Sheik's comments fuel bigotry

Not asking for it.

I always get really annoyed when Sheik Taj el Din al-Hilaly opens his stupid trap and says something moronic and despicable because it always turns into an exercise in Muslim-bashing.

Sheik al-Hilaly does not speak for all Muslims any more than George Pell and Peter Jensen speak for all Christians. If Muslims and Christians had to speak out and condemn every piece of bigotry that some religious leader spouted they'd never have time to eat or sleep. Christians can rest safe in the knowledge that Peter Costello will never be calling on them to condemn Pell or Jensen every time they indulge in a bit of gay hatin' because they are just expressing their opinion in a land where they are entitled to free speech, y'see? Whereas whenever some Muslim who has gone and got themselves a bit of notoriety as a religious nutbag expresses some despicable opinions, our politicians see it as their cue to stand in front of the frothy-mouthed media pack and stir up some Muzzie-bashing until Muslims who have nothing to do with the whole business essentially get up and apologise for someone who they don't even agree with.

The funniest thing is that a couple of years ago when a bunch of rugby league players (the Bulldogs?) raped a woman and got away with it, I heard all sorts of opinions expressed in the media about how the women who dress like tarts and hang off the rugby players like lamphreys on a shark are, essentially, asking to be raped. What I don't remember is whether Peter Costello took it upon himself to condemn the remarks and call upon ordinary 'strayans to do the same.

The first time I heard the 'wear a short skirt in public and you're asking for it' argument was actually from my Dad. Not that he personally thought women in a short skirt were asking to be raped, but he swore he had known people who did, and therefore for their own safety women should dress modestly. He referred to some psycho he had known who thought that if a woman was wearing a red dress she must be a prostitute. I always argued that a woman's right to wear whatever she wants in public shouldn't be curtailed by the various proclivities of random psychopaths, and anyone who thought like that should be in jail. Besides, what if there's someone who thinks women who wear- I don't know- business suits, say- is asking for it?

If anything, I think views such as Sheik al-Hilaly's denigrate men almost as much as women, implying they are mindless animals who can't control themselves. While their might be a few examples of men who fit this description I don't believe it extends to men in general any more than the beliefs of random nutbags like Sheik al-Hilali extend to Muslims in general.

So they bloody well don't have to come over all apologist for it, regardless of what Peter Costello or anyone else says.