Burkini or Birthday Suit?

(CurbYourEnthusiasm)

Memoires d'un Gloire et un Siecle Disparu

I am of an age where I still can remember the Beach ('La Plage' or 'La Promenade') used to be a place most people went not to have a fight but just to wallow-up the sunshine and escape from the cares and worries of everyday life for a few hours or, if they were lucky (or kids bunking off school) for the entire day.

It was only during this time when I met up with my non-Catholic friends (Jewish and Church of England) since most of my school life was pretty regulated by convention – rugby, other sports, helping out with voluntary Catholic Aid activities such sorting stamps for sale to help the Foreign Missionaries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. All our fund-raising was, by today's standards, of a very benign nature and all profits went to help educate Christian children and their parents in the Third World.

Mind you, I now appreciate that it was not every child who 'volunteered' his time on Saturdays or Sunday afternoons, after Mass, for such selfless activities. I think those of us volunteering might have got, as 'thank you' from the Marist Priests running the Program, a mug of tea and a few 'Marietta' biscuits. But that was not why we volunteered. It was something about helping those less fortunate than ourselves. That was what it was really all about. I don't see this kind of enthusiasm today - with children all wrapped up and consumed in their digital gagets and their world of cyberspace, with little time for anyone but themselves and their personal needs.

Leper!

Not too long ago I was travelling on an Arab Airline.

You know what it's like with everyone trying to get past you to get to their seat.

Several women wearing Burkas were in front of me and taking an inordinate amount of time to sort themselves out. I needed to pass to get to my seat – with at least 20 people behind me anxious to move.

As I attempted to pass one Burka-clad woman intervened and started screaming something to the effect that there should be 'empty space' between me and 'them' (women wearing burkas) – a totally impractical situation along the aisle of 'Economy' class. The plane was not even a 'Dreamliner' but a bog-standard 747 or something of the like.

With me in my shorts and tee-shirt and general 'Western' appearance, they felt that I was attired improperly (immodestly?) and, as a male, that I should not be standing so close to them. Fortunately a member of the Cabin Staff (Muslim, I think) intervened and told them in Arabic they were behaving stupidly and they should get out of the way and let me and others continue on to our seats further down the plane as they were the cause of this delay and not myself or the passengers anxiously standing behind me.

Stand Your Ground!

It strikes me that this issue of Burkinis on beaches represents an activist minority of individuals who have take their cues from militant ISIL-Al Qaeda-supporting hate-sermoned Imams who say the following , in a nutshell, to their 'flock':

'Use your wives and females to promote and advance the glory of Islam!'; ''Challenge the infidel at every opportunity. Their (secular) system is so weak (in comparison to that of theocratic Islam) that eventually it will crumble under the popular pressure we ('the Umma') exert and Islam will ultimately triumph.''

Knee-Jerk Racists

Politicians (and the populace at large) tend towards knee-jerk reactions: 'Ban The Burkini!', 'Get Them Off The Beach!' 'No Muslims Here!' 'Ban All Muslims' etc. etc. etc. Most of such reactions have racism (often violent racism) at their core and have no basis in actual reality to the issues being hotly contested - simply providing the basis for racists to vent hatreds against others whom they despise.

Indeed by introducing such measures we are actually imprisoning ourselves as we are behaving in exactly the manner which conjoins - rather than diffuses - the conflict. Such measures play perfectly into the hands of the other fanatical racists – the hate-sermoned Imams – who will use such as a justification to 'Holy Jihad' since they will twist such actions to justify why all Muslims throughout Christendom can resist such discrimination - with targeted and indiscriminate violence: (sic. A condition under which 'Holy Jihad' is justified exists when and where Muslims are prevented from exercising the practice of their faith.)

There is, actually, a very simple solution which bypasses all the hate-mongers on all sides:

The Birthday Suit Effect

Do not ban the Burkini but make Nudism perfectly acceptable on all public beaches throughout Christendom and make it a criminal offence for anyone to discriminate against nudists in any way on any public or Municipal beach.

It is then up to beach-loving Muslims as to whether they can 'tolerate' the exercise of 'freedom of choice' in a secular society or they wish to withdraw to a more private environment to exercise their democratic right to 'quiet enjoyment'.

It's not a perfect solution – but life is not perfect -and neither are the problems which we have to negotiate.

[In my own particular case it would not at all surprise me if special legislation was introduced to ensure that I remained covered-up at all times - on the grounds of public decency -as my half pot-pig beer belly might frighten the cats and dogs on beaches - and cause general mayhem and panic (!)]

©Patrick Emek, September 2016