My first week at work went without a glitch. I did feel a bit lost in the new environment, new procedures to learn and colleagues to get to know, but that's to be expected.
I couldn't help noticing the controversy over the protest by Islamic fundamentalists on November 11 in London and feel obliged to comment. There was also another protest in London during the week, by students upset at the proposed increases in student fees by the newly elected Conservative/Liberal coalition. Same old ...same old story.
Burning the poppy
First I will start with the Muslim protest, now known as " burning the poppy protest". For the benefit of those who may not be aware of the significance of November 11, here's a brief description:
November 11 is Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day and Armistice Day) in most of the English speaking world.
It is a day to pay homage to the British soldiers killed in action and has been celebrated since the end of World War I. In the UK, various charities across the land start selling the iconic lapel 'poppy' (see Madeleine's very own poppy below) some weeks before the day and all proceeds are then donated to the war veteran societies.
Madeleine showing support for the cause
how it should be done...with dignity
Most people and commerce observe a 2 minute silence on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Even the traffic grinds to a halt. Last Thursday, while the two minute silence was taking place, a group of Islamic protesters in Ealing, West London, decided to burn a poppy and hurl abuse at the fallen British soldiers. This protest took place in public view and rightly disgusted many observers.
the faces of ignorance, intolerance, envy and hatred
of course they are...surrounded by 40 virgins!
Does that apply to women also?
I believe in freedom of speech but it has to be a freedom with conditions attached. The freedom of the speaker must not conflict with ,offend or incite the listener to violence. It's common sense and common dignity.
The Islamic protesters obviously don' t know about these basic human qualities and decided to vent their ill-informed anger at passers by with no regard whatsoever for the consequences. Those same protesters, needless to say, are the same type of people I wrote about in my old post
"Biting the hand that feeds them". Yes, British born Muslims who instead of promoting harmony promote hatred towards the very nation (UK) that took their parents in and gave them a better life. Fine way to say...er... Thanks!
Can you imagine a similar protest by Christians in , say, Kabul or anywhere in the Muslim world? Of course not. The protesters would be removed and killed immediately by the baying crowds of Muslims thirsty for the blood of the infidel. Ah, the glory of religion... (irony)
But in London, we seem to not only tolerate the lack of respect shown by the protesters but the police also failed to take action and arrest the ungrateful scumbags. Why were they not arrested? They were inciting violence and that is a crime. Were the police so scared to be seen as anti-Muslim that to turn a blind-eye was the preferred action to take? How ridiculous is that!
Arrest, trial and inprisonment are justifiable ways to deal with these so called British-Muslims who are, once again, giving the rest of Islam a bad name.
Student protest
Sadly, this is a case of the "same old story". Tories back in power, violent protests hit the streets. Nothing new.
It happened before when Maggie ruled. The out of work miners protested and rioted, the inner-city youth rioted, some city traders and stock brokers jumped out of their office windows with the boom-and-bust economic mess and the working classes endured years of unfair and savage public spending cuts.
The electorate have a short memory and voted the blues (with a dash of yellow) back in and now dare to complain?!
When Labour took office 13 years ago the riots were quelled and the boom-and-bust economy laid to rest. A spell of peace and common sense swept the nation.Thirteen years ago (after 4 terms of Tories) there were 65,000 people on hospital waiting lists for operations, with the waiting period from 2 months to 2 years. By the beginning of 2010 there were no cases of waiting more than a month.
Oh well. short memory causes all kinds of problems so my advice to the protesters is this.
Stop f*+*ing complaining to me - you and your relatives most likely voted the present lot in! Put up and shut up.
Rant over, phew... :)
