You’re right to bring up Pauline Hanson, she had a lot of support and, as a result, she didn’t just go away when she met opposition and she had quite a lot of impact on our society. People reacted in a knee-jerk fashion to her also and wrote her off. I don’t think this kind of approach is ever prudent.

I myself know very little about this guy, other than what’s been reported and, even though I agree his comments in this case are absolutely indefensible, I think we need to look at matters more carefully, understand where his support base is coming from and engage it in some sort of meaningful dialect.

Getting rid of him may turn him into a martyr (ie. removing him from public life, as opposed to killing him). A siege situation is not something to settle for.

All I’m saying is that the media regularly whips the public into a frenzy over some public figure that no one really knows much about over one particular incident and this is blatant sensationalism. This makes me very uncomfortable and we should be more responsible as a population and not tear people to shreds on that basis.

“In Egypt we have four and a half million spinsters. The definition of a spinster is a woman who has reached 30, without ever receiving a marriage proposal. We have a spinster problem in the Arab world, and the last thing we want is for them to be sexually aroused. Circumcision of the girls who need it makes them chaste, dignified, and pure.” Dr Mohammad Wahdan, Azhar, 2006

LX – just because he has a lot of support doesnt mean he isnt a sick asshole, and it doesnt mean his supporters don’t have some major welcome-to-the-21st-century issues to deal with. Pauline Hanson had quite a bit of support too, remember.

If Australian Muslims want to support a leader who clearly harbours backward, blatantly offensive views toward women, then they need to prepare for a siege, because that crap will not be accepted in mainstream Australia.

If the Islamic community does ‘fire’ him then it could be perceived as a response to pressure from the Government and media. All this could and does contribute to a siege mentality within the australian islamic community.

Peep this, Waleed Aly opinion piece:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-hilali-row-has-fuelled-a-siege-mentality/2006/11/06/1162661612071.html

I guess there is no avoiding the fact that we need much broader dialogue and more effort to improve understanding of these issues, rather than whipping everyone (both sides) into a frenzy every time something “news-worthy” happens.

Re what Keelty said, it would be better if the comment was addressed to the Muslim community, and it read

“If YOU are not careful, YOU risk raising a generation of Australians who have a bias against Islam”.

Although I am generally on the Muslim side of the fence when it comes to opposing generalisations regarding Muslim people and Islam as a religion, this is one case where a lack of action by Muslim community leaders will lead to a legimate decrease in respect for the Muslim community as a whole in Australia.

What Hilali said was disgusting and wrong, and hints at the heart of one of the greatest sicknesses in the Islamic world – harassment of women. He needs to be fired, decisively, and Muslim leaders should distance themselves from his comments. Neither of these things are happening from what I can see….

Nice link Lil!
“”If we are not careful, we risk raising a generation of Australians who have a bias against Islam,” Keelty warned. “As I travel around the country and speak to different Islamic communities, you hear more and more stories of treatment of the Islamic community by members of our own wider community that really is substandard vilification.”