i'm all for rules requirin immigrant's to adapt to their new surrounding's
- like, acquiring the native language within a certain period of time. and respecting the law's of the land. and discouraged from adopting the victim mentality. or sendin their daughter's back to whence they came for arranged marriages.
however, for the belgian's to ask their muslim community to buy gift's - amongst other suggestions - instead of sacrificing sheep on eid-al-adha [or simply known as hari raya haji over ere - none of those tongue-twistin labelling's] is a tad gallin. in my not so humble opinion, that is.
to claim that the practice is not an obligation but a tradition is lame - not to mention contradictory. it is peformed in honour of the prophet abraham; which is also the reason why adherent's are obliged to perform the haj at least once in their lifetime.
see the connection? and i mentioned contradictory - isn't giving of pressies durin crimbo a tradition which isn't originally intended so by christianity? i reckon that if christian's are urged to not engage in pressie exchange, there'd be an uproar innit? almost tantamount to a sacrilege, innit?
oh, how about consigning st nick to the history books - since having him around was originally a dutch idea? but who actually was a turk? the irony. and see how confused st nick is since he's variously called father christmas, santa claus, pere noël and wotever else in various tongue's.
soz. isn't the call by the belgian's smacked of western superiority? or should i dare say, *continental* imperialist attitude?
btw, what makes the animal cruelty types to say that the muslim method of slaughtering animal's is much more cruel? just because it's entirely different and strange from what one's used to, so it is more cruel?
duh?
just like what some irish bint had proclaimed on an online news forum. which almost led me to call her "provincial one-track mind amoeba".
as enscribed by the letter b @ January 10, 2006 04:24 AM | someone's pingednot sure if it's due to the Bulgarians' asian dna - as we all know they originally came from the steppes - 'cos wee islanders expect the birthday boy/bird to treat them also. their so-called reasoning? "well, since i *bought* you a pressie, it's therefore "right" that you should pay for it.."
alien concept innit? and all along i thought i was the alien.
as blahed by the letter b @ January 11, 2006 10:04 AMOops, meant Sofia, not Sophia. Duh.
as blahed by "Alice" @ January 10, 2006 02:25 PMWhen I was in Sophia, Bulgaria, at their University (studying Eastern European studies), my birthday came around and a whole bunch of us went out to celebrate it. Much to my chagrin, I found out that the birthday boy/girl pays for the drinks. Wow! Now that was a helluva present FROM me instead of TO me.
Heh.