Canadian school cancels ISIS survivor Nadia Murad over Islamophobia fears

[Aurgjelme]

https://nypost.com/2021/11/27/toront...h-nadia-murad/

I think its terribly racist of the school to equate Islam with Isis like this.
The poor girl also, surviving ISIS just to be accused of Islamophobia by Canadians...

[Mihalik]

It was hard to find any source on this that wasn't some shitty tabloid or Neo-Nazi hogwash, ultimately I found some nuance in a tabloid/racist hogwash.

. “An opinion that did not reflect the position of the Toronto District School Board was shared with the organizer of the book club prior to staff having an opportunity to read the books – something that is routinely done before giving them to students. Staff are currently reading both books and anticipate being able to add them to the list of titles used in the corresponding course(s).”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/toronto...16a9cc795/amp/

I apologize for the source, literally the most nuance I could find.

The core of the story remains true.

Some ignorant woke scold (yes they exist) jumped the gun on the whole opposing Islamophobia.

Arguably in the process she managed to insult not a human rights activists, but all Muslims who think ISIS is/was batshit crazy.

[crewskater]

https://nypost.com/2021/11/27/toront...h-nadia-murad/

I think its terribly racist of the school to equate Islam with Isis like this.
The poor girl also, surviving ISIS just to be accused of Islamophobia by Canadians...

ISIS followers are just taking their religion literally. It could be argued that they are better believers than those who are not. It's not any different with equating Westboro Baptist Church with all Christians. Maybe it's time we grow up as a species and stop believing in silly superstitious beliefs.

[Biglog]

The school simply cancelled a scheduled speech by her, not "cancelled" in the urban dictionary sense like the title sounds. She's Yazidi and the book is certainly not an unbiased glowing portrayal. So it was done out of an abundance of caution not wanting to upset the Islamic community or fan Islamophobia, which is actually the opposite of supporting racism as the OP suggested. They have also apologized for the whole incident since. After reading the full story it seems like a pretty minor deal.

[Easo]

The school simply cancelled a scheduled speech by her, not "cancelled" in the urban dictionary sense like the title sounds. She's Yazidi and the book is certainly not an unbiased glowing portrayal. So it was done out of an abundance of caution not wanting to upset the Islamic community or fan Islamophobia, which is actually the opposite of supporting racism as the OP suggested. They have also apologized for the whole incident since. After reading the full story it seems like a pretty minor deal.

Obvious question - upset said community with what...?

[Noxx79]

This thread will get locked, but I looked at this and I can’t find the superintendent’s statement anywhere. A lot of “they said” and “she said”. There’s no sourced quote or anything.

I wonder why that is? “Journalism” sucks.

- - - Updated - - -

It was hard to find any source on this that wasn't some shitty tabloid or Neo-Nazi hogwash, ultimately I found some nuance in a tabloid/racist hogwash.



https://www.google.com/amp/s/toronto...16a9cc795/amp/

I apologize for the source, literally the most nuance I could find.

The core of the story remains true.

Some ignorant woke scold (yes they exist) jumped the gun on the whole opposing Islamophobia.

Arguably in the process she managed to insult not a human rights activists, but all Muslims who think ISIS is/was batshit crazy.

Ah there we go.

[Endus]

Here's a more balanced take (and one that demonstrates it isn't just Murad being singled out); https://www.thestar.com/opinion/edit...hed-women.html

The issue appears to be a single school board superintendent, and the rest of the school board is pretty much standing up against her decision on these matters; the school board's reviewing the books (which is appropriate before their inclusion, generally).

The board's Director of Education also had this apology they made to both authors; https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Media/News/Ar...lub-Selections

This is all about one shitty comment by one supervisor who doesn't represent the TDSB's official position and has no means to effect the outcome these news articles are suggesting.

[Ripster42]

I wonder why that is?

Look at OP's avatar. It's a pretty big clue, but apparently one too hard for the mods here to figure out.

[Aurgjelme]

Look at OP's avatar. It's a pretty big clue, but apparently one too hard for the mods here to figure out.

My army unit in the Norwegian military used it, so does the some Danish ones.

Or where you pointing at the antifa banner below?

I'm just curious, would you Americans try to put so much effort in demonizing me if I was a Native American trying to connect to the customs of my ancestors? If I wore their traditional clothes, observed the rites and tried to follow their ways?
If I was Jewish? Muslim?

But for some reason, because I am a Scandinavian, who has grown up with many of the customs and rites, I should be ridiculed and my heritage should be sullied and mocked.
It's nothing short of racism and bigotry from people like you.

[Machismo]

Are we really going with the "It's heritage, not hate" angle?

[Endus]

My army unit in the Norwegian military used it, so does the some Danish ones.

Or where you pointing at the antifa banner below?

I'm just curious, would you Americans try to put so much effort in demonizing me if I was a Native American trying to connect to the customs of my ancestors? If I wore their traditional clothes, observed the rites and tried to follow their ways?
If I was Jewish? Muslim?

But for some reason, because I am a Scandinavian, who has grown up with many of the customs and rites, I should be ridiculed and my heritage should be sullied and mocked.
It's nothing short of racism and bigotry from people like you.

https://www.norwegianamerican.com/vi...tolen-racists/

White supremacists are using Viking symbols. It's a known pattern. This has been pointed out to you before.

What you're doing is basically no different than using the SS symbol as your avatar and claiming it's "just Viking runes for your initials", or using a swastika and claiming you're Hindu and it's fine. At a minimum, you don't care that you'll be mistaken for being a white supremacist.

Given that you had an older similar image as your avatar that was removed for the same reasons.

And you've got a history of posting condemnations of multiculturalism, which is more than a bit of a tell, y'know.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Disingenuous racist bullshit bait with a nice backdoor on forbidden topic of religion also.

[DarkAmbient]

What you're doing is basically no different than using the SS symbol as your avatar and claiming it's "just Viking runes for your initials", or using a swastika and claiming you're Hindu and it's fine.

People shouldn't feel like they have to abandon their heritage just because a minority of scumbags want to co-opt it for themselves. I hope that you are going by post history more than the symbol itself, as I resent the notion that to use the symbol means you are aligned with those who misuse it. And I'm referring to the symbol in that poster's avatar and others like it, not the swastika which is beyond saving.

[Endus]

People shouldn't feel like they have to abandon their heritage just because a minority of scumbags want to co-opt it for themselves.

Who said "abandon"? Just maybe don't use the same symbols the racists are using for their own movements.

Also, lets be clear; the white supremacists are using the symbols for the same "heritage" reasons, so that really isn't even a separate argument.

You also may have missed that with Aurgjelme, it isn't just the symbol that's making people suspect his bad faith. His avatar is corroborating evidence, not the origin of the accusations.

[DarkAmbient]

Ending the use of symbols of your heritage constitutes an abandonment of it. What else is it? Of course a culture is more than symbols, but symbols are an integral and important part of any culture. This could actually be an interesting topic in itself but sadly this thread is doomed.

You replied before my edits, but I want to point out that people in the re-enactment and heathen communities are encouraging people to continue using co-opted symbols in order to reclaim them, and it doesn't really help them if the assumption is that they're engaging in a disingenuous attempt to disguise alignment with white supremacy.

[Endus]

Ending the use of symbols of your heritage constitutes an abandonment of it. What else is it?

Basic respect for others?

Have Hindu and Bhuddist culture been "abandoned" because the Swastika is a tainted bit of iconography?

Does the 14/88 Neo-Nazi thing mean we have to abandon all mention of the numbers 14 and 88? No. But should we question the motives of someone who has "14/88" as their forum avatar? Absolutely.

Like, I can't imagine recognizing that;

A> white supremacists use those particular symbols for their own movements, and
B> people tell you they're uncomfortable with the use of those symbols for that reason,
and your conclusion becomes;
C> fuck you it's my heritage and I'll make you as uncomfortable as I want to.

Baffling.

And again; this particular poster has a post history that casts a metric fuckton of doubt on their story. Including this thread. Which grossly misrepresents what actually happened, which was a dickhead supervisor said a dickhead thing, and the Toronto District School Board nearly immediately responded to that with "they don't speak for us and we're reviewing the books the same way we review every book prior to inclusion, and we don't see any reason we'd exclude them at this point" and the Director of Education from the TSRB specifically disavowing that supervisor and their statements and apologizing to both authors. It's propaganda horseshit being posted as an attack on Canadian values.

[DarkAmbient]

A> white supremacists use those particular symbols for their own movements, and
B> people tell you they're uncomfortable with the use of those symbols for that reason,
and your conclusion becomes;
C> fuck you it's my heritage and I'll make you as uncomfortable as I want to.

I think that's a valid response actually, yeah. Not for something like the swastika, for obvious reasons. But for other symbols that haven't yet entered the general public consciousness as hate symbols, absolutely. It's what people like Heathens United Against Racism are advocating, although perhaps not quite as bluntly. The person feeling uncomfortable must learn that people are working to reclaim their heritage and that absolutely no hate is intended.

[D3thray]

https://www.norwegianamerican.com/vi...tolen-racists/

White supremacists are using Viking symbols. It's a known pattern. This has been pointed out to you before.

What you're doing is basically no different than using the SS symbol as your avatar and claiming it's "just Viking runes for your initials", or using a swastika and claiming you're Hindu and it's fine. At a minimum, you don't care that you'll be mistaken for being a white supremacist.

Given that you had an older similar image as your avatar that was removed for the same reasons.

And you've got a history of posting condemnations of multiculturalism, which is more than a bit of a tell, y'know.

You literally just went from defending the TDSB from the actions of a minority (in this case singular) of its members as not being representative of the broader whole… to attacking a broader whole on the basis of a minority of individuals who aren’t even necessarily part of a group whose symbols they’re co-opting.

Also swastika’s are Buddhist btw. We haven’t gone to vilifying all imagery of the cross because racist KKK groups used to burn them in people’s yards have we?

I understand the broader context and how symbology works in our society so I’m not being deliberately obtuse, but I will criticize it for being an arbitrary and hypocritical position to take.

[Endus]

You literally just went from defending the TDSB from the actions of a minority (in this case singular) of its members as not being representative of the broader whole… to attacking a broader whole on the basis of a minority of individuals who aren’t even necessarily part of a group whose symbols they’re co-opting.

If you paid even a little attention, you'd have seen that I was "attacking" one person.

Also swastika’s are Buddhist btw. We haven’t gone to vilifying all imagery of the cross because racist KKK groups used to burn them in people’s yards have we?

Of a burning cross? Yeah, pretty much. I also can't recall a single instance of any Bhuddist or Hindu extensively using swastika imagery post-WWII and trying to claim it's innocent. They generally have more respect for basic human decency than that.

[D3thray]

If you paid even a little attention, you'd have seen that I was "attacking" one person.



Of a burning cross? Yeah, pretty much. I also can't recall a single instance of any Bhuddist or Hindu extensively using swastika imagery post-WWII and trying to claim it's innocent. They generally have more respect for basic human decency than that.

You mean a symbol I can readily find in temples on charms for sale anytime I visit family in the east? That I see readily displayed by Hindu practitioners who are friends? You have your notions from your own experience about what you find acceptable, but there’s a much broader world out there that pretty much doesn’t line up with that.

Personally I don’t put too much stock in symbols, whether it’s astrological signs, a swastika, or an OK hand gesture because I won’t give them power. The only way these maintain any kind of power is if we take them seriously.