AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!
Sorry. Had to do that.
This story from the UK (via boingboing) and a story out of Sydney I heard on ABC NewsRadio this morning in which Jewish students at Sydney University are having to wear baseball caps over their yarmulkes in order to avoid being targetted in racial-religious attacks; Muslim students are being targetted too. This all points to a growing intolerance of cultural diversity and pervasive fear of difference (especially when those who are different might be “terrorists” - bullshit!) in Western culture.
I’m sure the point can be argued, but to me, this all smacks of small-minded xenophobia brought on by the anti-terrorism fearmongering of our governments. This is NOT the culture I was born into. Australia used to be a largely tolerant society, along with its cultural neighbors - the UK and the USA.
It’s a sad thing indeed. I blogged, or rather ranted, along the same lines some time ago at http://www.waterswing.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=057DF5C2-CC15-094D-B4699771A55F3DB5