Even in the so-called freeworld countries racism exist

Source: WisdomToInspire.com

In Europe we may find lots of people who say they are a Christian, but in fact are just name Christians. They often do not know much about Christ and his teachings and often go against his teachings, what is worse.

Victor Uyanwanne, who lives in Lagos, Nigeria with his wife and two kids also knows that

There are people around the world who think that they are Christians simply because of the home or geographical location they were born into. {Being A Cultural Christian Is Not Enough}

Many people may think they are the owners of the place where they live and consider it to be for them alone. Some, like the majority of North Americans, forget that their ancestors took away the country from the original indigenous population.

Truths OfALostKid sees Mexican, black, white, Asian, Indian and wonders

Who are we

Mexican, black, white, asian, Indian.

…

The world says who you are and will not let go of that idea until you show what you are and how you are “different”

If I am of color I am now held to that standard will I be a typical failure or will I be “different” {Lost kid return home writing of 2018/01/23/}

and asks herself and her readers

Why is race important to anything? God made us brother and sisters love one another and do not assume who somebody is just for the flesh God gave them for he has made us all in his image and with the same love. {Lost kid return home writing of 2018/01/23/}

As an American she often wonders

does the racism here play out the same in different parts of the world? What does racism look like other places?

She also often wonders of the races within each country, undergo similar feelings

The world is so big there has to infinite potential of races and mixed races living in different countries. Are they accepted in there own country or are there still barriers and such around? How is the president in other countries ? Are they racist or are they for everyone? Please if you are from a different country explain to me how race all plays out in your country and all the different types of race and mixes there is! {Racism In America V.s The Rest Of The World?}

For her

The value of words and discipline are key! And the realization that this world is at your very finger tips and can be exactly what you’d like it to be. You don’t have to work violently to get results. {Racism In America V.s The Rest Of The World?}

Today many words are spoken by different political groups. also the once from the racist site get stronger and stronger and are not afraid to use any body who can fit in to push their agenda.

Edmark M. Law says

In Hong Kong, we have a diverse number of races here so racism is generally frowned upon. Ironically, the greatest targets for racism here are the ones from Mainland China. If someone say that you look like someone from China, it has several negative connotations, e.g. you’re rude, has a bad sense of fashion, ignorant or something like that.
But I can tell you that the average HK people are too busy to care about racism!

Can it be that perhaps too many Europeans are not busy enough with other things that they may look angry at the immigrants which they consider coming to take away their jobs (which they do not have, because many sit on unemployment benefit)? Also we can see several immigrants taking up jobs no European wants to do. As such they are not really taking away jobs from the local population.

Not only the younger immigrants, who look for a better way of life seem to be a problem today. Older people are looked as if they are standing in the way or not giving youngsters the possibility to work. And the retired people seem to take away money from those who are working. (so it looks like when we would believe the sayings of some agitators.)

A prolific writer of Science Fiction, Rock Music and alternative style semi-autobiographical books and fiction, who has written 49 books, also feels the same as many of the Belgian older generation feels. Like many of us here he saw  the 1960s counter-culture and got to understand our way of choices was not a fashion statement but a way of life.

It looked at the boring establishment, the old-boys network, the stereotypical attire, the joyless lack of creativity, the conventions, religion, politics, blatant selfish greed, exploitation, inherent racism and sexism and looked to create something better. I was part of it. {Who I am}

He writes, but now is confronted with an other reality.

My intellectual faculties are pretty intact though obviously my short-term memory is not quite as sharp as it used to be but I get there. But three times in the last two days I have found myself on my blog being described as an old man as if being 68 has suddenly made me worthless. It is put in such a derogatory way that indicates that the younger people concerned consider my views worthless, that I am suddenly out of touch, that my life experience is irrelevant and my intelligence has diminished. {Is Ageism the new Racism?}

The views of those born in the 1940ies and 1950ies are considered of no value and looked as if those people can not fit in this world or should not belong to it any more. at the moment there is a movement going on of people who only think about themselves and who want everything also for them alone; Others do not seem to fit in the picture.

Now that racism, homophobia and sexism is heavily frowned upon are these people turning their attention to older people? Is ageism the new racism? Do we put aside all need to listen to what older people have to say, to disregard their experience and views, and simply put them down as irrelevant and worthless? {Is Ageism the new Racism?}

Naturally we must be aware that ageism started long ago. also in the 1950ies we could see a lot of advertisements for anti-aging creams. (To be honest we also used and still use such creams.) Though we do know we cant stop getting older and less performant. But that does not mean we should be considered useless.

calensariel remarks

Why, they even called Justin Timberlake old (so I heard) on the Superbowl. He’s 38? Someday the tables are going to tip and folks — especially employers — are going to find out experience is a much more valuable tool that youth!

Today experience doe s not count at all. The employers are throwing the baby away with the bathwater. The do away of so much useful knowledge. They do not allow experience to be the seed of their next employees.

According Heather Patterson we reap what we saw.

The big changes occurred in society following the world wars. Started slowly after WW1, then more so after WW2, then Korea, then Vietnam and so forth. Each one with a host of vociferous objectors, conscious writers tapping into the heart of the pulse, all the 1950’s Beat Poets – you should know them.
All venomous complaints aimed at these decrepit old fucks wanton on sending young men to their deaths in the millions for what? Glory? King? Country?

does she mean we did wrong to protest against the War in Vietnam? Where we to active proclaiming peace and a loving world? where too many artists of our ‘after war’ generation to much involved in youth dreams and flower-power business that some of us got carried away in their dreams of a world which is impossible to get?

Heather Patterson finds that

You are upset because a much younger person stole your torch and they said it before you even thought of it. Anybody could see the way you operate a mile away. No credit given with Opher, unless he is always seen in the best light before anybody else.

and looks at Opher’s World saying she thinks that 68 year old writer has

fallen fowl to your inner most fears of being seen as a write off, has been, former self etc. Everything is a threat to your crumbling domain which was really only a house of cards anyway as it was bound to be toppled by the next generation and so forth. What was important to your generation in the 1950’s such as what you liked to read holds not a bit of similar levels of interest today.
That’s just the way it goes.
Isn’t it disappointing to see bitterness creeping in to the winter days of the elderly. {Is Ageism the new Racism?}

Though it is just our generation that wants to tell others how ridiculous worthless war is. It are just we who have seen the tale of world war II and have seen the ‘after wars’, like Vietnam and Balkan war, where the most avoidable atrocities happened and brought human beings to a lower level than animals.

The Baby Boomers are portrayed as having had it easy and perhaps we did. But to call us the cause of what we have now, some saying we reap what we sow, is not correct. We sang about peace and equality, we lived in communes and perhaps we were to easy concerning the matter of ‘love’, but it was always about respectful relationships and with no restriction concerning skin colour or nationality. We strove for equality of classes and taught our kids to be respectful to everybody living on this earth and to act on terms of equal footing. We taught our children not use bad language. We did not like our children to use curse words, not to use to much alcoholic drank, not to smoke or to take drugs (though we had used drugs when we were young). Even when we had certain religious ideas we  learned our children to accept that not all people think nor feel like us, and that they should know about gay and transgender people and should respect their choices as well.

As such all that right-wing and nationalist talk is not something we gave our kids. We agree we went against establishment and perhaps some of those today thought that would mean we always should react against order and state, but that was not what we said or hoped for.

Rebecca E. Blanton writes

The internal racism and bi-phobia and sexism in our communities has to be addressed so that we can stand together and fight to make our country a safe place so that anyone can love who they want without threat of harm. {Love in Times of Great Danger}

We may not keep silent and have certain political parties mislead the people and get them to hate others.

Opher says

racism and patriotism has always been the currency of populist rabble-rousing politicians who want to arouse passions and gain power. It’s a shame people still fall for it.

At Victor’s corner it is also recognised that

More than many people are willing to admit, racism (that “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior”) is still an in issue being grapled with in 21^st Century America! . {Racism in America Vs Tribalism in Nigeria}

He admits

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees that it is wrong, neither is everyone actively engaged in fighting against it. {Racism in America Vs Tribalism in Nigeria}.

Victor Uyanwanne

We must be aware that racism does not affect only the black or coloured people and that it is not alone a matter of black or coloured against whites. Victor Uyanwanne writes that what pepole may refer to as racism in America,

takes a different hegemonic form here in Nigeria.

It is called tribalism, which, just like corruption, manifests itself in all aspects of our collective existence. But unlike racism, tribalism has nothing to do with the colour of one’s skin.

So you can imagine how odd it felt to be referred to as “people of colour” when you know that everyone else around you has the same skin colour as you.

…

racial discrimination and prejudices wear attires in Nigeria different from the ones they wear in America.

In the words of Chimamanda Adichie, award-winning author of Americanah, “In Nigeria race is not a conscious and present means of self-identification. Ethnicity is. Religion is. But not race.”

This response she gave in a Goodreads interview as far back as 2013 aptly captures the differences between race issues in America when compared with same in Nigeria.

Unlike the experiences often reported amongst blacks in the US, no one in Nigeria is identified or should I say discriminated upon on the basis of the colour of his or her skin.

All of us are black! Instead of race, we talk of our ethic origins, religious affiliations and regional bases.

{Racism in America Vs Tribalism in Nigeria}

We in Europe do face racism on matters of nationality or origin, i.e;. ethnicity, but also on religion and political stance. Perhaps it also has something to do with a form of ‘tribalism’ and not belonging to a certain ‘tribe’ or ‘certain folks’.

racial discrimination and prejudices wear attires in Nigeria different from the ones they wear in America.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian writer of novels, short stories, and nonfiction

In the words of Chimamanda Adichie, award-winning author of Americanah,

“In Nigeria race is not a conscious and present means of self-identification. Ethnicity is. Religion is. But not race.”

This response she gave in a Goodreads interview as far back as 2013 aptly captures the differences between race issues in America when compared with same in Nigeria.

Unlike the experiences often reported amongst blacks in the US, no one in Nigeria is identified or should I say discriminated upon on the basis of the colour of his or her skin.

All of us are black! Instead of race, we talk of our ethic origins, religious affiliations and regional bases.

He ends his article with

While racism is the issue in America, tribalism it is in Nigeria. While racism exists as a result of differences in colour of the skin, tribalism hinges on differences in birth-roots. Both are common societal evils that must be dealt a decisive blow in order for us to have a better world.

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background or his religion. People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite – Nelson Mandela.

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Preceding articles

Growing anti-Semitism possible sign of certain times

Quiz questions, views, left- and right-wing anti-Semitism

Mass Media’s Deception Causing Division

It’s Time real lovers of God to Stand and Speak Out!

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Additional reading

1. Martin Luther King’s Dream Today
2. A world with or without religion
3. Anti-Semitism ‘on the rise’ in Europe
4. Stand Up
5. Added commentary to the posting A Progressive Call to Arms
6. Walls,colours, multiculturalism, money to flow, Carson, Trump and consorts
7. Arson attack carried out on Stevenage Central Mosque
8. Back from gone #3 Giving worries to God and believing in His promises
9. Immigration consternation
10. Forms of slavery, human trafficking and disrespectful attitude to creation to be changed
11. Speciesism and racism
12. Rome mobilisation to say no to fascism and racism
13. Love envieth not
14. The Greatest of These is Love
15. Never too late to start going to the right end
16. Vatican against Opponents of immigration

+++

Further related

1. Institutional Racism
2. the stench of racism
3. Racism In America V.s The Rest Of The World?
4. It’s not always racism
5. This Isn’t About Just Race
6. 32 Quotes That Perfectly Explain Racism (To People Who Don’t “See Color”)
7. Different views and racism at The Standard
8. Earth, Wind, Fire, and Racism
9. Trump and the hidden racism inside us
10. Trump displays his racism to the whole world
11. I am an American!
12. 跟外國人拍拖被歧視的經驗 – Racism in our countries: how it affects interracial couples?
13. Racism, History, and How To Get Away With Murder’s Bold Statement
14. Black History Month. The Harlem Hellfighters and Chicago “Black Devils”: Battling Racism and Germans on the Western Front in 1918
15. An Open Letter to My Black Friends About My Own Racism
16. I’m back. Still black. And think we need to keep talking about racism!
17. Black Folks: Your Reluctance to React to Racism Doesn’t Make You More Sensible Than Thou
18. The dream
19. Treason.
20. White Supremacists Have Control of our Elected Offices, our Militia, Police, Guns, Christian Congregations, and the Media, . . . but we shouldn’t be alarmed.
21. Power of Apologies
22. Love in Times of Great Danger
23. Racism and Transphobia Behind the Pink Pussy Hat Ban
24. Build Community, Not Walls
25. Anti-Semitism lives on 75 years after Germany’s Kristallnacht
26. (William E. Grim) The Return Of Anti-Semitism To Germany: It Never Really Left
27. Tackle embedded racism before it chokes Japan | The Japan Times
28. Opinion – Tackle embedded racism before it chokes Japan | The Japan Times – John Gelmini
29. Anti-Semitism, anti-leftism and anti-Christianity
30. How anti-racism became racist: All lives matter
31. Can we only understand racism in terms of postmodern litcrit academic jargon?
32. How the Migrant Crisis is Tearing Europe Apart
33. What Color Am I? A True Story About Race Identity and Racism.
34. “You Married One Those?” #race #racism #blackhistorymonth
35. Racism and the Economic Hoodwink
36. My first experience with true racism
37. From drugs to racism in six steps
38. “Systemic Racism Kills”
39. travel, racism, and compassion
40. Racism isn’t Patriotism
41. racism in my white working-class roots
42. Trolls: Show me proof of racism so that I can reject it!
43. Racism is fear based
44. How Racism Makes Us Sick?
45. Combating Speciesism in a Time of Racism | Daily News
46. Time Jumps, Sex Talk and Racism // A Taxonomy of Love review
47. Racism and the making of an English traveller
48. The colour of judgement – a poem about racism
49. Rev. Dr. Barber Explains White Evangelicals Southern History Of Racism
50. Ruin Racism
51. Seven Benefits for All in Dismantling Racism

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It’s Time real lovers of God to Stand and Speak Out!

On one article we reblogged over here (and as such did not write it ourselves) and in which there were used popular words by youngsters, somebody felt offended. It looks like she could not feel any empathy with the generation we and the author of the original article were talking about and brought herself calling us stupid people, though missing the whole point of that article and the discussion around it.

Extended Coloured family from South Africa showing some spectrum of human skin colouration

In our world we see still too many people who want to differentiate between skin colour and race. They continue to demand that there would be called or named the differences between people who live at the same place, instead of accepting everybody who lives there for what he is and for how he looks like. They insist that people who live already for many generations in a certain country or area would still have a referral to that long ago place of origin as if that place of origin of so many generations ago brought a blemish on that person. It looks like many do want that lots of people keep running around with the stain of their past and long death ancestors.

Today we see again a movement going on to put on all people labels, like Moroco, Turkish,  Arabic, Berber, Afro-American, etc.. Though those people may already live here for the 3rd, 4th or even 5th generation. As we spoke about the trend the Dutch Press requesting not to use the word ‘blank’ (fair) but now to use ‘wit’ (white) opposite ‘zwart’ (black) instead of ‘kleurling (coloured). Whilst certain newspapers still shall continue words as ‘blank’ and ‘kleurling’ (coloured) not looking at the different skin colour as something negative. Clearly the colour of the skin has become again a point of discussion and we are back to the way of return and pre-Martin Luther King-times, or the time of racial segregation with Apartheid.

Iranian-Belgian human rights activist Darya Safai playtoy of the rightwing political parties trying to limit the freedom of expression and freedom of religion

Several politicians are doing their best to come back to such a time and many migrants are helping them without them having a proper knowledge of what is happening. As such we may find the Iranian dentist Darya Safai who is used as a plaything by the Flemish Nationalists and/or right-wing political parties. The Iranian-Belgian human rights activist grew up in the Islamic Republic of Iran after the revolution of 1979. We can clearly see how she got traumatised with her experiences in Iran. There she experienced at first hand how it was to live as an oppressed woman in a religious dictatorship. But now she thinks this would also be so in Belgium or the countries around us. She insist that parents would have no say on the religious education they want to give at home and want to prohibit any person in our country to wear religious symbols or to have traditional attire.  She finds the schools must prohibit any religious dress-code. By doing so she wants the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression and the freedom of clothing restricted. By doing so see also endangers our democratic freedom.

After she was temporarily released on bail, she decided to flee Iran together with husband via Turkey to Belgium.  Instead of seeing that we want to be a free country where everybody should be able to live next to each other she now wants to create an other Iran where she shall be on the side of the dictators or decision makers. Though she says she wants to fight against discrimination she tries to bring in discriminating  measures, having children nor their parents the right to choose their own religion and how they want to be religious.

In December 2016, Darya Safai was awarded the title ‘Women Of Peace’ by the Belgian Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities at the Belgian Senate, for her fight for women’s rights, though at that time it was already clear she had a more unpleasant agenda.

Last week when  a state school was ordered to let 11 young girls (age 12) to wear their hijab to school inspite their ban on all religious symbols Safai went into heavy reaction again helping to have a growing stir in the debate

because when a judge rules that specific people can ignore a rule that counts for everyone, it will cause more division.

It is true that now other Muslim, Sikh, Jewish parents can go to court and achieve the same override for their kid. On the other hand by Safai her actions to forbid head-covering we now have Sikh kids in Sint-Truiden (Haspengouw Hesbaye), who cannot go any more to a state- or to a Catholic school because they are not allowed in with their head covering. For them and for those who want to wear a head-covering the only solution is to go to a private school. Safai forgets that this would cost the parents a lot more and that such private schools of a certain religion endangers our society more, because than there is no control by the school directorate and then the way to indoctrination is totally free and would be unnoticed. We also could see what happened already in one of the Antwerp Jewish schools a few weeks ago. We must be very careful with an overprotection and giving the opportunity to have youngsters drifting away.

Safai seems to think the same rules count over here as in her birthplace. She argues that the choice to wear a headscarf is not made by girls themselves. By this she underestimate the strong will of many Belgian girls. She says

“It’s not a free choice, when I see six-year-old girls wearing headscarves, I really wonder how they could decide that for themselves-it’s imposed on you and you live with them.”

For Safai the girls their head-covering is indeed a symbol of oppression.

“Men do not wear headscarves, that’s the best proof,”

Orthodox Christian pilgrim

said Safai, to which Vanhecke replied

“With Jews, only the men wear a yarmulke, and that is not seen as a symbol of oppression,”

Safai also forgets or probably does not know that in West Europe all kids from the 1940ies to 1960ies have had to cover their head as girls and we as boys had to cover (like the girls also) our limbs. No bare arms or are knees where to be seen and women at to sit on the left side of the church.  It is all still clear in our head also, how our parents and when we went swimming in the sea we had to cover most of our body. (Later, as hippies we went against those restrictions and ran even naked in nature.) And now a few years later what had to happen then suddenly should not be allowed any more. She also does it as if the head-covering is only a Muslim matter, forgetting that still today many religious Christian groups prescribe head-covering for their members.

Roman Catholic nuns – Roman Catholic nuns singing in choir. – Smith2006

Throughout the centuries of Church history, women have worn head coverings during the meetings of the church – that is, when “praying or prophesying” take place. In Europe the wearing of fabric head coverings in worship was also universally the practice of Christian women until the twentieth century and in several Reformed churches, Baptists, Christadelphian, Brethren and various Mennonites it is still the custom for young and old. In the South of Europe we may find lots of nuns of the Roman Catholic churches with a covering of their heads, whilst many women in the South (like Spain and Italy) still often have the head covering by means of a headscarf. In Eastern Orthodox churches, all women still cover their heads. With the old believers this may only be a headscarf, with the other Eastern Orthodox it may also be a veil.

Vanhecke, with good reason, thinks girls are also oppressed if they are not allowed to wear the headscarf.

“A religion obliges the headscarf, a society forbids it, that is the same principle.”

“You interfere in a fundamental right of parents to make choices for their children,”

says Vanhecke.

That what Safai tries to avoid she helps to create. One should avoid that we get such private religious schools as only possibility for religious people to give their kids an education. When we would have such specific Jewish, Hindu and/or Islam schools we make it much easier to have them a specific religious education or indoctrination and creating a generation which would be less adapted in our culture than those who grow up together with all sorts of kids from different nationalities and different religions. Instead of integrating them in a multicultural society Safai shall help to create a divided society with lots of racism.

So needless to say this situation actually causes the very religious division that the ban on head-covering tries to avoid.

Mieke Vanhecke (CD & V), ex-top woman of Catholic education, pleaded in Terzake for the right to wear a headscarf at school. Darya Safai (N-VA) continues to see it as a symbol of oppression. Vanhecke argues that not only Muslims are victims of the headscarf debate.

“A ban on headgear not only affects Muslims,”

says Vanhecke.

“In Sint-Truiden there were never any problems, the Sikh boys came to school with a turban, because of the ban they no longer have access to our school.”

Safia is convinced that children and young women can not make up their own mind what to wear. For her children nor women who wear the hijab impossibly can do that of their own will and impossibly can be happy clothing themself that way. Many like her she see misogyny and are convinced that they must be under dictation of a male dictator or male bully. Often we hear voices like

‘Her husband must have forced her’

‘Poor girl, she may not dress like she wants’

Safia like many right wing people can only think of suppression, seeing men’s orders and their power over women. Others love to shout

‘Unveil yourself’,

‘Hide not yourself”

‘Let us see your beauty’

Why should they have such a need to see the beauty of that woman? Why can they not respect that woman like she wants to dress herself?

Those people thinking women or girls who like to wear a head scarf of hijab are pushed by their family, do forget that there are enough strong women in Belgium who can make up their mind themselves. They do not need their fathers or their male partner to dictate what they should wear but even less should they have others to dictate what they should wear or may not wear. That last bit is what Darya Safai and many Nationalists and Neo-Nazis love to do.

Lots of those who call themselves Christian but oppose the freedom of other lovers of God, do forget that by doing so they go in against the Law of God. Their strong actions against Muslims and Jews also clearly show that they do not bear Jesus his teachings of love in their heart. Lots of them also do not understand that wearing a covering on the head may represent an ordainment from God and a submitting to the Most High. There are enough places in Scriptures which talk about such covering and reasons why and when to do it.

Those who are an atheist or do not believe in the One True God should not try to put their law above the Laws of God nor should they urge all others to live like them and to dress like them.

Many also do forget the use of a head-covering can just mean those women liberated themselves from the world and its attitudes. For many believers in the One True God it can mean just empowerment, liberation and freedom. Too many underestimate the European female and think they would be like the women in the Middle East used as slaves by the male figures around them. But we can see strong women who have made up their own mind and by their own choice and by their own intentions they dare to show their faith to others and are not afraid to be mocked at or to be looked at as of ‘not of this world’. They do not want to be of this world but of the world of God. For them that is more important than being a slave of this world where every body assumes he or she is free when they can have sex with as many as they can or drink as much as they want to do all the funniest things one can think of.

Mrs. Safai does as if those girls, when they would wear a head dress, never would be able to integrate in our society or would never be able to get work. When they would not get work because they wear a head covering, does that not tell more about the party who does not want to give her work? And does that not show how certain people do not want others to integrate in our community?

By the way, lots of right wing people do as if those Muslim girls who want to cover their head are foreigners, but a lot are girls and ladies who were before ‘white Belgian citizens’ and even belonging to Catholic families.

That many people are so much afraid that there would be so many converts to Mohammedanism tells also a lot about the weakness of most members of that faith. Lots of Roman Catholics and Protestants even not knowing the Name of God and never having read the Bible. If they would be standing strong in the faith we see no reason why they and others should be so afraid. The other way, Christians should come out and proclaim their faith to those who are no Christian. They should show people that Jesus is the way and show that Jesus his teaching is one of love and of comprehension and compassion. But most Belgians, Dutch and French people just show the opposite, showing their hate against immigrants and people who are different than they or who think differently than they.

Lots of people seem to have forgotten how we and our parents had to cover our body a few decades ago. Lots of them also forget that just because their western values don’t fit with a woman covering her hair and beauty, it still could be a personal choice for that person covering herself. Many do forget that their Western values are way out from our Christian Western values and norms.

Today so many oppose people who have an other opinion. We also see the right wing people wanting so much that every body would dance to their will.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said,

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

These days we are going backwards because several people want to push their will unto others. They want an exclusive white state for themselves with only believers in that what they believe and in that what they call Christian values, but are not at all Christian values.

In Belgium we can find  more and more Muslim children in community education, especially with regard to other educational networks we may find a larger influx of students from other cultures in general in the state schools. When these children want to show their own faith in the form of clothing, they often do so out of their own convictions, but because these young people are not yet adults, they often take over the prevailing morality of their immediate environment and of society. If we compare this with the Flemish youths of indigenous origin, we notice a big difference, but according to us that is easy to explain. After all, with many Flemish young people there is a great ignorance of the church, while the Muslim children are more often socialized in their ideology.
The total banning of religious signs would thus be a violation of religious freedom. We should resist such a thing.
That a lot of inhabitants of Belgium, Holland and France do not want to stand open for other cultures we should try to avoid in the next generations by introducing the various cultures from the early years in childhood.

Dyab Abou Jahjah in 2008.

The Belgian-Lebanese Arab political activist and writer Dyab Abou Jahjah, claims that

‘hatred in Flanders is mainstream’

and

‘racism determines the agenda’.

When you follow certain reactions and talks it gives the impression not enough people want to react against that dangerous trend.

Christian people should let others know that all people have the same value because we are created by the same One True God. We all are being allowed to live on this globe and are given talents which can be used to help others. All people in a community have to complement each other.
Each person should know that racism devalues people. Non believers should come to see that Christ has broken down racial doors and overcomes divisive thinking by creating for himself a new nation through his death and resurrection. Every Christian should help to build a loving world by showing his love for others, be them of no believe or any other believe than Christianity.
When the politicians are not doing their job properly to build a multicultural peaceful state, the Christians needs to lead the way.
When you are a Christian do not wait until it is too late!

Let your voice be heard and speak up for the weaker ones in our society and for those who humiliated and shut out.

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Preceding articles

What is important?

Enough with the Clothes Shaming of Muslim Women

Anti-Semitic pressure driving Jews out of Europe

The Mountain: Radical Love

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Additional reading

1. Vliegend spaghettimonster en Gelijke behandeling voor elke overtuiging
2. Parenthood made more difficult
3. Uncertainty, shame and no time for vacillation
4. Migrants to the West #2
5. On French beach French police forces woman to undress in public
6. Pew Research: How People in Muslim Countries Believe Women Should Dress
7. Allowing dress code according liberty of religion
8. Coverings Worn by Muslim Women
9. The Dress Code for Women in the Quran
10. Meditating Muslimah on “hijab to be a religious obligation”
11. French showing to the whole world their fear and weakness
12. Christians, secularism, morals and values
13. Trusting present youngsters who are not necessary evil
14. Overprotection and making youngsters drifting away
15. Today’s thought “And he counted it to him for righteousness” (January 12)
16. Listening to the lessons of the Bible and looking for ways to please God

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Related

1. Hijab 1
2. Hijab 2
3. The Meaning of Hijab
4. I Tried Wearing a Hijab (sort of)
5. The hijab of ignorance
6. Cultural Bias
7. An Imagined Offence
8. The Irony of Hijabs!!
9. Transition: My Hijab Story
10. Hijab: Oppression or Freedom?
11. Hijab in Islam and other religions
12. Hijab | Zanzibar, Tanzania
13. Women unite for World Hijab Day, which is Today
14. Happy World Hijab Day 2018!
15. Pearls and swines – loose priorities – the hijab-saga in perspective
16. Hidden Pearl Hijab Review
17. Hijab ‘Attack’ Condemned By Canada’s Prime Minister Was A Hoax
18. My Hijab Story
19. The Secret Hijabi
20. What My Hijab Means To Me
21. Perspective: Hijab is Oppression or Freedom?Newspeak and the politics of fear

Readers, likes and comments

Mostly the articles placed on this and our other platforms are not so much placed to open a debate, or better said are no part of a “forum”.

that does not mean we do not like to receive reactions like “likes” or some comments. You can imagine that it takes time to create a post and when we can notice in the statistics that they are read. That may be a stimulant to continue, but also to see a reaction brought by the reader, either by clicking on the “like” or “share” button, this last one giving us the opportunity to receive more readers for that particular article.

Voxate Writing & Editing which was established in 2008 and since then, has been providing writing, editing and SEO services for South African and international clients writes

Reader comments aren’t only a little boost to the blogger that spent hours crafting a post, although they certainly help! They’re also important for search engine optimisation and for letting the blogger know what his or her readers value in terms of content. A good comment can be integral to generating leads, and the commenter may also benefit by directing other readers to his or her own content or blog, since they can usually click your username to be taken directly to your site. It’s an all-round score.

On this site you may find a.o. news articles which discusses current events or recent news of either general interest. Bringing such headlines or talking about recent incidents we do want to bring up some thoughts around those affairs. They are used to focus the reader’s attention on a particular (or main) part of the article or that what we think is important for people who want to make something of our society. At the same time looking at what we think may be a major event we also try to give facts and detailed information following answers to general questions like the Five W’s: who, what, when, where, why and how.

Our intention is also to offer some encyclopedia articles or reference works, offering a more in-depth informative article with a primary division of content. For this we are still looking for more contributors, willing to share their knowledge around specific subjects like ‘life’, ‘living’, ‘history’, ‘culture’.

This Blog as such may have blog articles which are like magazine or newspaper articles whilst others may be written more like entries in a personal journal. More important as lifestyle magazine we do hope we may offer some different opinions about several important life issues, of which the religious and spiritual aspects are not gone out of the way.

Being aware that today not many people have lots of time to read serious articles, we do love to present on this site an overview of articles we think would be interesting to read. Therefore we offer next to our own articles a selection of reblogged posts. We may not bring a Listicle,  or a specific article whose primary content is a list, but at the end of the postings presented over here we also do try to offer a listing of other additional readings or related articles we could select from the blogging world. We also do hope to bring here a sort of Readers Digest and are still hoping some more writers would join us to help us to succeed in those efforts.
Concerning the “Related articles” service we offer, we regularly do get some irritated bloggers who ask us to take their writing of the list. This discourages us a lot for doing all that research work, checking all those posts, looking for them of being of interest. Therefore we reduces already the time for searching and reading so many blogs, to look for something to share. We also can use more people to help us looking for interesting writers, photographers, to present their articles or work to our readers.
Normally we would think there must be enough people who read several blogs and would be able to find something worth reblogging, this being an extra place to do so, next to their own blog, and at the same time giving them the opportunity to link to their own articles. As such we can offer additional readers to those who are willing to join this effort of sharing information and promoting a multicultural and multicoloured world.

In our articles we talked already a lot about how we use are time and on what we are willing to spend time in our time limited day and world. Being aware that not enough people do take time to retreat and to take some time to look at things, wondering how everything is going good or bad and why certain things evolve a certain way, we are trying to bring some balance and are willing to give some material for thought. Having only certain moments a day for ourselves or to do something else than our job, being limited in time we sincerely do hope to be able to offering some interesting material. If not so let us know.

The small thoughts or quotes we offer a day, we do hope can give something to think and are a welcome meditation for the day. Perhaps they can bring you to some daydreaming or musing.

In 2014 we started and reached 1847 visitors with 3124 views offering us 263 likes. Last year we got 5018 visitors fetching 6888 views willing to give us 486 likes. We are pleased to find 279 WordPress followers and only 2 e-mail followers, making us not such a popular blog it seems. Or do you find we do not do enough our best as a team? What can we do more?
Comparing with my personal (political) site I generate 256 WordPress followers and 9 e-mail followers. It is also not so much but there I bring very personal views and spend not so much time as on my other (religious and lifestyle magazine) blogs.

Looking at the statistics it may give the impression we are not doing well or it may be very discouraging. So what can we do to make it better?

Steve Hayes also may have a similar feeling like me. He writes

Speaking for myself now, one of the reasons that I write blog posts is that I have some half-baked ideas floating around, and I’m hoping that others will read them and help me to bake them. So it’s pretty discouraging when there are no comments at all. {The importance of blog comments}

WordPress does a wonderful job diverting spam from the inbox.

For me the talking we do bring here on certain matters and bringing comments on some expressions of others or on certain blogwritings is giving comments on the quoted blog, though most often nothing of our comments is quoted on the discussed page or no link to the article is mentioned. When we get some feed back it is mostly somebody who is angry that he is quoted or that we dared to link to his article. Most often when we get such reply we are asked to delete the link or the mentioning of that person’s name. For that reason it can be that after some time you come to read an article again some related articles may not appear any more in the list. Those negative reactions concerning the links to related articles made us also to decide to reduce this service we thought would be productive for both sides. What surprises us that several blog writers do forget that when they with writing on the net and not making their blog private, have the possibility that from everywhere  all sorts of people may come to see and read what they have written and should as such also not be surprised when people react on their site (what we also do, but not have it appreciated all the time – certainly not on the religious front.)
One big problem is also that we daily get in a lot of spam or ridiculous mail nothing to do with the article or articles. Spam luckily enough gets straight in the Spambox to be deleted.

Spending hours moderating comments and determining what is or isn’t spam can be extremely frustrating.

I do agree this blog and my ‘personal’ blog are not really blogs about me or an other person his personality. when I look at some very popular blogs I notice that most often they are about the person himself or herself or really commercial blogs without the followers noticing it or being aware of it that it is a blog full of advertisements or promotional articles. Dominic Sceski (Aul) a sixteen year-old home-schooled student formulates it this way

You might have a huge following, but if you don’t have a sense of personality, people will stop treating you like a blogger.  They’ll see your blog posts, they’ll Like them, hopefully they’ll read them…but if you are only putting your writing forward, or whatever you’re trying to promote, people won’t care about you.  They won’t know YOU.

People might like your blog, but they aren’t going to comment unless they like you.

Think about it.

If your blog, your writing, lacks a sense of YOU, what will people be seeing?   Just words.  They might be some good words.  But if they aren’t able to attribute them to you, then why would they comment?  Who are they commenting to?  Not a person.   Just words.  And no one praises or converses with random words, however good they are.

Of course, maybe you ARE putting yourself into what you write…but maybe it’s too much of yourself.  I see this sooooo often.  Those bloggers who get big and popular and then all they do is blog about themselves and their own personal endeavors.  The titles of their posts are eternally:

“Hey, check out my new book”

“PLEASE buy my new book”

“Hey, guess what?  My new book is out”

“Update on my story”

You get the picture.

I’ve said this multiple times and I’ll say it again.  If you want followers and an active audience, blog about things people CARE about.  Blog about things that HELP people.  Make them WANT or NEED you.

Are we according to you then not blogging about matters that can help you or others? We do agree we talk more than once about God and the way of life according His rules, and not so many people are interested in that. Is that a reason why we have so few followers? Is that what we try to offer our readers not something some people want?

Voxate comments

Although time is scarce and we’re often reading other blogs between other must-do’s on our daily schedule, making the time to comment is important – both for the link it may allow you to include to your own blog or site, and to the blogger.

I take the liberty to reproduce the result of Voxate his inquiries posed in his article Why Reader Comments Are The Cat’s Pajamas concerning

 

• reader comments that meant the most to them (I’ve included them as written and submitted):
  

  Gaynor from Tulips and Phoenixes said:

  The comments on this blog post of mine have been the most special to me because of the wonderful feedback I received from various people. It showed just how fond people were about the area of Tsitsikamma and how willing they were to share the love for it. This is why I blog – I love seeing comments like these!

  ___________________________________________

  Steve, who blogs at Khanya, said:

  The comment by Nomtha Gawe on this post. It gives a complementary experience to that described in the blog, and thus a different persective on it, while remaining on topic. She immediately grasps what the post is saying, relates it to her own experience, which is similar in some ways but different in others, and explains it lucidly.

  ___________________________________________

   

  Luchae, from My Spreadsheet Brain, added:

  Marcolene’s comment really meant a lot to me. It feels good knowing my oversharing brought some sort of peace to someone else’s crazy thoughts…

  ___________________________________________

   

  Lizna, from With Elizabeth H, shared a candid post about her weight struggles.

  She really appreciated Ilona Fourie’s comment, which read, “What a awesome post. Whilst I was reading it so much rang true to me. I have been on a roller coaster with my weight. I have lost 26kg but have not been able to move any more in the last year. I have tried and tried and are failing miserably. It has made me so negative and I keep asking myself whats wrong with me. This is a war that few people understand and I am so grateful to have read your post!” Lizna said:

  It meant a lot to me because I am not alone, me and her became such great friends that we are actually living together now, you find best friends when you least expect it. 

  ___________________________________________

  JustEllaBella also shares some really personal stuff. Ella says:

  Over there years I’ve opened up about losing my son. Sometimes it felt a little self indulgent and that people would surely be rolling their eyes at me BUT I speak about him because of comments like these. People who can relate, I have somehow told them it’s okay not to be okay and for that I am grateful. This one particularly struck a chord, “i simply love this blog. lost my baby girl also two days after she was born in hospital 7 February 2017 and to this day she is a big part of our lives. This is the first time i ever spoke about her to anyone besides my husband.God decided he needs her more and she is now one of heavens angels im just glad to have had the opportunity to meet her. i also hope that the best part of her 48 hours on earth was meeting mom&dad.
  -Forever Gianni Hendricks-“

  ___________________________________________

  In Africa and Beyond is one of my favourite travel blogs. Sara shares some of the reader comments that touched her the most:

  On my post about “30 Photos of South Africa That Will Fuel Your Wanderlust” Erika said, “I was tearing up looking at these photos. Going to South Africa has always been a dream of mine. I loved seeing it through your eyes and hope to see it through mine one day soon.”

  On my series about Lesotho, I received many comments from people who had never heard of Lesotho before.

  On the hotel review, Yukti said, “I never heard of Lesotho and thanks to you as it is now added into my wishlist” and Raghav said, “I feel so bad because I had not a clue Lesotho even existed.”

  I love influencing people with my travel writing and photos and making them aware of new places to discover and explore. It is gratifying and makes me feel as though I am doing something worthwhile and helpful. I also get told often that I am a great ambassador for South Africa which feels good as I love showcasing South Africa’s beauty.

  ___________________________________________

   

  Jonelle, from Tyranny of Pink, had an understandably tough time:

  I’ve narrowed it down to this post, but I can’t choose a specific comment. A lot of comments are also sent to me privately because my blog is so raw and personal but each and every comment on my blog is a reminder of why I blog. The sense of community, that feeling of not being alone. The understanding that it’s okay to not be okay. The affirmations from other women who are in the same position as me. I treasure every comment, many of them moving me to tears because other women GET me and other women feel what I feel and in many cases, it’s a rawness that they share with me about their own experience with loss, grief, parenting and just being. Comments remind me in the times that blogging feels like too much that this is my tribe, these are my people and I’m never alone!

  In this article, Zena posted a comment that was meanginful to me. She said, ” Jonelle you have such courage to have written this great story, a tribute to your hero. You have inspired me. I work everyday for a foundation in memory of Hassan and its been 8 yrs since his passing and 4 years working here, and still have not had your courage to even speak or write a sentence, I believe the time will come.”

  ___________________________________________

  Shante Hutton of Rose For Thorns shared a very personal post, and valued this comment:

  Beautiful Shante, your story touched me so deeply that I found it difficult not only to find words, but to actually find my voice. You told your story in such a delicate yet profound way and I’m in awe of you right now. Reading your story, your pain and then how the birth of your daughter opened your heart to this incredible love again is wonderful. And isn’t it amazing how the opening of your womb caused an opening of the heart! Like a flower you have opened and become even more beautiful than you already were.
  I also lost my brother 34 years ago. I was 23 and he was 26 and because we were the last two of 8 kids, we were very close. So one sunny morning 34 years ago, I kissed him goodbye as I dropped him at work, not knowing that as I watched him walk away I would never see him again. For many years I would search for him on a crowded street or shop or anywhere thinking, it was just a mistake and that he was alive somewhere and I suppose that was how I coped.
  So thank you for your story, we all need to be reminded of how God, in His infinite wisdom can bring us out of darkness and into His beautiful light.
  Never forget how strong, courageous and breathtaking beautiful you are.
  love n blessings
  Connie

  ___________________________________________

   

  For the Bloggers

  To encourage your readers to comment more on your posts, you could:

  • Ask open-ended questions that prompt them to answer in the comments
  • Have a numbered list (e.g. 9 Ways To Clean Your Ears) and then ask them to add to this number
  • Write a controversial post; this often leaves readers chomping at the bit to include their pro or anti opinion
  • Reply to the existing comments – this starts a conversation
  • Comment on other blogs
  • Encourage commenting on your social media platforms

  To Wrap It Up

  Don’t underestimate the power and reach of your comments on the blogs and posts of others. By using this powerful tool, you play a big part in SEO and engagement – both for the post on which you’re commenting and on your own site.

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Now we come to the end of this article, we dare to ask you some questions and perhaps you would not mind to answer some of them or to give us some advice.

*

Questions you are welcome to answer

1. Are the articles we present over here stuff nobody or not many are interested in?
2. Is a sense of personality lacking or really necessary?
3. Are we wrong to think our words are not just random words? Or are our words not of any interest to the present generation?
4. Would you still like to see a “Listicle” of “Additional Reading” and of  “Related articles”?
5. What do you find of such selection we like to present our readers?
6. Looking at the statistics it may give the impression we are not doing well. So what can we do to make it better?
7. Do you like us to regularly to search for interesting blogs to Reblog them or to discuss them over here?
8. Do you like the small thoughts, quotes or musings for the day. Would you appreciate it to have them regularly?
9. Are there any subjects you want to see covered more?
10. Would you not be willing to share some readings you liked or did find interesting or important to read?
11. When you love your job, would it not be interesting for you to share some thoughts about it with our readers?
12. When you are a historian, a psychologist or a philosopher would you not mind writing some articles about historic facts, human evolution and human activities, ways of life, human manners and events, crimes against humanity, a.o.?
13. Do you belong to the people who have no comment on the state of our society?
14. would you not appreciate an extra place where you now and then can share some thoughts which would be interesting for others to hear?
15. When it is considered so easy to click a like button why does it not happen more? Why can we not have more “Likes”?

You too may join a movement the world needs.

 

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Preceding articles

From Guestwriters 2015 in review

From Guestwriters 2016 in review

Be realistic, do not pretend

The Culture of Excesses- Losing Humanity

Thoughts and reflections taking only a few minutes

The Scensual World – Mission & Vision

Awards, prizes, Peace and Working together

Again nominated for the same award

Do you have a writer or presenter in you?

1000 articles placed on From Guestwriters

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Additional reading

1. My blogs 2014 in review
2. A new voice calling for peace
3. Americans wrongly informed about situation in Europe

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Related articles

1. A Comment Issue
2. Comments How do you get more comments on your blog? Just asking.
3. The comment section…
4. The Reason Why People “Like” But They Don’t Comment
5. Is It All About Likes/Comments When It Comes To Blogging?
6. The Awkward Duty and Ecstatic Joy of Comments // The Blogging Life
7. More Comments Without Context
8. Kan du kommentera min sida / Can you comment on my page
9. Candid Comments
10. No Comments!!
11. Anonymous Comments
12. A Comment on Anonymous Comments
13. Trash Talk — I Need to Monitor Comments
14. The Habits of Certain Conservative Trolls Based on Comments and Blogs
15. Reminder: General Guidelines for Comments
16. The Potpourri of Blogging Comments
17. Is it time to turn off comments on your blog?
18. Diversity in YA: Should We Comment If We’re Not Diverse? Ft. Opinions. > The Reason Why People “Like” But They Don’t Comment
19. Just a quick comment.Comment Respectfully
20. My Comments on Your Posts May Be in Your Spam Filter!
21. Don’t forget to comment!!!!
22. Polldaddy URL on Blog Comments
23. Why I Hate Comment Moderation
24. The return of the comments malfunction !
25. What is Spam and Where Do Those Strange Comments Come From?Spammer’s Delight
26. The Joys of Spam ~ Amusing Comment
27. Interesting and Nonsensical Spam Comments
28. The Real Reason Why Nicki Minaj Turned off Her comments and Erased her Instagram Profile
29. Response to Some Comments
30. New Rule – No spoilers in comment
31. A comment on the state of society

Something different from the original idea

How often do we not start with an idea
and will it become something totally different?

Marcus Ampe

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Iets anders dan oorspronkelijk idee

Do you still look out for your morning or evening paper

The Morning Paper (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many years ago, for our archive several international newspapers came on our table to be read and to be cut, having all the newspaper clips to be glued and put in maps, classified, and registered on recording cards.

Also several magazines got read and articles with target words registered on the recording cards. Thousands of magazines and newspaper-cuttings making the floors to heavy, making it necessary to have the archive moved to special constructed buildings.

Ourselves having become a certain age, leaving most work to the newer generation now may look at previous history. But what about reading all those newspapers and magazines?

Paris Kiosk – Newsstand in Paris

From his base in Los Angeles, an American blogger Brad Nixon who considers the endless adventure of living in the American West: life, culture, history, architecture and travel in California, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, even Alaska and likes to write about travel elsewhere in North America, Italy, Great Britain, France, China and anywhere else he goes. He considers himself a lifelong newspaper fan, like we are. He also still relish picking up the local newspaper in airports, bookstores, gas stations and restaurants.

There’s nothing more appealing than a well-stocked news stand.

he writes in his article “Morning Paper: Where Worlds Collide“.

A newsstand in New York City

Though when we look at the newspaper stands of today, we see that the meters provided for the papers has reduced with more than two thirds if it is not more. The choice is reduced a lot and there are no different editions any more for morning, noon, afternoon and/or evening papers. In Belgium you still may have “Le Soir” but it is not any more a real evening paper. Great-Britain can be proud to have still some very good evening papers, and excellent morning papers as well as Sunday papers. At the continent the Sunday papers are long gone.

Sample frontpage from the newspaper (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Brad Nixon is lucky enough to travel abroad, he makes a stab at reading the foreign languages in which Le Monde, Corriere della Sera and the Times of London are written.

He writes

I grew up reading syndicated columnists who appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer, although they wrote for newspapers in Chicago (Mike Royko), Washington (Art Buchwald) or Los Angeles (Jim Murray), not to mention Cincinnati’s own Bob Brumfield.

I no longer subscribe to a printed newspaper of any description: world, local or neighborhood coverage. The days of sitting at breakfast and leafing through one, checking the sports scores, reading the comics or doing the crossword are things of the past here at Rancho Retro.

Nothing more clearly demonstrates the impact of technology on the flow of information than the topic of print versus online news.

Still an avid news reader, I rarely fail to spend a measurable amount of time on the websites of the LA Times, New York Times, BBC and a few others, including the newspaper that covers my portion of Los Angeles, The Daily Breeze.

I’m not entirely satisfied with that situation. There are aspects of turning the pages of a well laid-out newspaper that can’t be replicated by even the best websites. Granted, there are no hyperlinks to related material, no streaming video and just as many advertisements in print as online, but there’s nothing like a newspaper for those serendipitous discoveries, those full-page spreads of news or features from every part of the world. Also missing from newspapers are the irritating full page pop-up ads that block the screen (I’m looking at YOU, latimes.com). {Morning Paper: Where Worlds Collide}

The nice thing about a newspaper is the space some writers may get to go deeper into things and to give an analysation of facts which can be looked at and enjoyed so many hears later.  Those articles of human interest and critical viewing proof the value of a newspaper and their writers.

New York, New York. Newsroom of the New York Times newspaper. Reporters and rewrite men writing stories, and waiting to be sent out. Rewrite man in background gets the story on the phone from reporter outside. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Though today one can wonder how they are able to survive. For sure they too have to go the digital way. And to be honest we have fallen also for such electronic reading and digital classification. But to be honest to have a newspaper on your lap or on the table often gives an other feeling and ‘band’ or ‘bound’, allowing to have your mind going through an other world than the one we are sitting at that moment. It feels like it gives an other connection than the computer, laptop, i-pad or tablet. Those latter ones reducing the paper to some text fragments ‘expanded’ (Stripped of their writer’s wedding). Is it a nostalgic feeling touching our heart?

Brad Nixon also notices

I feel divided, because I know that, ultimately, only a fraction of the existing printed newspapers (already a paltry set of survivors from a few decades ago) will endure as more readers (including me), cancel their print subscriptions and read online. Rather, I suppose, many papers will persist, but only online, and there’ll be no more morning coffee with that page of box scores from yesterday’s baseball games open in front of me (or I could turn the page, study the entries for the day’s racing at Santa Anita Racetrack, and mark my choices with a pencil).

I particularly mourn the loss of those local newspapers — many of them weeklies — that have disappeared or certainly will, including the paper that served my Midwestern hometown for more than 150 years before it closed up shop. Journalism and journalists continue, but their old order is rapidly fading. {Morning Paper: Where Worlds Collide}

Since the 1950s the newspaper market has been in decline in Belgium. At that time 50 Belgian National papers and hundreds of local (village) papers could attract the eyes of their interested readers. for the National papers in 1965 30  could be found over the counter. going up for a few years up to 33 in 1980, 32 in 1995 to reduce up to 23 newspapers in 2000 of which many were very similar, only having a different name, but form the same editor or owner with only 10 owners on the market. With the big media groups Corelio, Concentra, De Persgroep, Roularta Media Group for the Flemish papers and Rossel for the Walloon papers, and Mediafin for the economical Walloon paper L’Echo, Grenz-Echo Verlag for the German Grenz-Echo and The Brussels Times for the English The Brussels Times (daily digital newspaper and print magazine). There is also Politico Europe, better known for its website but it also has a weekly paper edition, and further Europolitics and New Europe, newspaper focusing on EU affairs.

In the Netherlands in 2009 the number of Dutch newspapers was only 35. There and in Belgium the Telegraaf Media Groep has difficulties whilst the De Persgroep (Nederland) keeps the Dutch critics giving some paper to reach the public. NRC Media after a merger of the Amsterdam newspaper Algemeen Handelsblad since 2015 is ran strongly by the Belgian company Mediahuis. While considered one of the Dutch national quality newspapers next to de Volkskrant and the very conservative orthodox Protestant Trouw (De Persgroep), NRC Handelsblad sees itself as the most internationally oriented of those three, and has been labeled leftliberal. The largest group amongst readers switching to the Nederlands Dagblad comprises non-Christians looking for an alternative view from that of the mainstream Dutch press. Headquartered in Apeldoorn and associated with the Reformed Political Party the Reformatorisch Dagblad is one of only a handful daily national papers remaining in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam’s Parool may count street sales circulating approximately 20,000 and substantially more on weekends.

In Flanders De Standaard (Mediahuis, formerly Corelio and VUM) as Christian-Democratic and Flemish Party in opposition to the the Socialist Flemish daily De Morgen, are the best Belgian newspapers left over.

Lots of people in Holland and Belgium use their mobile phone to look at the headlines for the day. Also the social media is pilfering lots of ‘printed paper’ readers.

Wikipedia remarks:

Newspapers: a global industry in transition as an old paper-based technology confronts the age of the Internet and smart phones

The decline of newspapers has been widely debated, as the industry has faced dropping newsprint prices, slumping ad sales, the loss of much classified advertising and precipitous drops in circulation. In recent years the number of newspapers slated for closure, bankruptcy or severe cutbacks has risen, especially in the United States, where the industry has shed a fifth of its journalists since 2001.^[1] Revenue has plunged while competition from Internet media has squeezed older print publishers. {decline of newspapers}

Nixon asks further

What’s your preference: print or online? Or both? What’s better about one or the other? Please add a comment. {Morning Paper: Where Worlds Collide}

Brad Nixon fascinated, even in a country where he can’t actually read any of the newspapers.

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• Elon Musk is getting closer to making his Los Angeles tunnel network a reality (TSLA)
• Legendary DJ Rodney Bingenheimer To Retire From KROQ After 40 Years
• Political pressure or legal concerns? Why five newspapers in Chhattisgarh rejected Congress ads
• Left-wingers are buying up – and burning – right wing newspapers on polling day
• New Zealand newspaper names all drunk drivers on front page
• E-Commerce Growth Is Still Accelerating
• Guardian to go tabloid as it abandons Berliner presses in print deal with Trinity Mirror
• The Eagle Online Is Back, Better

Enough already with the ridiculous “they used to be free” memes

With all the hoopla around Muslim women‘s dress many better have a look back in history seeing that there where years that Muslims were clothed much more ‘modern’ than women in their time or than Muslim women in certain regions today.

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To remember

women liberated = ridiculously untrue

regimes brutal, squelched freedom of speech, imprisoned people seen as political dissidents

women “went backwards” again > many parts of Muslim world rebelled against this neocolonialism by going back to their Islamic roots

direct response to Imperialism

religious code of conduct.

image of a Coptic Christian Egyptian woman in full niqab

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Find also to read:

1. Women’s Groups Say Gender Equality is a Must for Sustainable Development
2. Gender connections
3. Gender equality and women’s rights in the post-2015 agenda
4. Is Europe going to become a dictatorial bastion
5. On French beach French police forces woman to undress in public
6. Women in France running with naked bosom all right but with covered bosom penalised
7. France and the Burkini
8. French showing to the whole world their fear and weaknesses
9. Pew Research: How People in Muslim Countries Believe Women Should Dress
10. Allowing dress code according liberty of religion
11. The Dress Code for Women in the Quran
12. Meditating Muslimah on “hijab to be a religious obligation”
13. Coverings Worn by Muslim Women
14. Does Banning Face Veils Help Us Fight Terrorism?
15. Islamism Rises from Europe’s Secularism
16. You are what you wear
17. Where’s the Outrage Over Nun Beachwear? – The Daily Beast
18. Not limiting others but sharing peace with all
19. Meditating Muslimah on “hijab to be a religious obligation”
20. Silence, devotion, Salafists, quietists, weaponry, bombings, books, writers and terrorists
21. Secularism in France becoming dangerous for freedom of religion
22. Christians, secularism, morals and values

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Further reading

1. Niqab
2. Niqabi in the West
3. Niqab : First Order from Philippine
4. Hijab or no hijab?
5. Turnabout is fair play
6. Anglosphere Islam: When Muslim Activists are Ignorant of the Revealed Law…!
7. The Veil of Oppression
8. Muslim woman kicked out of dollar store for wearing niqab
9. Watch Syrian women burn a niqab after their city was liberated from ISIS control
10. To Never Hide
11. Avoid Hollow Religiosity
12. fashion likes and dislikes
13. To my brothers in Islam
14. Why I don’t unveil myself
15. Burkini Ban: Not Everything has to be Legislated On, You Dimwits
16. ISIS Provokes a Backlash Against the Veil – The Daily Beast
17. 13 Thoughts on the Proposed Prohibition of the Burka in Germany
18. Germany may implement ban of full face veils amid spate of violent attacks
19. German Conservatives calls for ban on full-veil
20. Germany may outlaw women from wearing face veils in public
21. German court prohibits young Muslim woman from wearing niqab in class
22. Despite CDU-CSU push, Germany can’t legally ban burqas
23. Hijab is a girl’s right: Fabricating a lie 
24. Ninjas Not Allowed In School
25. So! (en) | Islamic veil across Europe
26. “It is the beach version of the burqa”: More French towns have banned the burkini on beaches
27. Banning the Burkini in Cannes: Continuing Oppressing Women Under the Name of Liberation
28. “France is at War with its own Citizens” – Yasser Louati on the Cannes “Burkini” Ban
29. Everything under the sun
30. Hidayah niqab review
31. Americans should not tolerate the culture of Niqab 
32. French ban Rio Olympic burkini to hide their false-flag shame!
33. Kyrgyzstan president suggests Islamic garb radicalizes women
34. Fitnah Wanita & Sosial Media
35. A pleasant surprise!
36. The rafting adrenaline rush
37. Ban The Burka

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Related articles

• Persecution in Egypt: “Discord, Death and Destruction” Faced by Coptic Christians
• Book review: Philosophy in the Islamic World: A history of philosophy without any gaps, Volume 3
• 8th August 2016
• looks hijab street style 2017 trends – Styles 7
• Malaysia’s Turn to the Right on Islam
• Merkel slams Muslim migrant ban enforced by EU members, urges fair distribution
• Cops See Muslim Wearing Banned ‘Burkini,’ Teach Her How Assimilation Works
• Kiwi-Muslims tackle misconceptions during Islamic Awareness Week
• Egypt: Christians ignore protest ban, claim they are treated as ‘second class citizens’
• 4 American Muslim Women You Should Know

Al Amatullah

Yes, we know. You found a really cool image of women in some “backwards country full of dirty Moozlums”. It shows “dirty Moozlum women” from about 50 years ago in short skirts etc. The genius people who made these memes juxtaposed these liberated looking women next to images of women in niqab or burqa or even hijab.

The thing is, these memes are intellectually dishonest. Lots of the Muslim world back then had populations in secular dress because foreign countries were enforcing/supporting secular and/or communist regimes all across the Muslim world.

So to showcase how women in these countries “used to be liberated” is ridiculously untrue. Many of these same regimes were absolutely brutal, squelched freedom of speech, imprisoned people seen as political dissidents, and so on.

As to how these women “went backwards” again, many parts of the Muslim world rebelled against this neocolonialism by going back to…

View original post 147 more words

Women in France running with naked bosom all right but with covered bosom penalised

Prudish people having put away their shame by causing shame to others

Years ago people had to fight hard against the prudish Catholic minds who opposed any naked flesh to be shown. Today the so called Catholic countries in West Europe seem to have chosen to have the women their tits out and finding it not okay to cover them up.

In the previous century there were many French and Belgians who did find it inappropriate to have some natural flesh of certain body parts to be shown in public. It was considered not done to have dresses which did not come under the knees. (We where brought up like that and got penalties when we had dared to show our bare/naked legs or upper arms.) Last century it was said we all had to listen to God and could not run naked in this world because God opposed such a thing.

Today their god must have changed idea and has come to prefer naked flesh, because in the present time the French seem not to look at those who want to cover their body as unworthy believers and even as people who are a danger for society.

Covering up for the Almighty

When we were young our Catholic mothers had to wear headscarf or hats when coming in public. In church they had to sit at the left hand site with their faces hidden behind a veil. In the previous century most people in Europe thought it was appropriate to dress decently and not having too much bare or naked. Mots parts of the body had to be covered with clothing or tissue.

Only around the turn of the century  less people came to make objections when some parts of the body were not covered. Today it looks like the world has got upside down. What for centuries was thought to be the moral way and according to Judeo Christian values, suddenly seems to be not acceptable any more.

People, like female Muslims, who now choose to cover up for God, are not allowed to do so by the French governement. Europeans should question such a decision taken by a governement in West Europe and see how human rights (freedoms established by custom or international agreement that impose standards of conduct on all nations) are  trespassed. Today we can see in France that many specific human rights are ignored. What happened to the the right to personal or individual liberty and Due Process of Law; to freedom of thought, clothing, expression, religion, organization, and movement; to freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, language, and sex?

Restrictions imposed

In West Europe we encounter more that certain social groups are confined to menial and despised jobs or even get no opportunity on the work-market. When somebody is called Mohammed he may be sure it will be much more difficult to get a job than when he would be called Jef. Arabic looking people shall find it more difficult to be able to rent a place or to buy property.

In Europe they say there does not exist a cast system (or caste) but if they are not careful it will come in existence or (better said) it will grow (because it is already here but denied). In our 21st century ‘Untouchability‘ and ‘Speciesism‘ have become a reality also in Western Europe. We can clearly see that more and more different values, rights, or special consideration is given to individuals solely on the basis of their species membership, origin and faith. There are many who are not minding positive discrimination and taking it up for one particular religious group (the Roman catholics). Today we may find the atheist caste wanting to direct the Christian-caste, Islamic-caste, and may we find different rejections of castes or groups of people.

It seems that France and Belgium are limiting the human rights laws for some groups in their population, which should give us the idea they are discriminating. By singling out a type of person or thing for special negative treatment or denial of equal treatment and to act in a prejudicial manner against someone or something, they have chosen the way of deprivation of individual liberty.

Oppression

Lots of Caucasians seem to think that all those women are oppressed, but is it not they who know bring oppression and take away those women’s freedom to cloth themselves like they want? Clearly we could see several women being downtrodden, maltreated, henpecked, browbeaten and subjugated or abused and tyrannized.

The country

which prides itself for liberté, égalité, fraternité, has unfortunately fallen short in recent times, with more social division and social prejudice arising within the country, due to the public suppression and rejection of religion; the consequent of which has led to violent eruptions.
It is also precisely through the social persecution of the wider Islamic community in such acts which aim to strip them of their beliefs, that it seems that the French government are validating individuals’ fears, rather than attempting to diffuse them. {France’s banning of the ‘Burqini’ is the rejection of its founding principles}

Swimwear

Forbidden: a burkini-clad woman on the beach

This iconic image of Peggy Moffitt modelling Gernreich’s monokini, which got a lot of controversy, was initially published in Women’s Wear Daily on June 3, 1964 and shows how one was still afraid to show a naked tummy.

What should people have against a full body swimsuit for any sort of woman, being Catholic or Muslim? (When we were child our parents had to wear full swimsuits or where fined.) Shall people, who went diving, have to take off their wetsuit before they come onto the beach? If they may walk on the beach with a wetsuit why not women in a full swimsuit?
Why are so many against wearing a swimming costume which covers the whole body with the exception of the face, hands, and feet, suitable for wear by Muslim women, which got the name bourkini/burkini/burqini, but has nothing to do with a bourka/burka/burqa or with the rider’s burka/burqa, which is long, thickpiled, nor with the traditional man’s coat made from felt or karakul, or with the Ukrainian traditional garment or Kobeniak, or with a two-piece bathing costume called bikini (or close-fitting bathing suit worn by men) and even less with a monokini, being just the opposite of it?

Women their freedom taken away

Are so many West Europeans so afraid women cannot stand up for themselves? And certain feminists do they not see there is much more at hand than just sexism?

We must be aware that there is so much more going on in our deranged world where Jihadi terrorist managed to get the fear burning hard over here in our regions that nobody seems to feel at ease when they see something that smells to Islamism. The politicians fell in the trap by creating laws in a hurry which limits the freedom of many women who have nothing to do at all with the faith of those terrorists, because they have chosen the path of God and a religion of peace or salam, hence the name Islam.

The Mayor of Cannes has prohibited access to the beach for those wearing clothing that disrespects secularism Reuters

By prohibiting the burkini the French state limits even more those they say would be oppressed. It is strange that lots of people do not understand those women wearing a burkini get just the freedom to go into the water or to lie on the beach like so many other women do.  By banning the burkini those women their freedom to enjoy a good day at the beach is taken away. By the ban also their children are targeted, because they also shall not be able to come to the beach and to go into the water to play with their mother.

The justification for the burkini ban is no longer about ‘liberating’ women, ….. but Arundhati Roy’s remarks about France’s earlier ban on the burka are still apt:

Suzanna Arundhati Roy , Indian author who is best known for her novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997

When, as happened recently in France, an attempt is made to coerce women out of the burka rather than creating a situation in which a woman can choose what she wishes to do, it’s not about liberating her but about unclothing her. It becomes an act of humiliation and cultural imperialism. Coercing a woman out of her burka is as bad as coercing her into one. It’s not about the burka. It’s about the coercion.

Arundhati Roy Capitalism: A Ghost Story, p. 37.

Armed police forcing women to remove their clothes on the beach is nothing other than an act of humiliation – humiliating women to punish a minority group for the actions of a few individuals. {France and the Burkini}

Huda Jawad, Community Coordinator at Standing Together Against Domestic Violence, wrote

Choosing to conflate a cultural and religiously inspired mode of attire – which women choose to wear to feel safe from the sexual gaze of society while partaking in a very ordinary pastime – with a terrorist group is a convenient ‘othering’ of fellow citizens in times of national crisis. {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

Secularism, good attitude and proper values

You may wonder why those women in burkini would not wear appropriate swimwear and would not “respect good customs and secularism” whilst others with their bare poo and bare bosom would be an example how women should be clothed and are respecting the western values.

There exist already a lot of discriminatory treatment towards physically unattractive people. Now to that ‘Lookism‘ we have the discriminatory view of men who can not see enough naked flesh are can not find enough to look at by a woman.

Today people not only make judgements of others based on their physical appearance that influence how they respond to those people, when their clothes are not liked by French men such men may now demand those clothes to be taken off.

The announcement by David Lisnard, UMP Mayor of Cannes, that he is prohibiting access to the beach to anyone not wearing what the French would consider suitable bathing suits, did not make many French question, what right he had, to decide a woman had to wear on the beach and why he choose the more naked version of the feminine, instead of a more clothed, and what believers in God would call a more decent one.

Victims of ISIS, the scapegoat of the French nation

Lots of people consider themselves victim of ISIS but forget that the worst victims are Islamists or ordinary Muslim people all over the world. Europeans and Americans may not be blind and should see that the greatest causalities of Isis have been Muslims, and the banning of the burkini illustrates the extent to which France’s fundamentalist secularism is singling out the most visible and vulnerable group in society for blame.

The governement is giving in and has found its scapegoat and used the local Muslims to blame for the terror the security forces of the country could not avoid or obstruct. Like the Fascist in the past liked Scapegoating many Europeans and Americans now blame the refugees and Muslims for the many problems they have in their country. In the past Jews and immigrants were prominent among the groups that were demonized. In France the Jews got a sibling now in the Muslim community. Today it is not a “Judeo-Masonic-bolshevik” conspiraciy or left-wing agitation, but the presence of immigrants and the amount of active Muslims.

As in the past the governement points the finger to those ‘outcasts’ and originators of all sin. They go with the people and hope to gain popularity by taking measures against the Ummah or Muslim community, making their life so difficult that they hope those other believers will soon leave. Implication was that depriving these demons of their power and influence would cause the nation’s major problems to go away.

Lots of people are afraid that those Muslims would be able to convert many French and that the nation by those converts would be more and more becoming an Islamic state.

Limiting the liberty of Muslims and other believers

Now by limiting the liberty of the Muslims in their own country the governement hopes to please the rest of the population and to take the attention away from their own weakness and the blame they have it not in control.

The governement, because of all the discussions going on about the burkini’s and religious clothing, decided that when the schools will open again, no religious dress or symbol shall be allowed, and as such no head covering for Jews and Muslims or necklaces with religious symbols.

Education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a former government spokesperson who is politically more to the left than former interior minister Valls and disagrees with the burqini ban could not stop the measures.

For the start of the debate, concerning the burqini Huda Jawad  also questioned in the Daily Independent

Since when did wearing a burkini, in most cases a loose fitting nylon version of a wetsuit, become an act of allegiance to terrorist movements? Do Marks & Spencer or House of Fraser know that their attempt to raise profits and exploit a gap in the over-saturated clothing market is selling and promoting allegiance to Isis? {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

She also remarks

What is it about French secularism’s blindspot to its own racism and misogyny? The obsession to the point of fetishism with Muslim women’s mode of dress and covering curtails the most basic of human rights – that of self-determination and freedom of expression. As Arundhati Roy so eloquently put it, coercing a woman out of the burka instead of enabling her to choose is an act of violence, humiliation and cultural imperialism. Instead of extending the hand of fraternité, Mr Lisnard and his supporters are excluding Muslims, if not pushing them into the arms of radicalisers. {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

Making the Muslims stigmatised as the bogeyman, that scarecrow seems already frightening lots of French people. They are pushing the golliwog in the corner or throwing in front of the swines that in the end they shall have to defend themselves so strongly and make their faith and stance even stronger, so that a new religious revolt can take place. Perhaps than the French shall get their eyes opened and shall be awakened from their cauchemard (their nightmare) they are afraid of.

Today, Friday 26 August 2016, France’s highest administrative court has suspended a ban on the burkini in a test case brought by human rights groups, pending a definitive ruling.

The ruling from the state council suspends a single ban in the southern town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, but is likely to set a precedent for other towns that have prohibited the full-body swimwear on their beaches.

According to a senior politician in Norway’s right-wing Progress Party (FrP) Norway also has to follow the lead of a number of French towns and ban the burkini. Third deputy, Aina Stenersen, claims the full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women are “a symbol of radical Islam” and is convinced that French cities did right to ban the burqini from their beaches. The Progress Party is in the process of formulating a new party manifesto, and the burkini ban is expected to be included.

The FrP does, however, believe the fine faced by those who wear burkinis in France is too lenient. Ms Stenersen intends to double the charge to around 500 kroner, which is equivalent to £57.

A story to be continued and démarche or kick-off to be followed up .

To welcome women wearing burqini’s and coming into public spaces

Marcel Michelson for Forbes writes

Yes, wearing a burkini on the beach, as wearing a burka in town, is an ostentatious sign of religious adherence, as is the wearing of full robes by priests and nuns in public or the traditional garments and hairstyles of orthodox Jews.

Yet a burkini is also a means of emancipation for Muslim women, allowing them to bathe despite the strict, male-dominated, rules under which they have to lead their lives.

In a way, we should welcome burkini’s and encourage Muslims to integrate more in French, or European, society. {Burkini Debate In France Shows Lack Of Tolerance And Understanding Out Of Fear For Strangers}

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Please come to read:

1. On French beach French police forces woman to undress in public
2. Is Europe going to become a dictatorial bastion
3. France and the Burkini
4. Islamophobia or nah?
5. Bitches, Puhleeeeze….
6. The Burkini
7. The Burkini Ban
8. France’s top court to rule on burkini ban
9. My Burkini and I
10. Universal concern: not naked enough
11. This gif sums up the whole ‘debate’ on #BurkiniBan
12. Burkini must be banned, France’s Sarkozy says as he launches election campaign
13. France’s War on the Burqini
14. Dear white people of France: being forced to undress wasn’t exactly the liberation I was longing for
15. Thoughts on Burqini
16. Modest Swimwear: The Burkini
17. Burkini and French Secularism
18. France’s banning of the ‘Burqini’ is the rejection of its founding principles.
19. 7 facts about France’s burkini ban that make outsiders very uncomfortable
20. Planned ‘Burqini Day’ irks French far-rights
21. The Swimsuit War of 2009: Year In Review 2009 (swimming)
22. France’s highest court suspends burkini ban in test case
23. Burkini ban: Norway’s right-wing Progress Party calls for full-body swimsuit to be outlawed

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Further related articles

1. French Web Round-Up: 5 Things That Made Me Smarter This Week
2. Sea Water, Sweat and Tears
3. Please exit calmly and quietly.
4. Is EU discriminating against Israel by labeling settlement goods?
5. Landlords Will Face Tougher Consequences For Discriminating Against (Most) Renters With Criminal Records: Gothamist
6. U.S. House of Representatives’ Chaplain Accused of Discriminating Against Atheism, Judaism and other Minority Religions
7. 3 Helpful Hints on Dismantling Racial Boundaries in the Classroom
8. On My Mind (Vol. 4)
9. I’m Gonna Dress Like a Charlie Brown Ghost Next Time I Go Swimming
10. What does it mean to cover?
11. Ban The Burka
12. What women need is security
13. Breaking News: France requesting to Saudi Arabia’s ‘Morality Police’ for training their police force!
14. Islam, France, Burkini: A chit chat on FB
15. Third French burqini ban after Corsica clashes
16. Beach Party Outside French Embassy Protests The Burkini Ban On French Beaches
17. East Essence: Shop Islamic Clothes For Your Whole Family!
18. True life story- Two plastic sacks
19. Waitress
20. Yttrandefriheten: Opinion live?
21. Di burkini e di diritti
22. Burqini dan Islamophobia Prancis
23. Τα Marks&Spencer, έβγαλαν και μπουργκίνι, μαγιό για μουσουλμάνες
24. Τη θέση του μπικίνι παίρνει το … μπουρκίνι

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Related articles

• Likely human rights talks with Europe to involve Iranian jurists, politicians: Official
• Human Rights Awareness Month
• The Latest: French far right leader: Burkini battle not over
• Burkini ban suspended by top French court
• France’s highest court overturns burkini ban
• Top French court suspends burkini ban
• Burkini Debate In France Shows Lack Of Tolerance And Understanding Out Of Fear For Strangers
• Trump brand of migrant demonization #2
• Letter from the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, to Mr Jorge Fernández Díaz, Minister of the Interior of Spain, concerning the human rights of immigrants and asylum-seekers in Spain
• The Latest: White House notes value of religious freedom

Destinations need to think out of the box

Travelling Mystery Guest (Pty) Ltd is aware that whether you are a tourist or a traveller, you want your visit to a tourism establishment to be perfect. Still we cannot ignore that many establishments struggle to meet their guests’ needs whilst individual and private organisations try to play with the new and ongoing trends.

Travelling Mystery Guest (Pty) Ltd (TMG) has been registered as a company in October 2012 and offers tourist destinations a variety of services, including workshops and sending a mystery guest to establishments to assess their quality of service.

Business trip to Switzerland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

TMG wants to assist tourism establishments to identify their market advantages to be able to walk the talk and can perhaps also help those who have plans for making an interesting holiday. All may find their website where lots of information is shared.

Hopefully or probably they are aware that the European travellers are not so pleased the last few years or got some nasty experiences with hotels, guesthouses and other travel destinations, in the southern continent of this globe. Internet created a new avenue for business travellers to plan their trip in advance and to check the venues where they are planning to stay. Professional travellers, if you may call them so, also got a little-bit bored by the cool ‘standard business hotels’ and we may find also some business travellers who love some places which stay ahead of the trends, so they also have something to tell about them when they return home

Our guestspeaker remarks:

The new business traveller’s needs have evolved; they are now looking for a temporary home-away-from-home paired with a fast, efficient and seamless experience that will enable them to work on-the-go. {The changing business traveller}

And shows us how this new trend goes hand in hand with certain needs.

Frequent business travellers will generally all agree that the average business trip is no fun. Business travel has little, if anything, in common with the typical holiday and, more often than not, business trips leave the traveller feeling exhausted and stressed out. Most corporate folk who regularly travel for work end up not even using all of their vacation days. There is, however, a solution to this predicament: Bleisure travel. {Bleisure – Combining Business with Leisure}

This is an ongoing trend that business travellers want again, like we saw this in the 1920ies, a lovely time when doing their job, and as such wanting some “Bleisure travel”.

This buzzword was created from the words “business” and “leisure” and refers to a business traveller who fits in some leisure time during a business trip. This is hardly a new thing, but it has only recently become newsworthy. In fact, for long there has been a segment of business travellers who have had the monetary means, as well as the professional flexibility, to include a few extra leisure days in their scheduled business trips. {Bleisure – Combining Business with Leisure}

To have some good climate to fulfil the business-talks assures a more successful business trip.

Not only the business manager is looking for resource optimisation. Today we also find people we cannot stay neutral in what happens in the world. They find we should play more an active role in the negative events of this world.

Digital photograph of Caminhos de Ferro de Mocambique, Railway Station in Maputo, Mozambique. Taken by myself, Justin K G Dumpleton, during business travel 12 March 2005. This is my own work and I release this image into the public domain. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

More and more we hear about people who want to go on vacation and at the same time want to do something positive or good for the local people. African voyages have become very popular in Belgium as well as the trips to the Greece islands to help the many refugees.

In Greece this may be working and not many locals are making mis-use of this situation. Differently in Africa we can see it has become a blooming business. Several Western organisations smelled money and are organising so called benevoluentary trips.

In any case certain people have become more aware of their possibility to enrich spiritually others at the same time as themselves and contributing economically to the needy population. Educational tourism or voluntourism are clearly in the lift and have a good future.

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Travelling Mystery

Highlight what makes you unique and tap into travellers’ expectations.

We recently wrote about business travellers and the growing trend of them looking for destinations that are unconventional and adventurous. Yes, the standard hotel room is still number one on the list for business travellers, but this is mainly because they know they will get what they expect. Hotel groups normally also make this easier, as they have a standard room types, which provide guests with exactly the same whether it is in South Africa or London.

With the bleisure travel trend becoming more and more popular, the demand for more adventurous and unique accommodation options will also increase. This means that destinations will need to start thinking out of the box and tap into travellers’ expectations, which is ever changing and could be quite challenging, yet very exciting!

Out of the box thinking. (Image from: writerswin.com)

View original post 430 more words

Pokémon craziness

The Japanese video game maker, once fiercely popular, may have been forgotten by many, but this month they were back on many lips. Though they were not the originators of the game which has so many, young and old, in the ban. It can be nice that even autistic now dare to come out in the open and talk to others. But we may not ignore certain dangers the game brings to the community.

Previous week the price of the shares went up but this Monday, Nintendo said that Pokémon Go’s runaway success is not likely to have a huge impact on its earnings. The company is slated to announce its results on Wednesday. It said, the income generated from Pokémon Go will be limited as it only holds a 32% stake in the affiliate Pokémon Company (Kabushiki gaisha Pokemon) which owns the licensing rights to the game, a Reuters report said.

Parents should not fall in the commercial trap buying this popular game to have their children enjoy a lovely Summer. They’ll better try to have more activities which bring more social activity between different players. In the previous article we looked already to the possibility for home stayers to socialise with the neighbours.

A happy neighbourhood can also be created by involving several neighbours in different and varied activities.

Youngsters may look forward to another summer of fun filled activities, and though they enjoy ebook devices like a E-reader, Nook, an iPad, tablet, laptop, or even a computer, and may want to use the libraries digital eBooks this summer, there are plenty of them who could be stimulated to have contact with youngsters of the same age or like-minded people.

In certain towns libraries make an effort to get the youngsters back behind the pages of a book. Parents play an important role for stimulating their kids to read some other stuf than their schoolbooks.

In case your kid is stuck to the Pokémon game it is not bad to try to get it away form that little screen. On television we have seen already stupid accidents having taken place because of gamers not being attentive when walking, but also driving on the streets.

The television companies with newspapers and magazines are warning players and parents to beware of financial, privacy and malware dangers that might catch players off guard when they are caught up in the game.

“While the game can be a blast and people are exercising because they have to get up and walk to look for a Pokémon, many concerns have arisen,”

nonprofit organization Better Business Bureau said in news release.

“Players are walking without the proper caution for being distracted with their mobiles. Authorities have indicated that people are congregating on public locations (such) as fire stations or even government offices when these places are closed to the public.”

The latest of the Nintendo franchise, launched at the beginning of this month, is a already a phenomenon worldwide. Unlike other installments in the Pokémon series, players in Pokémon Go do not battle wild Pokémon to capture them. In certain countries several users first got an illegal copy, when it was not available in their own country and later stood hours in the cue to get the new game.

In Belgium shops are paying the developers to have the Pokémon coming in their shop so that players would be lured into that shop. I wonder how they would react when there could be too many players rushing over the floor but not looking at the merchandise and not buying anything, but bringing damage to the shop. PokeStops are supposed to all be on public property (or cooperative private sites) and the private enterprises which look forward to find the Pokémon users in their neighbourhood hope that the players shall be respectful of others’ private property.

A mother of three children the author behind Positive parenting blog writes

Maybe your conspiracy radar is going off like a beacon because if Pokémon Go has really been downloaded that many million times and created such an interest … there must be something funny going on and you don’t want your children to be a part of that.

Maybe you just want to do better with the whole parenting thing this summer and seeing your kids with their faces buried in smart phones or tablets doesn’t give you the warm fuzzies.

She therefore gives eleven activities you can do with your children to escape summer blues … and avoid chasing Pikachus. > Eleven Alternatives to “Pokemon Go” … Stimulate Your Child’s Summer

Spoken word artist, poet, emcee, beatboxer and live loop creator from Northampton, now based in Leeds, finds

It’s time for flip-flops shorts and no sleeves,
Holiday booked, high pollen you might sneeze.
Long sunsets and caramel evenings,

Catch ups, old friends, new plans, big dreaming. {Summer July 25, 2016}

Wherever you are go outside, find some sunny place and make contact with those around you.

Find a roof terrace for cocktail sipping,
The sun working overtime before dipping,
In the ocean cool, playing the fool,
Knowing you never have to go back to school.
Some like the seaside, sandy beach cricket.
Some like the shade to ease back and kick it. {Summer July 25, 2016}

It would be nice if more parents would take the time to be active with their kids and even would not mind to be involved in activities with their neighbours.

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Preceding articles

Library of Love

How the Story Ends

2016 Summer holiday

Holiday time reading time

Summer Daze

Five Tips for a Happy Neighborhood

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Summer Daze

As a a twenty-something living in Metro-Detroit the Communication major/Broadcasting minor from Oakland University and a pretty big PR nerd, Briana Carlesimo from Bri Car, who enjoys travelling, taking/making lots of videos, listening to any and all types of music, and all social media, let us dream away on the sun-rays of Summer and on the sweet smell of cut grass.

When summertime and warm weather approach she wants to look at a few ways to spice up summer outfits and on Pinterest shows that she loves fashion. {Fashion Friday — The Classic Button Up}

She also seems to be in love with Instagram‘s Rocksbox willing to spend $19 a month to receive a little box filled with 3 pieces of so called ‘designer jewelry’ for what we would call fantasy jewels. Fact is some handy guys may have the customer to they could be worth somewhere around $200.

We wonder what really happens when a person has used or kept  them for several weeks/months if they really would send you a new box for not more money! {Fashion-Friday Rocksbox} (Perhaps she tells us about her experiences)

She does not know if it is because it’s summer or what, her feeling like some really great music has been coming out lately. {Music Monday Summer-vibes}

For sure she shall have to go into a ‘hot Summer” having to see all the troubles going on in both camps of the Republicans and Democrats or Left vs. Right or “I’m right, you’re wrong”. Though she loves when people are passionate about what they believe – that’s great – but if their passion takes them to the point of blindness to anybody else’s opinion other than theirr own, that’s where she has a problem. {Freedom}

She thinks

The point of having political parties in the United States was to give different people the opportunity to speak out and join others with the same beliefs. It’s quite an amazing opportunity to give to citizens – the right and freedom to choose what to say without any penalty for it. We were given a chance to join like-minded people, but it is not a death sentence to be all-or-nothing within a certain party.

So why, then, are we arguing with other people who have different opinions than us? Why are we getting into physical fights just because somebody else wants to speak or hold a rally or give their thoughts to a larger audience? Why does nobody know the meaning of “peaceful protest” anymore? We have some of the bravest men and women fighting every day to help us keep our freedom, and meanwhile, we’re back home fighting each other and taking that freedom away. {Freedom}

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This summertime also find some moments to put all that political debate away and enjoy the way your skin feels in the morning when that first ray of sunshine lands across your arm and the warmth of the world engulfs your entire being.

The idea that the summer time is a time for happiness and adventures and explorations all because the bright sky and the colorful land blend together into a painting unlike any other season.

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Preceding articles

Library of Love

How the Story Ends

2016 Summer holiday

Holiday time reading time

+++

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Bri Car

There’s something so incredible about these hot, summer days.

Being able to feel the heat and the sun radiating off of the objects around you.

Or the way your skin feels in the morning when that first ray of sunshine lands across your arm and the warmth of the world engulfs your entire being.

How sweetly the smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of birds chirping come together to create a feeling that every day presents a new opportunity to shine as brightly as the sun does.

The idea that the summer time is a time for happiness and adventures and explorations all because the bright sky and the colorful land blend together into a painting unlike any other season.

Or the appreciation of knowing these days may be rough but that they’re the worst of the best, and even then, we still know we’d rather be breathing in these moments…

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