THE TELEGRAPH: On two occasions last week my dog was barred from London buses on religious grounds, writes Judith Woods.
On two occasions last week my dog was barred from London buses, not because she's particularly fierce or big, but on religious grounds. A friend and I had taken her to the park, and as I went across to the grocer, my friend took Daisy, a Manchester terrier, to the bus stop.
As they tried to board the bus, the driver stopped her and told her that there was a Muslim lady on the bus who "might be upset by the dog". As she attempted to remonstrate, the doors closed and the bus drew away. Read on and comment >>> | Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Excellent comments to this piece:
Can anyone loan me a dog? I normally get the tube but I suddenly have the urge to ride on buses with a canine friend All Day Long.
Seriously, it's time people started forthrightly asserting their rights and putting down attempts by anyone to oppress others and control public space to accord with their minority and extreme private beliefs.
The trick in doing so is to avoid pejorative language (*ahem*, aliens), aggression and anything else that allows the media and professional complainers to paint people standing up for this country and its traditional beliefs and practices as Nazi wingnuts. So we need to learn the art of complaining politely, firmly, efficiently and effectively, just like some other organised groups do. As a first step someone should set up a website--know your rights and how to enforce them.
As a culture we are generally tolerant and "mustn't grumble", but confronted with people who seem to take an affirmative joy in ramming their views down the throats of others it's time to use the system as effectively as they do.
This kind of issue has broader implications for the whole unwanted multi-culti experiment, but I think it's best to focus on what can be practically done about the situation right now. – James2
The blowback against Moslem chauvinism needs to start soon, it needs to be severe, and it needs to be unremitting. We simply cannot allow centuries of progress towards tolerance and accommodation to be steam-rollered by barbarians. At the bare minimum, it needs to be made crystal clear to Moslem denizens of Britain that if they do not extend the courtesies of cultural normality to their fellows then they will be ostracised, vilified and in the more extreme cases, prosecuted. The stealth-Jihadism that multiculturalism allows is poison. Justice Jackson said the Bill of Rights was not a suicide pact. Our tolerance for the commingling of bigots in our midst should not be seen as a license for their bigotry. – David Gillies [Source: The Telegraph]
