topic Re: All cultures are equal??? in Community Spirit

All cultures are equal???

village_person — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 22:30:36 GMT

As we are supposed to celebrate the many cultures now in Australia why should we be concerned about 12-year-olds getting married. In order to stifle our questioning and concerns about the cultural 'delights' (think FGM, subjugation of distaff groups etc) of some cultures we were asked to accept that all cultures are equal.

Why should we be concerned about child brides? All cultures are equal aren't they?

Sydney woman ignored over child bride reports

A SYDNEY woman says she has tried to report multiple counts of child marriage involving girls as young as 12, and was completely ignored.

Bee al-Darraj, 24, told The Australian she had contacted multiple authorities concerning the forced marriage of girls she knew at her Sydney Islamic school.

The Iraqi-born student says she was ignored by the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the NSW Department of Family and Community Services.

The NSW government only last month declared the state was in the grip of a child bride crisis.

Etc.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/sydney-woman-ignored-over-child-bride-reports/news-story/bff122c3fb17e903d0f23ca8ae8de7f8

Re: All cultures are equal???

davidc4430 — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 22:39:41 GMT

how old are the husbands? are we taking about boys of similar ages to the girls or dirty old men?

if its boys under 18 then what can you do?

if its dirty old men, hang the barstards.

Re: All cultures are equal???

kopenhagen5 — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 23:41:55 GMT

Simple, if you want to come to Australia, you live by the rules and laws of Australia.

I find Australians generally are already very tolerant and welcoming of other cultures.

No matter what visa you are on, you sign accepting the laws of the country for yourself and your children.

I'm a very reasonable and flexible person but I am getting a little sick n tired of some groups of people, want want want, me me me.

Re: All cultures are equal???

*tippy*toes* — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 00:02:44 GMT

David, generally they are much older than the girl and the girl has no say in it, that's why they are labelled as forced marriages rather than arranged marriages that some cultures do. It's not unheard of that girls as young as 9 are sold off as brides and die on their wedding night due to the "husband" consumating the "marriage". In fact, the incidence is quite high. Those girls are the lucky ones. They are then no longer subect to being raped daily, multiple times every day by their "husband" and being forced to carry children before their bodies are capable.

This sort of thing isn't just happening in the "mother country", it's happening here too and when they are caught, they scream that it's their culture, so little if anything happens to them. We are told we have to accommodate all cultures and accept their way of life is different or we are called bigots and racists. There are laws for them and laws for us. If we went to their country we would be expected to abide by their laws, yet when they come to our country, we adust our laws for them.

If an Australian man married a 12yo girl he'd be locked up for being a paedophile. If someone from the middle east does it, they are told to be quiet about it and told it's OK because that's their culture. This country is racist towards its own people so as not to upset the immigrants.

Re: All cultures are equal???

village_person — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 00:24:34 GMT

@davidc4430 wrote:
how old are the husbands? are we taking about boys of similar ages to the girls or dirty old men?

Who cares. All cultures are equal.

Re: All cultures are equal???

davidc4430 — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 04:19:29 GMT

what exactly can authorities here do if the child has gone/been taken to iraq and been married off to some old guy?

they behead people in iran, we dont stop it. why not? maybe because its in iran.

china executes who knows how many every year, we dont stop buying carp off them.

if anyone knows of children being married to old guys here and the authorities do nothing, thats different. if that happens and nothings done the media should be all over it if they are doing their job.

Re: All cultures are equal???

icyfroth — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 07:58:24 GMT

All cultures are equal in the sense they must be respected in the lands of their origin.

If persons enter into a country ( for various reasons) with a different culture of their own, they should respect the law of that land and not try to impose their cultrure on the host country.

Re: All cultures are equal???

bright.ton42 — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 06:21:31 GMT

Yes, and it's not happening here, we are so 'democratic'!!.

Re: All cultures are equal???

happyroo_bunji — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 06:58:04 GMT

@*tippy*toes* wrote:

This sort of thing isn't just happening in the "mother country", it's happening here too and when they are caught, they scream that it's their culture, so little if anything happens to them. We are told we have to accommodate all cultures and accept their way of life is different or we are called bigots and racists. There are laws for them and laws for us. If we went to their country we would be expected to abide by their laws, yet when they come to our country, we adust our laws for them.

Where is the proof that these forced underage marriages occur here in Australia?

Re: All cultures are equal???

mloreason — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 08:12:51 GMT

My question too. Where is the evidence?

Re: All cultures are equal???

mloreason — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 08:21:24 GMT

This country's "own" people are the people you are talking about - if they have become Australian citizens. So they are bound by this country's laws. It is illegal to marry someone under the age of 16. So if girls under that legal age are being forced to marry then the law is there to protect them. First though it needs to be reported. So perhaps what is needed is better education so that these young girls are aware of their rights.

Re: All cultures are equal???

icyfroth — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 19:50:54 GMT

Educated or not, Australian Muslim girls still will be duty bound to follow the customs and expectations of their own culture.

To report it would be to bring shame on the community and possibly put the girl into danger of her life if she were to do so. What young girl of 12 or so dare to go against her parents and run to the police?

Quite easy to disguise a child bride as a relative of the family if authorities come knocking.

Who'd sort out the family tree?

Re: All cultures are equal???

village_person — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 22:53:53 GMT

@mloreason wrote:
This country's "own" people are the people you are talking about - if they have become Australian citizens. So they are bound by this country's laws. It is illegal to marry someone under the age of 16. So if girls under that legal age are being forced to marry then the law is there to protect them. First though it needs to be reported. So perhaps what is needed is better education so that these young girls are aware of their rights.

Our laws are only good if our 'representatives' enforce them. At one time we had a judge who haunted the toilets at Wynyard station looking for young boys. The police special branch drove him home rather than create a scandal. Our fabulous 'law' being enforced by police.

Re: All cultures are equal???

peteepie — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 01:32:55 GMT

Thought we were talking about Australia, not Tassie.

Re: All cultures are equal???

mloreason — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 07:45:52 GMT

I know. Let's just ban them from coming to Australia. That will solve the problem of child brides. Oh wait.....

Re: All cultures are equal???

icyfroth — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 08:20:57 GMT

I know you're being a bit playful, there, plor, but banning all Muslims from entering Australia is neither a workable nor desirable option.

The problem of getting them to recognise our law as being over that of the Prophet's is a whole 'nother matter, however.

Re: All cultures are equal???

tezza2844 — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 08:44:53 GMT

@icyfroth wrote:

Educated or not, Australian Muslim girls still will be duty bound to follow the customs and expectations of their own culture.

Unfortunately these "customs" apply to cultures as well as nationalities. There are countries where arranged marriages are the norm and there are religions which require their " flock" to marry within their religion(sect). In a lot of cases age is not a consideration to stop these practices

Re: All cultures are equal???

village_person — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 09:13:35 GMT

@peteepie wrote:

Thought we were talking about Australia, not Tassie.

Ooooh, that's a bit naughty. We might have taswegians viewing this topic 🙂

Re: All cultures are equal???

icyfroth — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 10:02:18 GMT

@tezza2844 wrote:
@icyfroth wrote:

Educated or not, Australian Muslim girls still will be duty bound to follow the customs and expectations of their own culture.

Unfortunately these "customs" apply to cultures as well as nationalities. There are countries where arranged marriages are the norm and there are religions which require their " flock" to marry within their religion(sect). In a lot of cases age is not a consideration to stop these practices

Your point being?

Re: All cultures are equal???

johcaschro — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 15:45:45 GMT

Of course all cultures are not equal,

but rather than discussing the relative pros and cons of certain "cultures" (I could rave on and on about our dismal footy-mates-and-all-with-the-long-suffering-wifey-bringing-the-beers-to-the-men-who-think-they-can-cook-steak-and-snags-on-a-barbie-and have-the-apron-to-prove-it, type of "culture"),

perhaps we could better discuss the sort of culture where a young woman makes a complaint to the police which is cavalierly ignored, maybe because of certain fears within the culture of the police force (and within Govt too) that, if responded to and investigated vigorously, they might offend the cultural sensitivities of a minority of others who think that their culture which condones forcible child marriage is the you-beaut new-Australian way to go.

and who have the votes to back up that opinion