Quote:
Originally Posted by Frosstbyte
I'm not saying you should HAVE to, but saying that if it bothers YOU, the person choosing to fast, so much that you cannot tolerate being around someone who is eating, then you should be the one who moves, as opposed to forcing everyone else to accommodate your need. The difference is my way allows for people to choose to be very polite and not eat around those fasting, it allows people to not care who is fasting or not fasting and eat where they want, it allows for people who fast to choose to be around people who are fasting and it allows people who fast to choose to be around people who are eating.
My problem is with the government regulating everyone's behavior to appease a certain group's needs which are related solely to their religious interests. People are rude all the time, everywhere. And unless it's particularly egregious (or you live in Singapore), it's not a crime. I don't think eating in front of people who are fasting rises to the level that it ought to require a law punishing you (fairly severely) for doing so.
Now, a business (in your example) prohibiting employees from eating in public is an entirely different story, and I would be perfectly fine with allowing that rule. The key for me is that it is a crime.
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for me personally, i have no issues with people eating or drinking in front of me. whether in the office or outside of it.
coming from australia and growing up there, it was a normal part of life that when ramadan came along, there was no difference in how it was observed. all my friends ate and drank in front of me at school. no muslim had qualms with it. so much so that it really does not bother me even till now whether someone eats or drinks in front of me. i respected the australian culture. i followed the australian way, i had never had any problems with it. i grew up in a fairly conservative lebanese muslim household, but we respected the way australia worked.
ive been in the UAE for a year and a half now. as much as i enjoy my life here, theres a lot of things that i dont like and dissapprove of. a LOT. but at the end of the day i have a choice as to whetehr i want to be here or not.
at this point in time, i want to be here more than i dont, and i choose to want to be here. there are many laws that i find racist sexist and downright wrong. am i going to fight it? no. its not my country and they can run it as they please. the moment i stop enjoying living here, ill be gone in a flash.
for the time being, its quite easy living a western lifestyle here, similar and in many ways MORE western than many parts of Sydney.
what i do have a problem with though, is that as an australian muslim, i conformed to the way australia expected me to conform. i paid my taxes, i was never on welfare, i studied hard, integrated into society, even though some of those norms were alien to the way my parents grew up. our family respected australia and its customs and are indebted to it.
what i do have a problem with though is that this same frame of mind is ok for the goose but not ok for the gander.
why is it expected that easterners conform to 'your' way of life, but its not ok for a westerner to conform to an easterners way of life?
why do you ask that a whole nation change its laws that are intertwined into their religious practices to abolish their way.
why is it that the feeling of self righteousness is so ingrained into western thought that anything they deem is right obviously is?
then you ask..why do they hate us?...
its not because of your freedoms.
what im finding more and more is that the westerners will pick and choose what they want from this place, and leave everything they are not interested in. its ok to take their money, but its not ok to show some respect. nobody has a problem with people coming here to make a living, as long as theres mutual respect. for the most part this the case.
this isnt meant to be a political discussion, nor do i intend on makng it one. im just to show that the level of respect is not balanced.
i too have problems with the mentality of the government and how it runs a lot of its affairs. yes i do think that making this a crime is an overkill, but i barely think that a 260 dollar fine is a severe punishment for breaking the law.