Segreganation: One Nation, Separate Lines
Technorati tags: Humor, Religion, PAS, Sex Segregation, Social Ills
This story, supposedly reported by NaSTy Pee, was carried by the AFP, and picked up by a number of news agencies. Walski didn't bother finding the original NaSTy Pee version, incidentally, so he takes it at face value that they were the ones responsible for the original report.
Yeah, yeah... the same 'ol segregation thing. Separate him/her lines at the supermarket, segregated cinemas, segregated co-ed schools... It does make one wonder if the males in Kelantan are so depraved and deprived that they would resort to groping in the supermarket lines. And who's to say that it's just the men? Women are empowered to grope, too, you know?
Another question - is same-sex groping allowed?
But the main point is this - is segregation of the sexes the panacea to our social problems? Social problems like theft, kidnapping, murder, poverty, illiteracy... Walski invites you - in fact, dares you - to respond to this question if you think the answer is Yes. And Walski really wants to know how exactly these social problems can be overcome via segregation.
(segregation can't cure stupidity, and more, in the full post)
The fact that this itsy bitsy news item was purportedly first published by NaSTy Pee does make Walski wonder if the focus is more towards discrediting PAS, being that the nation seems to be under the guile of election fever. Infectious like ebola, but at least you don't bleed to death.
Then again, this stand on segregation is not new, nor is it news, per se. One thing, though - Walski wonders about the last sentence in the news clipping above:
"Other shoppers are hesitant to step in and tell these people off for fear of being reprimanded."
Or is it because the shoppers actually don't mind? And that they don't really see what the big fuss is about. It would also seem that speaking on behalf on the ubiquitous "others" is something all politicians do. No matter what your religious leanings might be. Must be one of those unwritten politician creeds, or something.
In any case, segregation is probably no cure for the biggest social ill of all - stupidity. Even in this current environment of low safety, some parents will still leave their young kids unattended in public places. No amount of segregation is gonna change that behavior.
Incidentally, Walski has only been to Kota Bharu, Kelantan, once, and that was before all these segreganatory laws were announced. He does not, however, remember people groping each other in the shops while waiting in line at the payment till.
Must be a relatively new phenomenon. Or are the cashiers in KB so God-awfully slow that those waiting in line have no choice but to entertain themselves?
