Personal bias – the headscarves in your pictures look lovely – ‘real’ hijab are different and unmistakable. Those set my teeth on edge, which I try never to let show.
Why does a hijab do that, you may ask?
It tells me that a sociologically invasive species has arrived. This is a melting pot, but lurking behind every lovely, polite, peaceful, helpful Muslim face is the hope that, some day and some how, Sharia law will displace the laws of this country. Fat chance, but that hope gives me the willies.
Wikipedia gives a thorough, level discussion of the roots and terms of Sharia law: Sharia – Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The wiki article tends to downplay some of its harsher terms. But as an illustration, Sharia law became a public issue in Dearborn MI ten or a dozen years ago when the then-majority Muslim population wanted it to become the law of the city. In that place, at that time, non-Muslims discovered that their right of free speech did not exist when it came to a comparative discussion of the Muslim and Christian faiths. The police handcuffed the Christians who came to engage in discussion, and led them away.
Gentle is as gentle does; I find it difficult to look at a hijab and believe it represents anything that is inherently gentle in the way America is gentle to faith systems arriving from the far side of the world.
Yes it’s shameful and I’m not proud. It’s always best to take people at face value, and Muslim faces are, in this country, almost universally peaceful.
The initial question refers to the police fairly protecting the law-abiding from harassment; of course they do. Asking the reverse question regarding police in Muslim countries protecting Christians from being harassed could be more interesting; for instance an American who crosses from Israel into Gaza is a rarity and draws deep suspicion. No Jew dares to try that.
Oh, and Another Thing 