Good-Minded People Are Losing Ground to Shouting Race-Baiting Hooligans

Last week I had the only nasty encounter with British teenagers in the two years I have been living in Newcastle.

My sister-in-law and I were standing on a train platform to catch a train to city center when some loud teens walked up and called us "little rats" and asked if we were carrying "bombs" under our clothes. These boys were boisterous and having fun at our expense. My sister-in-law, who doesn't speak English and is in Newcastle on a brief visit, was terrified. I pretended not to speak English, hoping they would go away. When they became louder and bolder I asked a woman nearby to call the police.

The boys immediately stopped and attempted to explain they were simply joking. I found nothing to laugh about. I recognize that wearing the hijab draws unwanted attention. But I wonder why I should feel threatened wearing one in a country that prides itself on tolerance and democracy.

The unprovoked verbal attack has marred an otherwise wonderful stay in the United Kingdom. I enjoy a productive and rewarding collaboration with my teachers and fellow students whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim. I have been shown nothing but courtesy and respect. Perhaps the incident on the train platform was an aberration. It's hard to say. But it gives me pause to consider where British teens learn that intolerance is acceptable on any level.

The media, of course, fuel much of the attitudes young people have today toward minorities. To read the UK tabloids and billboards paid for by the British National Party, UK citizens must come to the conclusion they are under siege from the unwashed masses of Eastern Europe and Asia.

There is immense pressure today on mosques to teach tolerance in school curriculum, as there should be. Many Islamic faith-based schools are under scrutiny to eliminate discussion of jihad and other references to Christianity and Judaism in the name of tolerance. This is all well and good, but British public schools must be a part of the solution as well.

Certainly the boys so interested in what was under my hijab got their ideas from home. Ignorance breeds ignorance. Yet teaching tolerance appears to be an elective in the British school system. Many school districts refuse to teach cultural studies on the grounds that it's religious instruction. Parents and teachers have difficulty distinguishing the two.

The British Council reported last year reported that 3 percent of the British population is Muslim. That's about 1.5 million Muslims in the United Kingdom. Further, 23 percent of the UK's population declared no religious affiliation in 2001. And an estimated 75 percent of the UK's youths between the ages of 18 and 24 have no religious affiliation.

The British Council and a number of privately-funded UK organizations have teaching assistance material and curriculum for local schools on various cultures and religions. But it's unclear how many educators take advantage of providing classroom instruction. If indeed three-quarters of the country's youths have no religious affiliation, how are they educated about other religions if not in school?

Bradford, England, has a significant Muslim population and the nearby Rhodesway School has gone to great lengths to provide multicultural programs. School administrators have discussed how to better celebrate religious holidays of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and Hindus.

Unfortunately this is an initiative taken by Rhodesway and doesn't necessarily reflect the rest of the UK's school systems.

Part of the problem lies in fear. School administrators who see a need to develop multicultural programs and provide classroom lessons in tolerance are often the target of fringe groups and the tabloids. They face accusations of pandering to Islam or indoctrinating UK youths in the teachings of the Holy Qur'an.

By refusing to recognize that some of the UK's young people are blithely spouting racist, Islamophobic and truly hateful comments to strangers is no better than an imam encouraging jihad without proper context.

Ignoring the growing pervasiveness of public condemnation of minorities is in many ways another version of the "bystander effect." The more people witnessing an emergency the less likely they are to help. There's been a trend in the UK and the United States where people have become paralyzed or unwilling to stand up to abusive race-baiters and anti-reformers.

Here's an example: In Saudi Arabia there is an element of society that doesn't want reform and sees literature and the arts as a threat. Standard operating procedure of these groups is to lay siege to a book fair or stage play. They shout verbal abuse, toss chairs around and intimate attendees and organizers into submission.

Americans have witnessed this in recent weeks at their own community town hall meetings held by Congressional representatives. The men and women elected to represent their community are verbally abused and shouted down. In some cases the abusers incite violence because they oppose their representative's position on issues. Legitimate attendees are denied their right to speak.

The breakdown of public discourse on sensitive issues is redefining the bystander effect. Good-minded people who see a need to teach tolerance and engage in civil discussion are cowed into submission by the shouters. It's easier to stand by and witness the public demonization of minorities rather than confront and condemn people who use intimidation as a weapon in debate.

The hooligans on the train platform last week are another version of today's shouters and chair-throwers. Their behavior is endorsed by fringe media pundits passing themselves off as immigration experts. They are validated by the BNP, which disguises their members' racism in the cloak of immigration reform. These boys have been denied an education in the classroom on tolerance. Eventually the bystander effect will reach a level that will be difficult to turn back.

Comments

[ModernTimes1]

In 2008, the religious authority in Mecca, Mohammad Habadan called on women to wear hijab's that reveal only one eye, so that women would not be encouraged to use eye make-up.

[ModernTimes1]

"But it gives me pause to consider where British teens learn that intolerance is acceptable on any level."
Exactly. Here are some examples:
Three al-Qaeda-linked men have admitted inciting terrorist attacks against non-Muslims
Younes Tsouli, 23, of west London, and Waseem Mughal, 24, of Chatham, Kent, changed their pleas on Monday. A third man, Tariq Al-Daour, 21, of west London, has now changed his plea at Woolwich Crown Court to guilty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6268934.stm

LONDON — A radical Islamic party... at a carefully stage-managed conference in London that attracted several thousands of well-dressed, mostly professional Muslims. Calls of "Allahu Akbar" .... punctuated the leaders' speeches at the conference held by Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group that calls for a caliphate in Muslim countries
"There is no Islam as a way of life without a Khilafah," said Kamal Abuzahra, an Islamic academic of Bangladeshi origin,,, and earning a roar of approval from the crowd segregated into his and hers sections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/world/africa/05iht-islamic.4.6991358.html?_r=1

I wonder where the people cited above learned their intolerance?

[Rogan]

It seems to me this writer has confused being harrassed for her creepy clothing decisions, with being harrassed for her religious or cultural background.

It's true, the clothing is a part of that. But if I were travelling abroad, I would make a point of seeking and following advice on how to dress unobtrusively, so as not to draw the ire or disapproval of the locals. Having made a mistake in that regard, this writer wants to conflate having that mistake blow up in her face, with being harrassed for her religious/cultural background. It's not the same.

[RobinSeattle]

"In Saudi Arabia there is an element of society that doesn't want reform and sees literature and the arts as a threat. Standard operating procedure of these groups is to lay siege to a book fair or stage play."

In the U.S., we call these groups the Media Research Center, the Family Research Council and the Parents Television Council, the members of which seem wholly incapable of using a remote control to turn the channel when something they don't like comes on or use the off switch to keep things quiet until programming they deem desirable is on the air.

As for Muslims in Britain, just another case of mindless idiots who can't mind their own business. By the same token, though, Muslims calling for Sharia Law to be equal to British Common Law doesn't exactly win one friends. When you are in a foreign country it is impolitic to try to force your culture on that nation's population. The Muslim Community thus needs to do some introspection about its own xenophobia and intolerance. And that Sharia Law crap has to go.

[RobinSeattle]

I put my foot in it a bit. The line about "as for Muslims in Britain," should have had appended to it "the chavs who accosted the author of this piece and her companion are just another case of idiots who can't mind their own business."

Sorry for any misunderstanding there.

[HAlexandria]

Britannia is NOT a nation of immigrants, it's an ethnic homeland(mine).

Why are you desecrating my family's lands with your culture? If you are free to build mosques and were burkas/hijabs in my ancestral homelands, does that mean I am free to erect statues honouring Boudica of the Iceni in the squares of your holy cities of Mecca And Medina . Am I free to walk around unharassed dressed in a nano bikini?

Oh wait, I'd be killed!

[valkyrie607]

So, you walk around town in a nano bikini and you don't get harassed?

Truly, Britain is much more libertine than I'd heard.

[potrerohillman]

agree that there may be and decry the rising tide of uncivil discourse. but, the author only encourages unfavorable reaction when falsely equates hooligans with the dilemna of free speech in a rapidly polarizing environment. there are distinctions between racism and the problem of religious practices in a pluralistic society. smaller christian religions have been fighting cultural wars for years. legal battles still rage of over medical treatment, medical research, and end of life choices. the presence of the shouters at plotical meetings in the usa does not necessarily have the same long range affect as the centuries of oppression of women that her hajib may represent.

the comparison of the state tolerated religious oppression in saudi arabia with activists at american health care town hall meetings is false. they are not equivalent examples of free speech. the author fails to make a logitical connection between regimes and religions which are intolerant to the breach of tolerance by members of religions or countries where freedom of thought and expression are the rule of law. sorry, sharia does not strike me as an acceptable choice for any pluralistic society.

[LMPE]

This is why I support the idea of "one-worldism": the idea of all countries in the world having one set of laws (presumably banning promotions of intolerance).

[BobLablah]

It's so ironic to read your complaint about being discriminated against because of your outfit. What exactly would happen to a British woman who wore a miniskirt in your country of birth? How about a blog post from you chastising that intolerance?

[Kina3]

#1 Do you even know what country she is from? Or are you simply jumping to conclusions?

#2 Even if she was from a country which rules governed women's dress, that country is NOT the UK (the same way N. Korea runs a different way than UK, the same way Russia runs a different way than UK...somet­imes comparisons are senseless).
The ISSUE is that she is IN a country that is allegedly supposed to practice "tolerance and democracy.­"

I think a blog chastising ignorance is more tasteful.

[BobLablah]

So you don't think countries that prohibit miniskirts deserve to be chastised but countries that allow miniskirts should be chastised? That's messed up.

[BobLablah]

Uh, maybe take one second and read her bio. Why doesn't anyone who comments here ever do the slightest bit of research?

[JohnnyLee]

Exactly. She should realize that the UK has been a victim of Islamic Fundamentalists and is active in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan i.e not exactly inclined to embrace traditional muslim customs. If in Rome she cannot do as Romans do, maybe she should not go to Rome. After all, you don't see yarmulke wearing Jews lining up to go the Persian Gulf.

[valkyrie607]

False equivalency much?

Try again, Captain Logic.