with some of my pupils...

I think it smacks of bullying. The women must have some pretty pressing problem to get themselves to his surgery in the first place. Must be even more unnerving for them if he aks them to remove their veil. Just can't see any reason for him to do it.

I think Jack Straw is partially deaf isn't he? In which case he must find it extremely difficult to "manage" when someone is speaking from behind a veil.

So are we allowed to discuss everyone else's dress (kids in slogan t-shirts, women in short skirts, men going vestless in summer) except that of some very extreme Muslim women (or the men who impose it on them)?