Anne Marie O'Connor-Awkward questions are not racist ones

xm15e3

This is a great read that get's to a fundamental question facing all of Western Society.

http://www.unison.ie/new_ross_standard/stories.php3?ca=38&si=978294&issue_id=9230

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daveirl

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Éomer of Rohan

Fair enough I suppose.

mike65

Curious comment at the end -

Ireland is the country of '100,000 Welcomes'; it would be a pity to see fear and silence in discussing these issues preventing us from stopping the red carpet being rolled out to the likes of bin Laden's acolytes.

Have we been doing that, or are about to? Recruiting for acts of terrorism is plainly against the interests of the State and such ppl should be dealt with by the law.

Mike.

sanvean

fair enough in general, but:

Just as Irish who go to Saudi Arabia on long-term work contract have to realise that their wives are not allowed to drive, and that they may find getting a pint of Guinness difficult, if not to say illegal, those from the Middle East and elsewhere who come to Ireland should realise that the values expressed by Al Qaeda and fundamentalist Islam are unacceptable to the point of demanding expulsion.

this kind of suggests that the terrorism of al-qaeda is as inherent to muslim countries as a pint of guinness. I would think that the vast majority of muslims would also be of the opinion that the 'values expressed by al qaeda and fundamentalist Islam' are unacceptable to them aswell. Slightly patronising, as well as largely ignorant.

bugler

If you ask me, and that's just if you ask, that article is a load of inarticulate, poorly executed bog-standard clichés. She asks questions about Fortuyn, and just when it might seem appropriate to answer them she runs off and somehow morphs into Al-Qaeda operatives coming to Ireland.

I'm hungover, but my head started to hurt right here:

He certainly didn't fit the mould of a Le Pen or a Jorg Haider as the Sunday Independent of March 16, 2003 pointed out, Al Qaeda is or was recruiting members for its organisation in this country.

What? What is the New Ross Standard? Does it have an editor? Is this its leading piece?!

For example, according to an October 7, 2001 article in the Houston Chronicle that if you come to a country as an immigrant, it is your duty as an immigrant to learn the language, customs and values of your new nation, not try and set up your old country within the borders of your new nation, and indeed, try to impose the public values that you left behind on the nation you've just embraced.

The point contained therein is fair enough, but why the hell would you refer to the 'Houston Chronicle' circa October 2001 to make it? Is the Houston Chronicle the new leading and respected authority on matters of immigration, asylum and so on?

As Sanvean said, it is also smug, condescending and patronising. All us poor Irish folk want to do over in Saudi Arabia is have a harmless pint of the blackstuff and allow our wives to drive. All those rag-heads want to do when they come to the West is chop peoples hands off, stone adulterers and blow things up.

This is not racist, per se, as it is not a question of race, but rather of belief and intent.

Yes, but all those from the "Middle East and elsewhere" are all the same, they think the same and act the same: EXTREME!

Unless the author is a 12 year old whose native language is not English I'm unimpressed. I don't read the Regional papers for anything other than localised news because I don't believe they have the talent, will or resources to compete in reporting international issues in a reasonable manner. This does nothing to make me feel otherwise.

mike65

I scrolled around the papers site and that piece stuck out as the only writing on anything vaguly geo-political. I imagine its not something they do much of myself...

Mike.

sam

actually, that article is a load of bull****.
like it or not, we're on the same planet, and so countries dont (and cant) have absolute freedom to do whatever they want, "so long as its in their borders"
if you dont agree to this, then you need to take a look at the real world, as opposed to whatever world you think you live on.. for example, if the chinese(or american, or whatever) decided they wanted "out", and transformed the whole of china into a huge rocket and lifted off from the earth, the rest of earth would be ****ed as well.
people need to realise that all these laws/countries/etc are all man-made things to try and keep things in order, otherwise theyre going to go back to the 1800's system of thinking where people could sue pigs and cows for breaking "the law" and have them killed.
talk about stupidity..

daveirl

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sam

"Em... did you read my post at all? The point of my post was that if countries want their own rules fair enough, but countries shouldnt have absolute power over what happens inside them, because everything one country does affects all the other countries in the world too."

article: Just as Irish who go to Saudi Arabia on long-term work contract have to realise that their wives are not allowed to drive, and that they may find getting a pint of Guinness difficult

so the problem in this instance is with saudi arabia, not with ireland.

to put it another way, just because saudi arabia is an repressive regime doesnt mean ireland has to be one too