h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I unsubscribed from F19585?thread=8290361 last night about seven or eight hours before it was deemed to have gotten out of hand and was closed, but, I have a thought I'd like to get down about the thought experiment of being asked to look for the masked individual in some sort of British store. . . .


If I were asked to find the person wearing a mask in a large store I would wander around for days before I thought "maybe they mean the woman with the niqab."


To me, a niqab is not a subset of the class "masks". A veil is not a subset of the class "masks" either. Calling a niqab a "mask" is roughly analogous to calling a Wellington boot a "sock" -- sure, you were it in the same place, but it's simply not the same thing.

Careful, anhaga.



Personally I'm upset about the comment concerning the Canadian Muslim organisation.

But that will have to wait.

Off to a chocolate factory to do a commercial!

but not before you had given us the wonderfully rhythmic quote of
"put some tahini on a tangerine and use it as a talisman"

which is now firmly embedded in my skull as some sort of poetic earworm.

sorry for the

I skipped over the overnight backlog and missed that bit.

And, I don't think you should put tahini on a tangerine.


And, topic drift would probably be a very wise course.

My

The term 'mask' is a very loaded one. All words have a certain 'colour'. You can't write anything decent from poetry to a novel to an EG entry, without a feeling for that.

Mask is not a word I associated with the niqab. Veil feels more acceptable as it is softer and very much associated with women here...at weddings or funerals sometimes. But of course *technically* inaccurate and coming from another tradition. But I wouldn't inwardly cringe if someone said 'veil' for a niqab; I would for 'mask' it feels so alien to me as a word to describe this gently floating fabric in front of the face.

And though I'm not fond of the concept of the niquab I don't feel the least that anything agressive is being directed at me. I just feel a bit weird. But then there are so few in this area. I reckon I'd soon get used to it if I mixed regularly with women wearing them.

When was I ever wise?

And . . .


The *purpose* of the niqab is decidedly not "to hide one's identity", as has been suggested ad nauseum elsewhere. That *is*, however, most often the purpose of a mask.

Everything about one side of that argument over there was so unbelievably wrong.

I don't really want to think about that spectacle much more. And this issue has reared its ugly head for years on various threads. But I think 'mask' first put in its appearence on the Fascism thread.

I'm pleased I've softened my attitudes to the niqab. That's what happens when you get to learn gradually more..and are honest with yourself about certain fears of 'difference' which are totally normal. That's my way. Not form an opinion and hold onto it for hell or highwater without examining my reasons.

For now I prefer to just be more in touch with the poetical 'feeling' thing about it. That so often leads me a good direction...once I honestly work through them.

We don't have a problem talking to people on the telephone. We don't hang up on people because we can't see their faces.

Why should we have a problem talking to a woman wearing a niqab?



Ugly bigotry was all it was over there. 'Nuff said.


except . . .



seriously. In one ten word bit he used seven foreign (French) words! Either totally blinkered or a malicious jackass!

>Why should we have a problem talking to a woman wearing a niqab?<

I don't think you can compare the phone to the emotional expereince of talking face to face with someone wearing a niqab. I would feel affected as I'm not used to it..and might at first feel a bit of frustration (irrational) that I couldn't communicate properly as facial expression and language is incredibly important to me...I'm different to you emotionally...but I'm *certain* now I'd soon get used to it.

It is a fundamental thing. But its how you approach learning about other customs...and trying to understand the complexities...and like I say the feeling of it. I don't find it the slightest bit agressive...unlike some use of language here which can upset me.

I'm hoping he won't wish for my scooter death now

I agree, there's nothing inherently aggressive about the niqab.

and, hoping to get back to the Art Gallery again today. Yesterday's visit was cut short due to illness in the offspring. Better now, so . . .

http://www.youraga.ca/exhibit/icons-of-modernism


It'll be crowded today as it's a holiday here and admission is free (as it should be always, probably).

Oh, and, here's everything that's happening at the Gallery right now: http://www.youraga.ca/current/

It's the last day for the French and Canadian Landscapes

Hey good stuff.

The Cezanne is wonderful. He's one of my favourite painters. (Born on 19th January...my birthdaysake.)

I loved those drawings by Dara Humniski on the wall to do with clouds.

Who's is that weird sculpture to do with a stage light in the slide show of the second link?

I didn't like that John McKee lurid acrylic though.

Overall, excellent shows.

**

Yes I can't remember when I last paid to go into any sort of public art gallery here. It's a precious thing. But there'll be spending the tax revenue on something else good though hopefully.

I'll have to go back another day - they were packed in like sardines!
I'm bot sire what's going on with the stage lighting thing. I'll check it out next time.

The feeling running through most of the works there right now is a real whimsy.

It's great they were packed in like sardines isn't it though? Not for you personally...I know the feeling.

I always love Tate Modern for that in a way for that. And at least there you can always breathe in the massive turbine hall. I want to see Damien Hirst's retrospective in that incredible space.

With the scooter I won't have to pay the congestion charge cars have to pay to go into central London. And parking is free or virtually nothing. I'm going to start going to galleries again in the central area...providing I get on with it.

Oh, certainly it was good that it was packed! Actually, it can be pretty full on days without free admission too, which certainly is encouraging. It would be nice to see analogous traffic in the small (free) galleries around town as well, the ones that show art by living people.

There's one particularly small space on the second floor of the AGA -- a nice, intimate room. Today there was a long queue outside the door and a gallery volunteer guarding the door to limit the number of people inside at any one time.


And there were tonnes of kids!




I expect they'll get letters of complaint about the naked breasts in the video installation on the third floor.

I hadn't seen that thread before. I've just read it. Frustrating.

Hoo appears to think he's being *logical*. No. That's not how it's done.

TRiG.

IMO he always knows exactly what he's doing.

Can't sleep. Down loaded a slightly soppy romantic film 'One Day' from last year..just finished.

I enjoyed it. It had a feel good factor

Maybe not, but it can hide far more than that:

On 30th December, 2006 we took a flight to London from Madrid's Barajas Airport, missing by a mere 30 minutes the bomb that exploded in the terminal 4 carpark.

We took our seats on the Heathrow Express to central London and waited a few minutes as the carriage gradually filled. The seat directly opposite me remained vacant until a large person (it was hard to tell their sex), wearing a niqab and looking grim, sat down.

I wonder what some of you would have felt under those circumstances.