Chicks Not Oppressed, Do Really Well Under Islam, Proclaims Harpoon

When last we heard from Harpoon Siddiqui, Order of Canada recipient and the Toronto Star's resident shill for Islam, he was hypocritically berating hypocrisy. Today, similarly, he decries what he calls the "deliberate distortion" of the lives of Muslim women--a feat that can only be described as a deliberate distortion:

The two most cited reasons in support of Quebec's anti-niqab bill are that the veil is an imposed oppression since no woman would ever voluntarily wear it and, second, that the province's proposal to deny public services to niqabi women is far less punitive than the strictures imposed on non-Muslims in some Muslim countries.

The first proposition is conjecture. The second is misguided moral equivalency.

We can't, and don't, run Canada by the rules of theocracies. Ours is a secular democracy, in which all citizens are equal and must be treated as such – not as a favour to them but as a duty to our Constitution.

This is so obvious a point as to be moot. But it is not with those who argue, quite seriously, that since Iran discriminates against Baha'is and Jews, and Saudi Arabia does not allow non-Muslims to even hold public religious services, Canadian Muslims shouldn't complain if their rights are trampled.

Controversies are the lifeblood of democracy but they also provide insights into public prejudices.

It is commonly assumed that Muslim women the world over are oppressed, so they must be in Canada as well. Even intelligent people, including some academics, routinely parrot that line, with zero proof.

Muslim women are oppressed all right. But are they any more so than others?...

Harpoon's answer, based on all sorts of credible data, is a resounding "no". So who are you going to believe--the guy who's doing his utmost to blow smoke whilst sharia creeps in on little cat's feet, or the truth?