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Newsstand: November 19, 2009
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The Art of Not Knowing
Toronto Life has stepped in it again.
The cover story of August's issue was about gun violence, an article based on a set of false premises that was publicly dismissed as fear-mongering "bilge" by Doug Bell, one of Toronto Life's own contributors and, perfectly, its former media critic. (Toronto Life's article was also, incidentally, one the reasons we started Metrocide.)
December's cover story is about Aqsa Parvez, the Mississauga girl who was killed a year ago, allegedly by her father and brother. The Parvez family was devoutly Muslim, and, because Aqsa's murder may have been committed in part because she violated the family's beliefs about proper dress and conduct—beliefs founded in Islamic law—many labeled it an "honour killing." The circumstances of her death gave it wildly disproportionate worldwide attention, fuelled in large part by xenophobia; as we wrote last year, "One isolated instance of brutal domestic violence, motivated by religion or not...has been spun out into a huge argument over the cultural divide between Islam and the West."
Toronto Life's article is more of the same. As D.B. Scott at Canadian Magazines notes, the feature is "a fairly straightforward profile of a tragic event," but it "trespass[es] against a standard journalistic rule: don't raise questions you don't answer." Namely? Stuff from the article like this:
Canada prides itself on its multiculturalism and, to varying degrees of success, condemns institutionalized patriarchy. But there is growing concern that recent waves of Muslim immigrants aren't integrating or embracing our liberal values. Aqsa's death—coming in the wake of debates about the acceptability of sharia law, disputes over young girls wearing hijabs at soccer games, and the arrest of the Toronto 18—stoked fears about religious zealotry in our midst. Is it possible that Toronto has become too tolerant of cultural differences?"Nowhere is this question even addressed, let alone explored," says Scott. Indeed, Doug Bell's complaint about the content of Toronto Life's gun violence feature—that it "does a good job of reporting the facts on the ground but fails in even one instance to place this 'trend' in any sort of context"—could just as easily apply to the Parvez feature. As we wrote, again, last year, "In a city with thousands upon thousands of Muslims, fundamentalist or not, there has been no rash of honour killings, no trend that this murder participates in."
As it turns out, Muslims are not super-huge fans of being collectively "other"ed. A Facebook group against the article popped up late last week, and a press conference, hosted yesterday, dismissed the article as “Islamophobic,” “racist,” “sensationalistic,” and “ignor[ing] the greater issue of violence against women." Toronto Life editor Sarah Fulford, meanwhile, defended the piece to Masthead Online. “We wanted to do what magazines do best," she said, "which it to flesh out [Aqsa's] story in a long form magazine piece. Big picture. Lots of context. Lots of reporting.” Uh, about that...
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The story was raked over the coals this A.M. on Metro Morning, too. Toronto Life: style over substance, time and again.
How many of Toronto Life's feature article forays into 'serious' matters DON'T miss their mark?
Without commenting on the content of the article, I will say that at first glance the title seems to be pretty insensitive.
So now we need a trend in Toronto or Canada to validate the issue?
"Honour" killings and maimings are a huge and growing problem around the world. Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, France, UK, Netherlands, Sweden... But we need stats in Canada to make this a valid concern? How about the radical political movements in Canada preparing the ground for Shariah? A substantial terrorist population (muslim, hindu, and sikh) who have been caught in flagrante and exposed devastating weaknesses in Canadian security (Tamil students from Waterloo exporting arms, Sikhs blowing up airplanes and delivering beatings to Indo-Canadian journalists, Ahmed Ressam...)?
Bringing this issue out into the open is key, and the courage of Toronto Life needs to be celebrated, rather than a vicious nitpicking attack. It's nearly taboo in Europe thanks to a fear of offending, the conflation of multiculturalism with the acceptance of any behaviour that is claimed to be cultural, and a more than understandable self-preservation instinct. No one will talk about creeping jihad and shariah because they're afraid they'll have their head cut off, be stabbed to death in the street, or be shot by a leftist inspired to "defend" minorities (just, you know, randomly coming up with hypotheses and not mentioning actual events or anything).
How many young women need to die or be disfigured before this is an issue worth considering? Who cares if people's sensibilities are offended. Sacrificing women's lives so as to keep certain people happy is disgusting, racist, and myisogynistic.
"Traditional" muslim attitudes to women need to be explored and eviscerated. Anyone who tries to enforce these kinds of femicidal attitudes needs to be face Draconian punishment. Canada needs to cause great offence to many people to ensure that these pernicious attitudes and behaviours do not establish themselves here as they have in Holland, France and the UK. We are in grave danger of having no go areas around Toronto just as there are in so many European cities.
misogynistic... damn thought I'd fixed that one
I haven't read the article yet, but I tend to lean toward the opinion that this issue deserves to be explored and talked about, even if all the answers are able to be found.
Seeing the way the CIC went after Macleans makes it seem like there is an attempt to make certain issues so PC that they can't even be discussed.
Yep, Toronto Life's feature articles are shit. I get the magazine every month and I am just about done in 30 minutes, that's as much content there is.
Last month they ran a piece on Igor Kenk, the (suspected) bike thief - now that was a weird piece of delusional hagiography.
But the problem, imho is that they just don't probe deep enough, just pretend to do so.
What's the solution? Ban Islam? Ban Muslims from immigrating? Forced assimilation? Perhaps even make murder illegal?
...
Abortion doctor shootings and the Phelpses show the cultural divide between Christianity (all of it, sure) and the West.
Ah, rek is just trying to cinch that award for himsaelf.
Is it wrong that when I got my copy of Toronto Life last week, I was more disgusted by the horrific cover design than the contents within?
It doesn't have be all about immigration or whatever. This happened in Chicago where a dad killed his entire family. No one made a peep about the fact that he was muslim they just treated him like a criminal that he is.
@RealityCheck: "A substantial terrorist population (muslim, hindu, and sikh)"?! Only non-Christians are terrorists. Male sin is the sole fault of women. Your accusations are rich with irony.
To borrow a phrase, sacrificing people's Charter freedoms so as to keep you happy would be disgusting, racist, and misanthropic. There are problems in the Muslim community, as in any other, but the Toronto Life article contributes as much as you do toward actual solutions—absolutely nothing.
@Panko: Vote with your wallet. Unsubscribe. Support something better—I like The Walrus, but the choice is yours.
I was mostly creeped out by the use of such a, uh--for lack of better word--sexy photo of a girl who was most certainly underage.
This was basically a two-interview story, turned around quickly and sexed up to give TL an easy cover piece. It doesn't stand up to any kind of close scrutiny.
"She refused to wear a headscarf and paid the ultimate price..." I haven't seen a come-on line like that since the old "True Detective" magazine days.
Does anyone know which way TL's circulation figures are going? They're looking more and more desperate and they can't even get middle-class-parents-with-suv-baby-buggy stories right, let alone Toronto's so-called "first honour killing." To her credit, Sarah Fulford is printing more and more letters from pissed-off readers. But perhaps that's all she gets these days.
The worst thing about this type of story is it distracts from the real culprit - a controlling and abusive father.
Toronto Life covers the stories no other publication has the fortitude to touch. Hard-hitting issues like where to get the best poutine, and cheap gifts for people you don't really like.
if this was an undergraduate piece, it would have received a C at most... it is mostly just bad writing, with no attempt to explore the thesis presented in the first paragraph (as your article states) and two completely different topics being discussed.
My problem with the piece -apart from the fact that a complete nincompoop unqualified "writer" is taking it on - is the audience it assumes is reading it. It disqualifies a major section of Toronto just by its structure. Yes, some people choose to defy the law and make up their own versions of Islam, and killing in the name of the religion IS practiced in some parts of the world, there is no denying that, nor that it is wrong. But the VOICE that the article uses suggests that only white non-muslims read TL, that non-muslims are the only real Canadians, that ALL muslims are the same, that "our" values - whatever that is (pluralism, anyone?) are superior. If "our" values include naive imbecilic prejudicial journalism, then I'm not sure I want them.
and the cover - well that's just tasteless. TL shows absolutely no respect for the poor girl. it just makes me so angry that TL is laughing all the way to the bank with this one, what with unprecedented number of hits on their website...
To employ the same gratuitous misinterpretation and selective reading y'all are using against Toronto Life, I suppose Torontoist is clearly, obviously, without-any-other-possible-meaning suggesting that Aqsa Parvez was "Aqsing for it." For shame.
And let's all please keep in mind that the squiggly little symbol at the end of this sentence--"Is it possible that Toronto has become too tolerant of cultural differences?"--indicates that readers can find a perfectly valid answer in "No."
@ guest [9]
Ya I agree the cover was really bad. I mean the effect that they were obviously going for was an airbrushed Aaliyah-type tribute, but it just came off looking all weird, and with bad colour choices for the text.
I subscribed for several years to Toronto Life but stopped about a year ago. While the cover kept getting flashier, the quality of the contents seemed to decline with every issue. Sadly, even at the low price of $24/year, the magazine simply became unpleasant to receive (ditto for Maclean's several years ago). They kept sending it to me for free for a long time but I was happy when they finally stopped.
I think it is a topic that should be explored but do agree with paigesix and others that the cover is creepy and inappropriate. I think Sarah Jafri’s piece in the Post http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/11/11/sarah-jafri-on-toronto-life-aqsa-parvez-and-the-unspoken-epidemic-of-domestic-abuse-in-pakistani-canadian-households.aspx
Is pretty spot on. We should be careful not to confuse a religious issue with a cultural one.
As you can see in the comments though others believe the two to be inextricable
I get both Radar and Toronto Life, and when I saw this issue of TL in my mailbox, I thought it was some rogue, leftover Radar that slipped through after they folded (for the second time). I generally like Toronto Life's covers, but this one was just bizarre.
Islam contributes nothing but grief.
And this article is just another example of another ordinary day in the world of Mohammad and friends.
Can Torontoist staff do something about #22? The "Report this" link directs mail to a nonexistent address.
warmflash's hate-on for Islam is well-documented, but I'm not sure it warrants his comments being unpublished.
I would agree with David but maybe linking to another piece from him isn't the the best move either?
Ked, are you afraid he might gain followers? Heh, even garbage has it's place on the internet. If internet forums allow open discussion for anonymous smack wads like me, why not add one more? I'm just waiting on him to start preaching Leviticus. Mmmm, good'ol God & Guns.
Just to reiterate.
This should be a legal issue not a cultural one.
Breaking the law is not a cultural issue. It is a legal one.
This man is a murderer in Canada. The issue of religion and culture here is moot.
At least that's what I think.
Muslim Man Kills Daughter for Refusing Arranged Marriage
Posted GMT 7-7-2008 21:50:33
Atlanta -- A Pakistani man, apparently upset his daughter wanted out of her arranged marriage, strangled her with a bungee cord, according to arrest warrants revealed Monday afternoon in Clayton County Magistrate Court.
Chaudhry Rashid, 54, is charged with murder in the death of his daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, 25, at the family's Utah Drive home in Jonesboro. Rashid's wife, Gina Rashid, 49, called police just before 2 a.m. Sunday and told them she had been awakened and heard screaming in a language she could not understand. Gina Rashid, who is African-American, left the house out of fear and called police from nearby.
Rashid is being held without bond in the Clayton County Jail. His first court appearance was continued until Tuesday afternoon when Chief Magistrate Daphne Walker learned his primary language is Urdu. Walker said an interpreter will be brought in to help with the judicial proceedings.
Rashid is being represented by Tammi Long of the Begner and Begner Law Firm. Long declined to speak to reporters after the brief hearing. Several of Rashid's relatives attended the hearing but also declined to talk about the case. However, Walker allowed Long to give Rashid a handwritten note in Urdu "of comfort" from his relatives.
Gina Rashid did not attend the hearing. But she told police Sunday Kanwal wanted to end the arranged marriage and had not spoken to her father in two months because of their disagreement on the matter.
Kanwal lived at the couple's Utah Drive home when she was not with her husband, who resides in Chicago, Clayton police Officer Tim Owens said. She hadn't seen the husband in three months, he said.
Police said Chaudhry Rashid owns a pizza parlor in Clayton County, while his daughter worked at a Wal-Mart. Clayton property records show Kanwal owned the Utah Drive home with a relative, Hamayun Rashid.
When police arrived at the family's home Sunday morning, Rashid told them simply, "My daughter is dead," police said Monday. When police asked him how Rashid knew she was dead, Rashid reportedly said nothing and hung his head.
By Kath Jefcoats
www.ajc.com
Saudi Arabia: Muslim Father Kills Daughter for Converting to Christianity
Added: Aug 14th, 2008 4:40 AM
The Price of Teaching and Exporting Hate
Washington, D.C. (ICC) -- The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that a Saudi Arabian man cut out the tongue of his daughter and burned her to death after finding out that she had converted to Christianity.
The girl came to know about Jesus Christ through the internet, according to Gulf News. Her father found about her conversion and killed her �following a heated debate on religion� the source indicated. The man is currently in custody. There is no indication as to the killer�s identity or the date of the crime except �that the killing happened recently.�
The killer works for the mutaween (Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice), an arm of the government that enforces religious purity and is the government�s face of persecution to Christians in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is intolerant of Christianity and non-Muslim faiths. Its education curriculum openly inculcates hatred against Christians and other non-Muslims through their textbooks and teachers.
The Saudi Arabian officials are using their huge oil wealth to export Wahabbism (the most intolerant version of Islam) to other countries including in the United States. In its recent press release regarding the Saudi government school in Northern Virginia, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom indicated that, according text books at the school �It is permissible for a Muslim to kill an apostate (a convert from Islam)�.
From Ethiopia to Indonesia, Saudi Arabia�s oil money is fueling the killings of Christians and destruction of their property.
ICC�s president, Jeff King, said that �Saudi Arabia has to treat Christians with the same respect that it wants Muslims to be treated in other countries. It has to stop exporting hate and persecution against Christians in other countries.�
Pakistan: Father kills daughter over Christian boyfriend
"The accused father presented himself before the police for arrest saying that he had killed his daughter over her bad character."
"Father shoots daughter for honour," from The News, September 14:
LAHORE - A man shot his 17-year-old daughter for honor on the Lower Mall. The police said that Nazia, the daughter of Hanif, a resident of Mohni Road Mohalla Qureshian, fled with her lover, a Christian boy, some one week ago. On Saturday, she returned home and took poisonous pills fearing a strong reaction from her parents. The girl, who fell unconscious under the drug's effect, was shot dead by her farther [sic]. The body was removed to morgue for autopsy. The accused father presented himself before the police for arrest saying that he had killed his daughter over her bad character. A case has been registered against the accused father for killing her daughter.
Durban father who kills daughter had case postponed PDF Print E-mail
The News - Latest
2008-08-11:
The case against a Durban father accused of beating his daughter to death with a belt was postponed at the Durban Regional Court today.
Chatsworth resident Raveendran Pillay allegedly beat 6 year-old, Nikita Pillay, because she returned home from school with dirty clothes.
The little girl died later at RK Khan Hospital.
The incident took place in March 2006 at the family's Grimsby Road flat.
The story made national headlines and prompted a public outcry against child abusers in the Chatsworth community.
Pillay was initially charged with murder but it was amended to culpable homicide.
Iraqi father claims God is ‘blessing him’ for killing his daughter
AN Iraqi father, who was “congratulated by police” in Basra after he beat his 17-year-old daughter to death because she had become infatuated with a British soldier, said in an interview in today’s Observer that:
Death was the least she deserved. I don’t regret it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion.
Abdel-Qader Ali, who along with his two sons killed student Rand, said he was unrepentant about her death. His only regret is that he did not kill his daughter at birth.
If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her.
Abdel-Qader Ali was arrested after the killing, but released after just two hours in detention because this was an honour killing. Sgt Ali Jabbar of Basra police said:
Not much can be done when we have an ‘honour killing’. You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws.
September 25, 2008
Muslim protestors shouted "kill the gays" Al-Arabiya
Dozens of Muslim protesters attacked participants of Bosnia's first-ever gay rights festival in
Sarajevo on Wednesday, leaving at least two journalists and one police officer injured.
The scuffle broke out at the end of the opening ceremony of the four-day festival in front of the Academy of Fine Arts in downtown Sarajevo.
Police said at least eight people were injured when attackers dragged some people from vehicles and beat others in the street. A policeman was also injured.
Sarajevo hospital said six people were admitted with head wounds and that a Danish visitor was the most seriously hurt.
"When I was getting out of the academy, I was suddenly struck in the back," Pedja Kojovic, a local journalist, told reporters. "Three other people then came running and beat me up."
Emir Imamovic, a journalist who tried to help Kojovic, was severely beaten, police said.
A heavy police deployment prevented more violence from spoiling the event, with a security cordon keeping protestors shouting "kill the gays" and "Allahu Akbar" (a Muslim expression meaning God is Greatest) at bay.
About 50 people participated in the opening day of the festival, which had already prompted fears of violence.
Islamic media campaigned this month against the organization of the festival during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and anonymous death threats were made against its organizers and media that supported it.
Organizers said the timing of the indoor festival of art, film and workshops about sexual minorities was coincidental.
Many, including members of various ethnic political parties, have declared homosexuality an illness and labeled the behavior deviant.
Sarajevo, known for centuries for the peaceful coexistence of its Muslims, Christians and Jews, became a majority Muslim city after the 1992-95 war.
Female Muslim Group Urged Followers To Kill Gay People
01 Sep 2008
London
A new Channel 4 documentary has filmed a group of female preachers at a high profile London mosque who are urging followers to kill gay people and view all non-Muslims as "vile."
The Dispatches programme shows the group teach their extremist views at the The London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre, known as the Regent’s Park Mosque.
The programme is a follow-up to the controversial Undercover Mosque documentary which provoked a police investigation after those included accused the producers of distorting sermons and inflaming tensions.
The women seen in the new doc are preaching a version of the Muslim faith known as Wahhabism, which is followed in Saudi Arabia.
The reporter secretly films sermons given to the women-only congregation in which female preachers recite extremist and intolerant beliefs.
In front of hundreds of women and children, a preacher calls for adulterers, homosexuals, women who act like men and Muslim converts to other faiths to be killed, saying: "Kill him, kill him. You have to kill him, you understand. This is Islam."
"We are not going to be like animals...or to be like the homosexuals, God save us from that, you understand? We have to take the judgment, the judgment is to kill them," one of the women is shown as saying.
The mosque’s director Ahmed Al-Dubayan is also reportedly shown saying the women were not authorised by the mosque.
Undercover Mosque: The Return airs on Channel 4 tomorrow at 8pm.
Ok, at first I thought it was cute, but now he's just spamming copy & paste.
Matty: But his reasoning for committing murder is culturally motivated. I mean c'mon people. Lets call a spade a spade. How many decades of angry guys blowing shit up yelling "Allah hu Akbar!" do we have to live through before we connect the dots?
chenyip and warmflash: Grow a pair and openly state you think Islam should be banned, or Muslims forced to deconvert, or Muslims banned from immigrating, or anything that might be a solution to the religion-motivated crimes.
Go ahead.
And then come out against Christianity for all of the abortion clinic bombings and assassinations and ties to white supremacy. Obviously if Islam is incompatible with our Western values because it promotes murder, Christianity is just as bad.
OK. IMAGINE NO RELIGION.
Maybe Canada should open catechumen centres.
Finally, warmflash makes a sensible comment! Whatever the true back-story to the tragedy of Aqsa Parvez, it cannot be denied that much, if not most, of the evil in the world has been perpetrated in the name of one god or another.
You know, I didn't think it was all that bad an article. Why the heck are you debating or critiquing warmflash when what he is posting has zippo to do with the post at hand?
tyrannosaurus_rek: I don't think anyone should be forced into anything. But I do believe that newly arrived immigrants from whatever race, creed or background, observe and adhere to the laws and social norms of Canadian society. But I mean, isn't that just being Captain Obvious?
It's beyond me why anyone would emigrate to another country and remain beholden to their homeland's values while rejecting their new country's set of beliefs. How does that make any sense?
That's like me moving to Iran only to decry Islam, parade my girlfriend around in revealing clothing, and ridicule the locals for not liking pulled pork. How is that even logical?
And you know what? I'm not singling out Muslims because Christians are just as bad. I've spent my fair share of time in Jacksonville, Florida to know how twisted the Christian conservatives are. But please, lets not sugar coat the fact that ALOT of the Islamic belief system is plain and simple, ass backwards.
But hey man, if you are all into stoning the shit out of your wife because she looked at Tony Romo with a twinkle in her eye, then by all means cast the first stone.
PS: Fuck religion.
Expertly dodged, chenyip. Whether it's an 'honour killing' or a mugging gone bad, murder is illegal regardless of the perpetrator's religion.
Let's keep in mind, however, that mainstream and reasonable Christian leaders openly and loudly condemn the acts of violence undertaken against those who perform abortions.
People may condemn religion for the violence that people do in its name, but I believe that in all those cases -- war or murder -- religion is the excuse, not the reason.
People don't need religion, they need group therapy.