WHY IS ABC PROMOTING MUSLIM WOMEN IN SCARFS
Why does the ABC promote Islam, and not Christianity, Buddhism or Hinduism? Why does it promote Muslim women in head scarfs, and not ones with their hair free?
And why does it promote one – Yassmin Abdel-Magied – who ludicrously claims Islam “is the most feminist religion” and seeks advice from the hard-line Islamist Hizb ut Tahrir?
Male radio and television presenters have been ordered off air at the ABC with females taking over their roles to highlight ‘change and gender equality’.
No male presenters will be heard or seen on the ABC on Wednesday as the public broadcaster stacks the deck with females for International Women’s Day.
Presenters such as Michael Rowland and Mark Colvin will be replaced with women, including Yassmin Abdel-Magied, who recently caused outrage on ABC’s Q&A program for her views on Sharia Law, who will feature heavily.
Dr Susan Carland, wife of The Project host Waleed Aly, will also make an appearance, because of her expertise in areas such as ‘the modern Muslim experience’.
How representative of Carland of the “modern Muslim experience”? Unlike the vast majority of Muslims here, she is a convert from a Christian family. She is also an academic and wife of a television celebrity.
But back to the start: why is the ABC not only promoting Islam so aggressively, and promoting specifically women who cover their heads?
It is also recklessly setting up Abdel-Magied for failure – and trapping her in her hardline Muslim identity.
Abdel-Magied is just 26. The ABC and SBS are rewarding her for being Muslim – and recognisably Muslim in her trademark colourful head scarfs. Her career prospects would dive if she renounced her faith or the symbol of her submission to it. That is straitjacketing a very young woman at an age where she might be expected to be exploring her identity, not freezing it.
And then the ABC trundles her out into the culture wars, when she is bound to face criticisms for her naive and simplistic promotion of her faith, and her denial of its manifest and dangerous weaknesses.
This is exploitation of a vulnerable young woman by the ABC, in service of its rather sinister agenda.
POST SCRIPT
And why the tokenism and segregation? I thought the aim was to treat people equally – regardless of gender. How does turning the ABC into a girls-own for a day advance that aim?
And if this is truly a serious step, then why not make the arrangement permanent?
Or is this the truth: tomorrow will be the chance for lots of women on the ABC to prove they aren’t good enough for the other 364 days of the year?
UPDATE
Sky host Peta Credlin, who permanently co-hosts an all female show with former NSW premier Kristina Keneally, questioned why the ABC did not promote women the rest of the year.
“This is nothing more than a token gesture by the ultimate organisation of tokenism, the ABC,” she said.
“Where’s their commitment to women over the other 364 days of the year? Surely we want the best in the media all day every day, be it men or women.”
Labor MP Anne Aly questioned why women weren’t already in many of the ABC’s top radio and television jobs.
“It’s a bit tokenistic to me. Gender equality is more than just that,” she said.
Sky News political reporter Laura Jayes agreed it was tokenism: “The ABC should do something more permanent if they really believe in it, it shouldn’t be a token one-day event.”
International Women’s Day is a pathetic excuse for women already dripping in privilege to pat themselves on the back for succeeding in perpetuating faux gender narratives and securing deluxe funding for another year.
It is odd for a Muslim to talk about gender equality. If feminism is pushing women to the bottom of the heap, Islam is feminist. The ABC is twisted. It pushes the Muslim agenda and the LGBTI barrow also. Islam makes no secret of the fact that it despises women and homosexuals. Women may take comfort from the fact that is not a death sentence to be a Muslim female. There is not much else for them to be glad about. And for the non-Muslim Australia, the ABC decides to discriminate against 50% of the population for a day. Your taxes at work. They are sacking 200 staff. The should shut the whole organisation down.
Another dose of drek from the ABC! It’s a manifestation of a Stockholm Syndrome variant. In this case, as a result of regular ABC Ministry of Propaganda reminders, large numbers of people willingly become blind to the deadly nature of their oppressors whilst showing feelings of trust and affection towards them.
Lets hope that the current round of cuts gets rid of the likes of Yassmin Abdel-Magied and that rubbish Q&A.