|
Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
|
 Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 10:37 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
Bura
What die you have for breakfast ? You fans have a right to know ! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| steki47 wrote: |
| Can large numbers of these people be transplanted in \to Western countries and assimilate and accept certain Western notions of freedom of expression? |
In the first majority-Muslim U.S. city, residents tense about its future )Washington Post(
While the city’s Polish Catholic population has shrunk from 90 percent in 1970 to about 11 percent today, in part as the old residents have moved to more prosperous suburbs, Polish American culture still permeates the town. But Hamtramck’s Muslim population is hardly a monolith — the city is about 23 percent Arabic, 19 percent Bangladeshi and 7 percent Bosnian. The predominantly Muslim groups don’t intermingle much because of language differences, according to Thaddeus Radzilowski of the Piast Institute, a census information center.
In many ways, Hamtramck is a microcosm of the fears gripping parts of the country since the Islamic State’s attacks on Paris: The influx of Muslims here has profoundly unsettled some residents of the town long known for its love of dancing, beer, paczki pastries and the pope.
Saad Almasmari, a 28-year-old from Yemen who became the fourth Muslim elected to the six-member city council this month, doesn’t understand that fear. Almasmari, the owner of an ice cream company who campaigned on building Hamtramck’s struggling economy and improving the public schools, said he is frustrated that so many residents expect the council’s Muslim members to be biased. He spent months campaigning everywhere in town, knocking on the doors of mosques and churches alike, he said. “I don’t know why people keep putting religion into politics,” said Almasmari, who received the highest percentage of votes (22 percent) of any candidate. “When we asked for votes, we didn’t ask what their religion was.”
University of Michigan at Dearborn professor Sally Howell, who has written a book on Michigan and U.S. Muslims, said that although some outsiders have equated the election results with “a sharia takeover,” that is not a fear she hears expressed by Hamtramck’s non-Muslims. It all boils down to “a fear that this city council won’t represent the community,” Howell said. Her own sense, she said, is that it will.
Hamtramck’s exceedingly low home prices and relatively low crime rate have proved especially attractive to new immigrants, whose presence is visible everywhere. Most of the women strolling Joseph Campau Avenue wear hijabs, or headscarves, and niqabs, veils that leave only the area around the eyes open. Many of the markets advertise their wares in Arabic or Bengali, and some display signs telling customers that owners will return shortly — gone to pray, much in the same way Polish businesses once signaled that employees had gone to Mass.
On a recent Saturday, about 40 people crowded into a one-room studio to sip wine from red Solo cups and enjoy a watercolor exhibition by African American artist Olayami Dabls as reggae music thumped in the background. The nudity and sexuality portrayed in Dabls’s paintings provided a startling contrast that afternoon to the handful of veil-clad Muslim women poring over produce at the Yemeni-owned grocery store visible across the street through the window.
Many longtime residents point to 2004 as the year they suspected that the town’s culture had shifted irrevocably. It was then that the city council gave permission to al-Islah Islamic Center to broadcast its call to prayer from speakers atop its roof. “It was hard at the beginning,” he said, referring to 2004, when the mosque began the call to prayer. But, he added: “They’re human. You gotta live with them. Hamtramck is known for diversity.”
At one point as she spoke, a mosque close to Dunn’s house began broadcasting the call to prayer. “You try reading a book in your back yard while your dog is barking to that,” Dunn said, clearly exasperated. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 7:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
Another Pew poll that is even older, but surveys a broader range of issues (and is quite a bit longer) to compare and contrast what Muslims living in western countries and Muslims worldwide profess. It is currently the source of some controversy surrounding dialogues about what constitutes a "radical minority" in secular, western culture as violence becomes more prevalent.
http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/04/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf
I've not thoroughly read it, but found it relevant. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hod
Joined: 28 Apr 2003
Posts: 1613
Location: Home
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 10:35 am Post subject: Re: Carry on don't lose your Hod |
|
|
| buravirgil wrote: |
| Stalker, Hod |
To be a stalker, I’d have to read your posts.
Now this is a stalker, hanging on every word, even stuff I wrote weeks ago.
| grahamb wrote: |
| Thus contradicting what he said on 5 November: |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 10:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Grahamb is under orders from the State Bureau for the Investigation of Dodgy Characters. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
BadBeagleBad
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
Posts: 1186
Location: 24.18105,-103.25185
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| To slightly change the focus. How many Muslims are there in the US? What percentage are terrorists? Now, compare that to how many Catholics there are in the US, and how many of them blow up abortion clinics. I bet the numbers would work out to be about the same, or that there would be MORE Catholics blowing up abortion clinics/killing doctors who do abortions. But is anyone suggesting a database of Catholics? Some Muslims are terrorists, some Catholics are terrorists. But is always easier to focus on people who are ¨other¨ and make them the devil. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I think the bombing of abortion clinics may be carried out by deranged Protestant Evangelicals.
All followers of Calvin,. Zwingli and Luther should be required to wear an identity badge. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 12:31 am Post subject: |
|
|
Yes, I expect most abortion clinic attackers are more likely to be Baptist than Catholic.
| Quote: |
| l followers of Calvin,. Zwingli and Luther should be required to wear an identity badge |
Jan Hus, Jan Hus, scot!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
