Friday, December 1, 2017

Defending the Distinct Society

Vincent J. Curtis

17 Nov 2017

RE:  Veil Law Must Be Changed

The Hamilton Spectator editorialized against Quebec's Bill 62 with fallacious arguments that a child could see through: 

Beginning with his statement that “It is the duty of the Canadian Prime Minister to defend the rights of every Canadian.” it is clear that the editor slept through the classes in logic and civics, if any, that were taught in J-school.  Put bluntly: no, it isn’t; and belief in such still aren’t grounds for special pleading on behalf of immigrants.

The editorial amounts to special pleading on behalf of Muslims that would be no different from any made by the Muslim Brotherhood.  Muslims are special, and therefore should be exempt from the requirements of Western law, goes the refrain.  The editorial amounts special pleading for Muslims in the face of another case of special pleading, that of Quebec’s distinct society - on account of the predominant French culture in La Belle Province.

The editor must have been in diapers when the Parti Quebecois government of Quebec passed Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language.  That legislation was seen as an act of oppression against the English speaking minority in Quebec, but nevertheless English Canada (as it was then known) swallowed the Bill in the interests of national unity.

Bill 62 is a logical continuation of Bill 101, an act asserting that French culture must predominate in Quebec.  France has an anti-burka law, and so Quebec can have one.  What the editorial fails to explain is why Muslim specialness ranks higher than the specialness of Quebec, given that we have already accepted the specialness of our Quebec fellow countrymen while niqab wearing Muslims are generally immigrants. (Western converts have no excuse.)

It is not the business of English Canada to intervene in Quebec’s cultural matters, but his belief in the specialness of Muslims leads the editor to argue that we undermine settled matters in the realm of national unity.

What is the next cultural Islamic matter the editor will defend, FGM?
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