Ethan Cox: More Islamophobia in Quebec | National Post

Valid commentary on the tragic case of a women who died when her scarf became caught up in a Montreal metro escalator:

In the case of such a human tragedy, should we not put aside the petty political point-scoring, and the scarcely-veiled racism, for long enough to acknowledge that a woman died, a fact equally tragic no matter what religion she practiced? Ultimately, the responsibility was on the Journal’s editors to exercise restraint, rather than reach for the most inflammatory headline available to them. Instead, they emptied a jerry-can of gasoline all over the tinderbox that is Quebec today, and lit a match. (For those who’d suggest that a complaint to the Quebec Press Council may be in order, no such luck — Quebecor withdrew from that voluntary oversight mechanism several years ago.)

Comments on social media, such as one which celebrated the death and expressed hope it would lead Muslims to learn their lesson about not wearing the hijab in Quebec, are indicative of the prejudice stirred up by this case. Another said simply enough “one less terrorist in Quebec.”

It’s time to take a stand against the creeping scourge of Islamophobia, which is a problem not only in Quebec, where the odious tone of the debate regarding the so-called Charter of Values has put it under a spotlight, but across the country. Because at the end of the day, a scarf is just a scarf, and how it was worn should matter as little as its colour in responding to a tragic accident.

Ethan Cox: More Islamophobia in Quebec | National Post.