"Mr. Hans van Mierlo, the founder of Dutch centrist party D66, feels that immigration secretary Mrs. Rita Verdonk shouldn't have corrected an imam who refused to shake her hand," writes Dutch blogger Arjan Dasselaar of Zacht Ei:
According to Mr. Van Mierlo, if you think you're a member of a superior culture, you shouldn't take offense at ideas from other cultures which you consider to be old-fashioned.
Mr. Van Mierlo, the point is not if we, as members of a so-called superior culture, can handle it. The point is that we are insulting other cultures by allowing them to carry on believing in antiquated ideas about gender roles.
Exactly. Not only about so-called gender roles -- which has always been an overriding issue with us -- but also about all of the Islamicist fundamentalists' life-force-suppressing taboos that rob life of its innocent joy before you even get started. Think the Taliban ban on flying kites, not to mention routine beheadings and assorted medieval torture tactics. Dasselaar continues:
Let's say that someone from another country tells you the Sun revolves around the Earth. Would you correct him, or just snigger behind his back? Which course of action would show [more] respect for the person you're having a conversation with?
Not educating our new countrymen on basic tenets of Western civilization has long been considered perfectly acceptable and even 'tolerant.' By acting the way we did (or rather: not acting), we have been depriving them of the opportunity to become full members of our society.
Yes. We've noticed that unwitting condescension is the reflexive modus operandi of the left. It ties in with other observations here and throughout the blogosphere re the MSM's Pauline Kael Bubble. They know they're right, and they know what's best for us plebes, so what's our problem? How dare we have ideas of our own?
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