Letter
Editor,
It is time we tried to understand each other instead of being suspicious. Maybe we just see in strangers what we fear in ourselves. Immigrants bring new concepts and have since there were immigrants.
My husband had to train himself to lose his accent because of the bigotry against the Scots in 1956. There used to be an expression that “there is a ‘China-man’ buried for every foot of rail track”. It is said that Star Trek was initiated for the purpose of getting the human species used to the idea of accepting other species as equals. Everyone believes that Bin Laden was solely responsible for 911, but the first interview reported was that he said he was not responsible and knew nothing about it. It was hours later we were told he was suddenly the villain responsible. What happened in the meantime? Many rapes and murders are done by people known to the victims. It seems what we see is not necessarily what we get, and it is time we learned about those whom we fear, and trust.
Maybe if we put the same effort into finding out why Muslim women allow themselves to be covered they might not be so scary. Yes there are times that the face has to be uncovered no matter what the religion says, but on a regular basis it is the fear of the unknown that is causing the problem.
Mr. Miller has a reputation for towing the party line so maybe we need to study party policy and the why of it, before we jump on him for his lack of understanding. Maybe we are as uneducated as the fanatics we blame the rest of the Muslims for. If the Imams were educating us on why they do things we would not have politicians appealing to our base fear so much. Education will bring us into the 21st century better than spreading 16th century hate. Try it, you might like it.
Roberta Docherty, Meaford
