Day: June 2, 2008

Ah, they have some guts in the old sod: immigrants must conform to Irish culture

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been telling you about South Africa and Switzerland and Italy and now Ireland, dear old Ireland.  It is so refreshing to see the Irish have gumption we haven’t seen in Great Britain lately.  Here is a snippet of an article from the Independent, read it all, and enjoy the comments too.   

Labour’s Ruairi Quinn said immigrants who come to Ireland need to conform to the culture of this country.

“If people want to come into a western society that is Christian and secular, they need to conform to the rules and regulations of that country,” the Labour spokesman on education and science told the Irish Independent.

His comments come amid mounting controversy over guidelines on the wearing of the hijab, commonly worn by Muslim girl in state schools.

Mr Quinn said immigrants should live by Irish laws and conform to Irish norms.

“Nobody is formally asking them to come here. In the interests of integration and assimilation, they should embrace our culture,” he said.

He added: “Irish girls don’t wear headscarves. A manifestation of religious beliefs in such a way is unacceptable and draws attention to those involved. I believe in a public school situation they should not wear a headscarf.”

Mr Hayes [Brian Hayes of Fine Gael] said Ireland should not be going down the route of multiculturalism. 

I had been meaning to write about Scotland last week, but time got away from me.  Here is the link to read about Scottish conflicts involving asylum seekers.  I think I spot a trend!

An additional observation on the Washington Post story

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I just wanted to add one more thing to Judy’s good post yesterday about the disappointing Washington Post Outlook article on Iraqi refugees.   Increasingly I’ve noticed that those seeking to beat us up over the Iraqi refugees we supposedly created singlehandedly are making parallels to the Israeli/Palestinian sixty-year-old open sore.   Refugee activists (and that is what they are) Jennifer and Jonathan, authors of this Post opinion piece do the same thing here:

The countries best positioned to help are paralyzed by petty politics and legitimate alarm at the daunting scope of the problem and are allowing the crisis to fester. Much of the Middle East — including Jordan, which once welcomed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis — has now closed its borders, concerned that, like the Palestinians who 60 years ago fled what is now Israel, the Iraqis might never leave.

As we have pointed out on many previous occasions, the Palestinian “crisis” continues because Arab countries wish it to continue.   It keeps the hatred towards Israel alive.    Since that strategy has worked so well for Muslim supremacists, is it not possible that the same strategy is in the works right now with the Iraqi refugees?    I don’t know about Jordan, the weathly Saudis have never opened their border nor lifted a finger to help, and I wouldn’t put it past Syria (“petty politics”, I doubt it) who see the suffering of Iraqis in their midst, to allow the “crisis to fester” as a way to continue to make America the whipping boy.   Nevermind the facts, Middle Eastern victimhood is a strategy that works.

We then are only too glad to oblige thanks to people like Jennifer and Jonathan ready and willing to report that America is to blame.   And, the Bush Administration says, whip me harder, instead of standing up and making the case publically for going slow on importing tens of thousands of Muslim Iraqis to a town near you.

A couple of refugee activists are sent to Syria, paid by someone (who?), and come back the experts.   I bet Judy and I (about as qualified as these two authors) could go and come back with a completely differant story about what is going on and we wouldn’t be featured in the WaPo.