all crazies are equal

Submitted by myth (Germany), Feb 22, 2013 at 06:27

It seems to me, while examining the burka-criminals, we got on the train of understanding islamic culture. Now, nobody knows where is the next stop in the Western World to get off. Here's where.

Two weeks ago I was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people who hid their identities. It was the time of carnival along the Rhine stretching all the way north up to the catholic-protestant border in central Holland. I saw walking bananas, beer cans, men dressed as women, fake police officers, mongol warriors, you name it.

What are the rules within my part of the West to deal with this extraordinary situation? First, all crazies in costume are equal. Regardless of who what we are in real-life, the costume shakes off and denies all privileges and social structure. Ridiculing social and religious authority is one purpose of carnival. This goes to the point, that real police uniforms count as costumes. People kiss real police officers on duty. Carnival also suspends religious doctrine. Like me, a man dressed up as a catholic nun. An expression of western gender-equality? Perhaps.

How do I know who to trust when I cannot identify the person? The unwritten rule is to trust everybody who is in a good mood, singing, dancing, kissing, drinking. Yes, people in costumes commit crimes here hiding their identities behind costumes and masks. I remember a news report where someone dressed up as a prisoner, robbed a gas station.

While all this disappears after one week here, I understand the burka-costume-crazies walk the streets of Philadelphia all year long. Apply the rules of carnival to Philadelphia. Consider a burka as one particular costume, no more, no less. Treat all people in costumes as equal. Deny those in costumes religious and social privileges. You will be following a Western tradition.

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