Every year since I was yay-high I've managed to avoid Elizabeth Windsor's annual address to her subjects.
For 2006 I've decided to flip over to C4 to see the 'alternative'. Presented by Khadijah, a white English woman who converted to Islam 10 years back, the choice of a veiled Muslim woman to deliver a message was a provocative decision. Especially considering the crap whipped up by the bourgeois media over this issue.
She praises the tolerance British society has traditionally displayed toward minorities and then rounds on the likes of Jack Straw for seeking to make cheap political capital out of the veil.
But the main theme was Islam's relationship to Christmas and Jesus, reiterating the point lost amidst the media swill that the two religions are united by the worship of the same God.
All very nice.
There's bound to be a political point in there somewhere but the annual xmas headache is a heavy burden upon my brow, so I'll leave you for the chrimbo Deal or No Deal special.
Enjoy what remains of your christmas!
For 2006 I've decided to flip over to C4 to see the 'alternative'. Presented by Khadijah, a white English woman who converted to Islam 10 years back, the choice of a veiled Muslim woman to deliver a message was a provocative decision. Especially considering the crap whipped up by the bourgeois media over this issue.
She praises the tolerance British society has traditionally displayed toward minorities and then rounds on the likes of Jack Straw for seeking to make cheap political capital out of the veil.
But the main theme was Islam's relationship to Christmas and Jesus, reiterating the point lost amidst the media swill that the two religions are united by the worship of the same God.
All very nice.
There's bound to be a political point in there somewhere but the annual xmas headache is a heavy burden upon my brow, so I'll leave you for the chrimbo Deal or No Deal special.
Enjoy what remains of your christmas!
5 comments:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/16/nveil16.xml
She obviously felt uneasy. It's annoyed a lot of people. Let's see how tolerant people will be ater the next attack.
Wear a veil in private and respect our ways please. Thanks.
Well let's be blunt. The Telegraph are annoyed with the very existence of the alternative christmas message. For this paper 3pm on 25 December is about bowing and scraping before a monarch. If you look through their archives you'll see "fury erupts" around this issue every year.
Secondly, I don't know if you noticed but Khadijah is actually a white English woman who converted to Islam 10 years ago. By deciding to wear the veil she's exercising that traditional British right to do as she wishes without harming anyone else.
Where is the problem? What constitutes "our ways" and who decides what these are?
Since when have "our ways" (English people?) included telling people what they can and cannot wear.
If you want to live in a country where you're told what people can dress in move to Saudi Arabia, please respect our English traditions of tolerance and minding our own business.
Actually, the "traditional British right to do as we please" has traditionally been exercised in a way that doesn't involve ramming it down other people's throats. That's why it helped foster a traditionally tolerant society without descending into internecine conflict. By all means rubbish the beliefs of the majority and loudly proclaim your allegiance to a traditionally foreign creed -- just don't expect to be thanked if you choose to do so during the 30 minutes in the year that the country has traditionally shared with its head of state. Or just grow up and put the childish antinomianism behind you, if that is easier.
Do you think most people who tune in to Liz Windsor give a toss what she says?
Coming from a white working class family our tradition was to turn over and find something else to watch at 3pm.
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