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Old 12-14-2007, 03:56 PM   #45
sky7i
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Join Date: Dec 2007
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The term "Western freedom" is very problematic, so I suggest we stop using it. Westerners are a very diverse lot, as are Easterners. You can't boil complex societies down to black-and-white like this. (Are not the Hutterites and the Amish totally Western? They have dress codes far more strict than the Muslims.)

Freedom too is not a black-and-white issue. Freedom to raise your children with your values is also part of the bedrock of Western society. Some Muslims come to Canada because they feel they have more freedom to practice their religion and raise their families with their own cherished values here. My ancestors moved to Canada because they lost everything in a war and didn't want to experience that again, and because they thought they could raise good Muslims here. (Some of the first Muslims that came here in the 1800s were Scottish Muslims, and Edmonton is home to a mosque almost as old as the city itself.) Most Muslims will agree that governance in some Muslim countries is seriously screwed up (and it should be noted that our Western governments have played a major role in screwing up those countries) and they find that in Canada they can practice their religion with less turmoil-- no one's going to attack us or mess with our government to control our oil (except maybe Dick Cheney).

Many Westerners too have their personal limits when it comes to self-expression. Say you moved to Los Angeles to be close to family, to get a better job, to enjoy the climate, to escape Stephen Harper, or out of a fear of wild moose, or whatever. While there, your wife decides to have a fling with some guy or perhaps even get involved in the p0rn industry. You might flip and do something crazy, stupid, and homicidal too; there are many, many murders in our society which involve some sort of sexual jealousy. But it would be foolish for the citizens of Los Angeles to ask "why did that guy from Prince George move to Los Angeles? If you don't want your wife sleeping with other people and enjoying our sexual freedoms, why move here? Adultery isn't illegal." It's really not the issue. The issue here is that a man seems to have flipped out, overreacted and senselessly killed someone he was entrusted to take care of. That is tragic and reprehensible not just to Westerners but to his co-religionists and to people in his homeland as well.
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