‘This Only Confirms the Image of the U.S.A.’
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Version 0 of 1. Here are the top 10 comments of the week on our digital platforms, as selected by our readers and the journalists who moderate nearly every comment. 1. It’s so shortsighted. The burkini is a wonderful piece of clothing because it allows observant Muslim women to go swimming, to cool off, to have fun, like any other person. If the burkini is banned, the result won’t be for observant Muslim women to go swimming in a Western-style women’s swimsuit. The result will be for such women to not go swimming at all, but to stay fully covered and on dry land. Is that a victory? I think not. It results in restricting observant Muslim women’s activities. Instead, burkinis should be welcomed and recognized as the freedom-giving garments that they are for observant Muslim women. Not in favor of the burkini? Then don’t wear one. But don’t stop others from wearing one if they choose to do so. — Margaret in Oakland, Calif., reacting to an article about towns in France banning the burkini, a bathing suit worn by observant Muslim women that bares only the face, hands and feet, from public beaches. 2. A friend of mine who lives in Utrecht, Holland, described to me what it’s like living in her community now. She said she used to be able to walk freely anywhere, in any neighborhood regardless of what she was wearing without being harassed. She described it as a “free society,” not having to worry about her safety. Now in some areas where there is a larger Muslim immigrant population she is frequently called a “whore” by random men on the street. Her crime: wearing short sleeves. Now she is the one who has to cover up as to not be harassed in a place she has called home for over 50 years because some immigrants do not respect the laws of where they now reside. She also said if you report these incidents you are branded a “racist” by the authorities because you are not respecting a particular religion. People may not like the ban on burkinis, but the situation in Europe is at a boiling point. — AHF in Brooklyn. 3. I think that pulling off the swimmers from the plane makes our image of a third world banana republic worse. Yet, what about using your prominence to falsely accuse our police of criminal behavior when you were the ones acting criminally? We have a serious crime problem, under which all of us suffer. When I see rich Americans destroying our property and then lying about it to make us look worse, this only confirms the image of the U.S.A. as an arrogant rich country. — Jose in Rio de Janeiro, reacting to an article about four American Olympic swimmers, including the 12-time medalist Ryan Lochte, whose story about being robbed was deemed false by the Brazilian authorities. This comment received more than 670 reader recommendations. 4. I used to feel a sense of obligation, as someone who has a certain level of privilege living where I live, to watch and be a witness to the suffering of others. I can’t anymore. Before this child was the image of a father carrying his dead daughter in agony. Before that image was the picture of the dead child who washed up on a beach. I don’t know how many pictures of suffering Syrian children it will take for our international community to act. What I do know is that this isn’t the last image that will trend for a couple days and fade away. — Lore Abenaa Afrakoma II on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to a video that showed a 5-year-old Syrian boy, Omran Daqneesh, in the back of an ambulance after his family’s home in Aleppo was destroyed in an airstrike. A photograph of his dazed expression went viral as a symbol of Syrian suffering. This comment received more than 480 likes. 5. Since moving to Louisiana, I’ve come to understand how offended and betrayed some folks feel when they’re being told that the energy business that brought jobs and middle class prosperity to a deeply, deeply impoverished state since the early 20th century is now the devil that’s driving climate change and destroying the physical world they dearly love. The levels of cognitive dissonance and grief cannot be underestimated, and it fuels pushback. Meanwhile, most Americans are entirely oblivious to how profoundly they continue to depend on the energy and shipping infrastructure that is driving Louisiana’s physical extinction. — Jimaka in Lafayette, La., reacting to an article about the link between the devastating floods in Louisiana and climate change. 6. Ridiculous. As a public school teacher, I and my students have regularly functioned without air conditioning, and believe me, it gets quite hot in May, June and September. And like prisons (sadly), schools are built with brick, concrete, flat roofs, limited breezeways. So if it’s unconstitutional to have no air conditioning for grown prisoners, it is *definitely* unconstitutional to have no air conditioning for millions of our nation’s school children as well as adults who serve them. Not a single prison should get a/c before all the schools in our nation have a/c. — Washington in New York, reacting to an article about whether a failure to provide inmates in jails with air-conditioning violates the Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. This comment received more than 300 reader recommendations. 7. It’s hard not to be sarcastic. Twenty-four hours on a hard bench is no worse than what many of us have suffered when we missed a bus. With homeless families suffering in the United States, I do not see that we should spend money on the creature comforts of lawbreakers who chose of their own free will to sneak across the border. Only the fact that children are subjected to these uncomfortable conditions concerns me: They should be given safe, comfortable accommodations and their parents prosecuted for endangering the welfare of a child, with their sentence suspended unless they ever return. — Josh Hill in New London, Conn., reacting to an article about photos of conditions inside immigrant detention centers in Arizona. The photos were released in the discovery process of a lawsuit against the Border Patrol by several civil rights and immigration groups. 8. “Strap yourself up by your bootstraps!” seems to be the main theme. “Things were bad when I was young, so stop your whining.” Unreal. Back in the old days, we had unions, we had politicians that were, at the least, willing to actually talk to each other, ooh, maybe even compromise! We had housing that was affordable, if you didn’t go to college there were still jobs out there that paid a halfway decent wage, the list goes on forever. What have we left them? — Karla in Mooresville, N.C., reacting to other comments on an article about millennials in Seattle, many of whom work in the tech industry and are worried about their generation’s heavy student loan debt and uncertain political future. This comment received more than 480 reader recommendations. 9. The Trump “shake-up” (yet again) and his wacky roller coaster ride of a campaign provides a working model of how a Trump administration would run: improvised from day to day and in perpetual crisis management mode in a never-ending effort to clean up yesterday’s public relations disaster caused by Donald’s bizarre behavior. By contrast, I take note of Hillary Clinton’s campaign: methodical, cautious, steady, not too glamorous but relentlessly on track and succeeding. — Jonathan Baker in New York, reacting to an article about Donald J. Trump’s hiring of Stephen K. Bannon, chairman of the Breitbart News website, to run his campaign. This comment received more than 1,740 reader recommendations. 10. Many athletes are born with unusual physical traits that give them an advantage. Michael Phelps has an unusually large wingspan, the natural ability to hyperextend his joints, he produces less than half the normal lactic acid, etc. All of these give him an edge. Why are his quirks lauded and Caster’s quirks banned? It’s misogynistic and speaks to our society’s discomfort with women who don’t fall within the traditional view of femininity. I support her in her natural physical state 100%. — Jenny Awasano on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about the South African runner Caster Semenya, whose high testosterone levels — and the perceived competitive edge they might give her — have resulted in years of scrutiny. This comment received 1,530 likes. |