http://www.popcrunch.com/naked-victoria-beckham-marc-jacobs-skin-cancer-t-shirt-campaign/
If i was at home, I wouldn't bat an eyelid at seeing someone wearing this shirt and I think most people would get the point. When I read the article I thought, "for god's sake get a grip, it's only a t shirt", but when I saw the t shirt I kind of understand the problem. I still don't find it offensive, but I can see how some Muslims would. We are in a Muslim country and knowing that this would be offensive to some, the guy, I think, was stupid to wear it. Looks like he's going to get a month in jail and then be deported.
Marten Youssef and Loveday Morris
The National - News
19 Jun 2009
DuBAI A Lebanese man is facing one month in jail and deportation for wearing a cancer awareness T-shirt depicting a near-naked woman, after losing an appeal yesterday. In a brief hearing at Dubai Court of Appeals the judge upheld R N’s sentence of...read more...
Tech Tags: The National - News newspaper The Emirates
I did find an interesting juxtaposition (ooh that's a long word) between this story and another in the paper about a Muslim lady in Washington, USA, who was trying to prosecute a car rental company and had her case thrown out because she refused to remove her full niqab at the request of the judge. Now, if the Washington law says the judge can order her to remove the niqab, then she should remove the niqab. I think the UAE are right to preserve their culture and religious law, it is their right and "guests" in the country should respect them. But I'm afraid Muslims cannot have it both ways. Why should Muslims living in non-Muslim countries expect to impose their values on the local country, they too are "guests" and should respect local values/culture/law.
Any thoughts?
I think the issue with the judge was not the head covering, but seeing her face. I guess it helps to see a person's face in order to judge them.
ReplyDeleteI used the word "guest" in inverted commas for exactly the reason you said. The difference is that even 5th generation residents of the UAE are still formally " guests".
I couldn't get to the news story, but I believe somethign along those lines is true, although I think it just needs to be 4 males (like that makes it better!)
I recently read an article about France and the new laws they are trying to pass, check out the article:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_sarkozy_burqa
I do think UAE has the right to ban the t-shirt. I hate to think the man is being deported just for a shirt, but when the law is the law it must be followed by visitors and nationals alike.