Good Turkish advice:"Watch the way people dress"

This looks hilarious to me. Why bother taking a photo? It looks like five garment-bags in a row, with slits at the top for the eyes to peer out. Is some kid gonna look at the photo in the family photo album years from now, and ask "Which one is Mommy?" And will someone say to the kid, "She's the second garment-bag from the left".

I don't remember where on the internet I found this photo, but the title of the file is: "miss_radical-islam". Now, isn't that being "judgemental"? Is a woman an islamic radical, a fanatic, if she dresses like that? Is her family likely to be sympathetic to terrorists?

According to one Turkish woman, the answer is probably "Yes":

The Enemy in Our Midst

In this article by Paul Belien at the Brussels Journal, he talks about a conversation he had with a Turkish friend of his:

...Following the foiled plot European governments seem to be as worried about rising islamophobia as about terrorist attacks. If islamophobia is on the rise, however, one should decide who is primarily to blame. As long as our governments refuse to do this, and blame their own people first, the chances of saving Europe from islamo-fascism are bleak.

In Turkey last May it struck me that the Turks have far more realistic views on the danger of islamism than the European political and media establishment. At least they do not equate criticism of islamism with criticism of religious Muslims. A Turkish friend told me that I would always be welcome in her country if the Belgian authorities should prosecute me for alleged “racism” or “islamophobia.” She was a Muslim herself but said that she did not understand why the West European countries tolerate islamist extremism to a degree that is not tolerated in her country. She explained that it was easy to recognize who the fanatics are. “Just watch the way people dress,” she said.

“I have seen you wear a headscarf myself,” I said.

“I am not talking about headscarves, which are the traditional women’s wear of the Turkish countryside, but about hijabs and burqas,” she said.

“Are you saying that all the women wearing those are terrorists?” I asked.

“No, but you can be fairly sure that families where the women dress like that sympathize with the terrorists.”

We see growing numbers of these women in our European cities. If my Turkish friend is right it is relatively easy for the police to establish where to find potential terrorists. I am opposed to thought crimes, but I wonder why European governments that introduce such crimes for so-called “racists” and “islamophobes” do not make it a thought crime to sympathize with terrorists. If one can be arrested for carrying a swastika flag, why is one allowed to demonstrate in front of Westminster with the Hezbollah flag (which depicts a machine gun)?...

(bold emphasis mine) The whole article is not long, and worth reading, it has several embedded links. One link is to another article by Belien, about his visit to Turkey:

For Whom the Bell Tolls

...On a tour of the town the daughter of our Turkish host showed me a banner by the gate of a local school, which bore a quote of Atatürk: “Nations who do not know their national identity will become the prey of other nations.” West Europeans would do well to bear this in mind. A young Turkish woman said that she is opposed to Turkey joining the EU because she fears that the Eurocrats will force her country to be “tolerant” towards Islamist fanatics, allowing them “rights” which in contemporary Turkey they do not have. Possibly an EU including Turkey would adopt more realistic, sensible and “tougher” policies with respect to Muslim extremism. Perhaps the current witch hunt in Western Europe, where everyone who worries about Islamism is branded as an “Islamophobe” and a “racist,” would stop if Turkish voices were heard.

During the past two weeks I also heard Turks expressing more sensible views on the relationship between church and state than I am used to hearing in Western Europe. Prof. Attila Yayla, one of Turkey’s most outspoken liberatarians, said there is nothing wrong with religious conservatism. The latter is not an enemy of the free society. On the contrary, “religious conservatives are our allies in the fight against state totalitarians,” says Yayla. I agree, as would most Americans (but not, unfortunately, most Europeans). Where morality is no longer upheld by religion, the state steps in to fill the void and the state becomes God, obliterating all morality. Today the welfare state, both at the national and at the European level (the “EUSSR”), is becoming increasingly totalitarian, confirming Vladimir Bukovsky’s warning in this respect. It is no coincidence, I think, that precisely the fanatic proponents of a complete secularisation of European society, such as Belgium’s leading politicians and intellectuals (including priests such as Father Leman) are harassing the so-called “islamophobes” and “racists.” ...

Belien maintains that European secularists are a greater threat to freedom and democracy in Europe than religious conservatives. As a case in point, he offers Dutch Parliament member (and Somalian immigrant) Hirsi Ali as an example. She is an outspoken ex-muslim, but also a secularist and a critic of religious conservatism. Belien disagrees with her views on religion, but admires her courage to speak out. Yet, he shows how the very secularists that Hirsi Ali supports, attack her. At the time this was written, they were actively FORCING her out of Holland, because of her criticism of Islam (this was written in May; she has since left for America Correction: She has made plans to leave Holland in September, and come to the USA. See comments section below for details. Also see Hirsi Ali, facing deportation, decides to leave Holland and come to the US, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "I am not an Islam basher").

The article ends with the Hirsi Ali drama, and some shocking statistics about immigration and emmigration in the Netherlands. A facinating read, with many embedded links too.