(no subject)

This article provides a more visual idea of why I lauded the French government's move to bar all manner of overtly religious clothing and symbols from entering schools and the public sector. Although, I wouldn't quite call the sentiments from the Muslim community here merely anti-Semitism. From my experience, I would affix it to a larger picture of religious fundamentalism, a very dangerous version of conservatism not because it is simply conservative (that actually strikes me as the ridiculous fear of far-flung liberalism; free speech applies to everyone including the people you'd love to hate), but because it is the mindset under religious conservatism that can veer between being a normal, well-adjusted citizen who has a conservative view and the angry, irrational citizen who has a conservative view and isn't afraid to push it on other people, sometimes at great costs. This is the hypothetical equivalent of a normal, well-adjusted liberal citizen who loves animals and discourages people from strife and liberal citizen who is also angry at all real or perceived worldly wrongs and who isn't afraid to hurt plants, people and even other animals that don't succumb to being saved. I'm saying that now because there are simply too many liberals out there who think being liberal means disrespecting the very foundation of the idea of letting people be individuals.

I also believe the French have a liberal, secular history to uphold, and the influx of migrants means the migrants must conform to those liberal, secular values because that's exactly what adopting the citizenship of that country means. The French haven't actually stopped people from believing what they will, merely staunched the overt showing of that belief according to their secular values. That's not a stomp on freedom of expression. That's a government imposing, within its rights, a national policy that's been in place for centuries of their history in slightly more detailed lettering updated for the times. There is much to be learnt from multiculturalism, and I believe just as much that one must learn to respect and understand different cultures to survive in this day and age. But, in that same vein, I believe there has to be a basic respect of the culture you moved into on a permanent basis as well, and this includes conforming to the national policies based on that culture. In simpler terms, don't adopt the citizenship of a country whose values you don't fully understand or agree with. I truly do not believe any of these migrants in France did not realize they were accepting the citizenship of a secular country before they went about receiving it. To assume that would be to undermine an even more vital individual right, the one of being able to think for one's self.