Monday 14 June 2010

what exactly are our values?

more from the WTF files: the manukau cosmopolitan club have again decided they won't allow sikh people in their club. well, actually, the ban is on all forms of headgear. they just voted down a remit which would have allowed headgear worn for religious reasons. this means they won't allow headscarf wearing muslim women either. the only reason they can give for their stance is:

A Cosmopolitan Club member, who did not want to be named, said the general feeling of members at yesterday's meeting was that it should not bend its rules for anybody.


"Many felt that once you change the rules to let in people who wear turbans, then the next thing you know is that we will also have to let people wear hoodies and balaclavas into the premises."


uh huh. how many hoodie and balaclava wearing members have been clamouring to join this club, exactly? and what damage would it do to have a person wearing a hoodie in their club? it's all beyond me.

the fact that 75% of the club's members voted to continue with their current policy. what is equally disturbing is the response to this issue in the comments sections of media articles. if you want to read some rather unfriendly stuff, try reading the comments section here or here.

the ones that piss me off the most are those who are all "they've come to our country, so they should follow our rules". well guess what, morons, "they" are the same as "us" - this country belongs equally to all of us and we all get an equal say in how it should develop. and last i heard, our rules include the bill of rights act, which provides for freedom to practice your religion. the rules also include the human rights act, which says that you can't discriminate against someone for practising their religion.

it seems that the people leaving these nasty comments don't actually want to abide by the rules and values of this country, so maybe they should be the ones to leave our country.

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