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Boris Johnson comments on the burka niqab

England my lionheart

Rockerjahili Rebel
Premium Member
Boris Johnson in his newspaper column wrote that Muslim women who wear the burka and niqab "look like letterboxes" or "bank robbers" and now the Muslim Council of Britain want him punished.

Muslims warn PM of Johnson 'whitewash'

These comments seem pretty lame to me,maybe not the best thing he could say as a member of Parliament but shouldn't he have freedom of speech too?.
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
These comments seem pretty lame to me,maybe not the best thing he could say as a member of Parliament but shouldn't he have freedom of speech too?.

Well...our parliamentarians have said much worse things about that religion...nobody cared.

That said...are threats from a religious Council supposed to be relevant?
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
Boris Johnson in his newspaper column wrote that Muslim women who wear the burka and niqab "look like letterboxes" or "bank robbers" and now the Muslim Council of Britain want him punished.

Muslims warn PM of Johnson 'whitewash'

These comments seem pretty lame to me,maybe not the best thing he could say as a member of Parliament but shouldn't he have freedom of speech too?.

His comments are rude, unprofessional, and disrespectful toward Muslim women who choose to wear the niqab or burqa. I don't think he should be legally prosecuted for voicing his (rather ill-mannered) opinion, but I know I wouldn't vote for someone who made such comments.
 

England my lionheart

Rockerjahili Rebel
Premium Member
Well...our parliamentarians have said much worse things about that religion...nobody cared.

That said...are threats from a religious Council supposed to be relevant?

They at least think so,yesterday on the BBC an I'm an said there was nothing in the quran to support wearing the veil.
 

England my lionheart

Rockerjahili Rebel
Premium Member
His comments are rude, unprofessional, and disrespectful toward Muslim women who choose to wear the niqab or burqa. I don't think he should be legally prosecuted for voicing his (rather ill-mannered) opinion, but I know I wouldn't vote for someone who made such comments.

He's a buffoon who always seems to put his foot in it, he hasn't done himself any favours in his challenge for mays job.
 

Altfish

Veteran Member
Boris Johnson in his newspaper column wrote that Muslim women who wear the burka and niqab "look like letterboxes" or "bank robbers" and now the Muslim Council of Britain want him punished.

Muslims warn PM of Johnson 'whitewash'

These comments seem pretty lame to me,maybe not the best thing he could say as a member of Parliament but shouldn't he have freedom of speech too?.
Firstly, he has said it, he is not in any criminal court, no one is saying he should be. Therefore Freedom of Speech is NOT an issue.

Secondly, he is an MP, a leading person in his party, it was stupid to say it in the manner he did but not unexpected from the publicity driven buffoon that he is.

I don't like Burkas either, I think they are horrible things for a woman to have to wear and they offend me. But I don't like hoodies, I don't like peaked caps worn backwards, I don't like posh MPs who try to dictate my life, they all offend me.

He has Steve Bannon pulling his strings and because Bannon was a driving force behind Trump; Boris thinks he's onto a winner.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
They at least think so,yesterday on the BBC an I'm an said there was nothing in the quran to support wearing the veil.

Many Muslims seem to think so too:

Rachel Johnson: I do apologise for my brother Boris... he didn't go NEARLY far enough! | Daily Mail Online

They accused him of dehumanising women, completely missing the main point which is that the burka/niqab dehumanises women. They do not express individuality, they suppress it. I would like to make it very clear I loathe the idea women will be harassed or abused in the street as a result of any of this. I very much hope they aren't. The thought that it licenses xenophobia is horrifying. But clothes have a language, a meaning, and a message. And what the full-face veil wearer conveys is that she is subscribing to a 'toxic patriarchy controlling women'. Not my words, by the way – the words of one leading imam, who also said that the fact that many younger women say they choose to wear it and assert their right to hide their faces is proof they have 'internalised this poisonous chauvinism'.

It should be noted that the country with the most users of such wear is Saudi Arabia - a bastion of female rights. :rolleyes: Hence why it might be seen as a symbol of repression rather than expression - as many Muslim females seemingly avow.
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Boris Johnson in his newspaper column wrote that Muslim women who wear the burka and niqab "look like letterboxes" or "bank robbers" and now the Muslim Council of Britain want him punished.

Muslims warn PM of Johnson 'whitewash'

These comments seem pretty lame to me,maybe not the best thing he could say as a member of Parliament but shouldn't he have freedom of speech too?.

I'm not sure how freedom of speech works over there, whether it's an actual ironclad Constitutional guarantee (such as in the U.S.) or just a temporary royal indulgence which can be taken away on a whim.

The comments seem pretty lame to me, too, although I also have to wonder how people pick their battles. It seems rather odd that someone would choose to pick on burkas as part of a political agenda, and it seems equally odd that there would be those who would call for punishment over such comments.

I mean, there are a lot worse things that one can say about Muslims - things that are truly inflammatory. If the "punishment" is exactly the same - no matter how mild or how inflammatory a statement might be - then there may not be any real incentive to toning down one's language or rhetoric. The war of words will only escalate.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Boris Johnson in his newspaper column wrote that Muslim women who wear the burka and niqab "look like letterboxes" or "bank robbers" and now the Muslim Council of Britain want him punished.

Muslims warn PM of Johnson 'whitewash'

These comments seem pretty lame to me,maybe not the best thing he could say as a member of Parliament but shouldn't he have freedom of speech too?.
He has freedom of speech. This is not threatened in any way.

But he is also a senior Conservative party politician. His party is within its rights to censure him for saying things that show the party in a bad light. Which this does.

Publicly ridiculing members of a religious minority for their dress is not generally thought to be polite, tasteful, or responsible for a serious politician. Imagine the outcry if he had made rude remarks about Hassidic Jews, with their black coats, funny hats and ringlets. He'd be accused of being a neoNazi. Why should it be any more respectable to take the p*ss out of a handful of ultra-conservative muslim women?

What is worse, he has been egged on to do this by Steve Bannon, who mentions Bozo and "Tommy Robinson" (aka Stephen Yaxley-Green) in the same breath. Bozo is playing cynical, dogwhistle politics here, trying to ape Trump. The object is to win public support, by making it seem socially acceptable for people to voice anti-muslim bigotry. He is deliberately trying to undermine the social cohesion of the country, for his personal political ends. This is despicable behaviour.
 
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Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Boris Johnson in his newspaper column wrote that Muslim women who wear the burka and niqab "look like letterboxes" or "bank robbers" and now the Muslim Council of Britain want him punished.

Muslims warn PM of Johnson 'whitewash'

These comments seem pretty lame to me,maybe not the best thing he could say as a member of Parliament but shouldn't he have freedom of speech too?.

So, why don't they just let Allah take care of the punishment?
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Because law-abiding citizens of the UK deserve to be treated with basic respect by the political class, especially members of minorities that do not have much power in society.

That's so weird. I suppose I'm just used to the politicians in the US.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
For Boris? I think he creates his own punishment. :rolleyes:
I hope Bozo is punished at the ballot box and by a derisory number of party votes in the next Tory party leadership contest.

I do think he may now be too divisive a figure to command support. It may be that his future is as a sort of Ann Coulter-lite, far-right journalist.

It's a pity. As mayor of London I rather liked him. But since then he has made himself an object of contempt to a lot of people.
 

England my lionheart

Rockerjahili Rebel
Premium Member
Many Muslims seem to think so too:

Rachel Johnson: I do apologise for my brother Boris... he didn't go NEARLY far enough! | Daily Mail Online

They accused him of dehumanising women, completely missing the main point which is that the burka/niqab dehumanises women. They do not express individuality, they suppress it. I would like to make it very clear I loathe the idea women will be harassed or abused in the street as a result of any of this. I very much hope they aren't. The thought that it licenses xenophobia is horrifying. But clothes have a language, a meaning, and a message. And what the full-face veil wearer conveys is that she is subscribing to a 'toxic patriarchy controlling women'. Not my words, by the way – the words of one leading imam, who also said that the fact that many younger women say they choose to wear it and assert their right to hide their faces is proof they have 'internalised this poisonous chauvinism'.

It should be noted that the country with the most users of such wear is Saudi Arabia - a bastion of female rights. :rolleyes: Hence why it might be seen as a symbol of repression rather than expression - as many Muslim females seemingly avow.

She hit the nail on the head Imo.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Which, when you think about it, is sort of weird due to the fact that wearing a burka is also not nurturing social cohesion. It is literally about putting a barrier between the individual and society.
This I agree is an argument that can be had, as they have done in France. The difference, though, is that a senior Conservative party politician - from Eton and Oxford - is in a very different position from some poor woman from an immigrant community, cowed by her patriarchal social traditions.
 

YmirGF

Bodhisattva in Recovery
This I agree is an argument that can be had, as they have done in France. The difference, though, is that a senior Conservative party politician - from Eton and Oxford - is in a very different position from some poor woman from an immigrant community, cowed by her patriarchal social traditions.
Don't worry, we are more or less in agreement. Though I think the burga/niqab are horrid inventions I am not in favor of outlawing them. To me, it says the wearer is simply a religious extremist as there is nothing in Islamic doctrine that mandates the wearing of head to toe covering. There is only the stricture to dress modestly. Boris, like Trump, is a buffoon.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
I hope Bozo is punished at the ballot box and by a derisory number of party votes in the next Tory party leadership contest.

I do think he may now be too divisive a figure to command support. It may be that his future is as a sort of Ann Coulter-lite, far-right journalist.

It's a pity. As mayor of London I rather liked him. But since then he has made himself an object of contempt to a lot of people.

He's not stupid, but I don't know whether he intended to cause such a fuss. According to the polls - if accurate - a majority of the UK population would rather not see such wear on our streets - possibly because they associate it more with female oppression than it being religious. And as I said, it appears to be most used in Saudi Arabia where females are not exactly on a par with males.
 

England my lionheart

Rockerjahili Rebel
Premium Member
He has freedom of speech. This is not threatened in any way.

But he is also a senior Conservative party politician. His party is within its rights to censure him for saying things that show the party in a bad light. Which this does.

Publicly ridiculing members of a religious minority for their dress is not generally thought to be polite, tasteful, or responsible for a serious politician. Imagine the outcry if he had made rude remarks about Hassidic Jews, with their black coats, funny hats and ringlets. He'd be accused of being a neoNazi. Why should it be any more respectable to take the p*ss out of a handful of ultra-conservative muslim women?

What is worse, he has been egged on to do this by Steve Bannon, who mentions Bozo and "Tommy Robinson" (aka Stephen Yaxley-Green) in the same breath. Bozo is playing cynical, dogwhistle politics here, trying to ape Trump. The object is to win public support, by making it seem socially acceptable for people to voice anti-muslim bigotry. He is deliberately trying to undermine the social cohesion of the country, for his personal political ends. This is despicable behaviour.

He does have ambition for the top job so who knows.
 
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