A pig problem

The Year of the Pig will start on February 18, but China's CCTV has banned all pig images from commercials in order not to hurt the feelings of Muslims.

I am all for tolerance and respect for other people's religion and feelings, but in this case CCTV is overstepping the line. Muslims constitute less than 2% of China's population. The majority Han and many other minorities like pigs. Why would 98% of the Chinese people not be allowed to see a little fat pig in a commercial, because 2% think it's dirty. What's next? Banning the consumption of pork and alcohol?

On the other hand, I am opposed to the prohibition for Muslim women working in the city administration of Antwerp, Belgium, to wear the headscarf if their work brings them into contact with the public. What's so terrible about a lady wearing a headscarf?

In the first example, a minority custom is imposed on the majority (no pigs), in the second a majority custom is imposed on the minority (no headscarf). Nobody should impose anything on anybody else and everyone will be able to live in peace with due respect for others.

Once I was traveling in China in the company of an Egyptian colleague who had amassed a rather voluminous amount of documentation. So I volunteered to help her carry it. To thank me, she offered me a coffee in the airport coffee shop. Of course I preferred to have a beer (or two). I politely inquired whether she had any objection that I drank a beer in her company. Well, of course not, she replied. When I picked up the bill, she was surprised, because she wanted to pay the tab. I said no, because I didn't want her to pay with her money for my beer. She was pleasantly surprised about my consideration for her customs and religious prohibitions. No clash of civilizations here!

Now where our those little piggies to bring on the Year of the Pig?

Evangelicals & the Devil

Christian conservatives in the U.S. are mobilizing to push voters in the upcoming mid-term elections to vote for Republicans. The anti-abortion, pro-marriage, anti-gay-marriage, anti-porn, anti-stem-cell-research bunch is terrified that the Democrats will win a majority in the House and the Senate. They are not satisfied with what the Republicans have achieved, but the message is “Hold your nose and vote”.

They are defending so-called unborn life, but don’t care about the murders of 650,000 formerly living Iraqis. They are pro-marriage, but only if the two partners can make babies so they can grow up to die in Iraq or anywhere else their president tells them to die. They are anti-porn because it depicts the act of love-making, but rejoice in the act of war. And according to them, stem cell research has to be banned because you should not try to heal yourself since God will decide about that.

It is this Christian fundamentalism which is a threat to the world. Bush is not the Devil, of course. He is only the war-criminal-in-chief. But voting for his Republican followers comes pretty close to voting for the Devil’s friends. God-fearing Christians beware! If – and only if – God exists, he will remember…

Let’s hope the American voters for once make the right choice and turn the coming two years into a living hell for George W.