I watched both episodes, found them interesting. My main take-away is that my belief that it is not possible to generalise about any group of people as they do not think, act or believe as one homogenous group was proven again. Just as “white Australians” have vastly differing opinions and beliefs, so too do indigenous, Asian, Muslim & other types of Australians.
Other thoughts were that although I believe the niqab wearing woman should be free to dress as she pleases (and I do believe it was her choice), I personally find it confronting and find no real connection or engagement could be made with her, even while I’d defend her right to cover herself as she wishes. To me it hides all expression and makes real communication almost impossible, and I’d be unlikely to make the effort in real life. Maybe my reaction was tainted by my dislike of “fundamentalism” of any ilk, and it was no surprise to me that the person with the most fundamental belief system was also the most strident and overbearing character in the house, prone to making every situation all about themselves and seeking to play the victim at every opportunity. Whether fundamentalism leads to this behaviour or whether people of that nature are drawn to fundamentalism in a conundrum for me, but I dislike extremes of any religion be it Christian, Muslim, Scientology or even atheism. The rest of them seemed very decent people with varying beliefs, but mostly tolerant of each other’s differences. I did empathise with the younger ones as they are clearly chafing against the strictness of their religion in a modern society - just as I expect young christians have, and maybe still do. For the record I’d call myself an almost atheist, still just enough of my catholic upbringing left to allow a bit of hypocrisy to creep in when I face my own mortality.
Other thoughts were that although I believe the niqab wearing woman should be free to dress as she pleases (and I do believe it was her choice), I personally find it confronting and find no real connection or engagement could be made with her, even while I’d defend her right to cover herself as she wishes. To me it hides all expression and makes real communication almost impossible, and I’d be unlikely to make the effort in real life. Maybe my reaction was tainted by my dislike of “fundamentalism” of any ilk, and it was no surprise to me that the person with the most fundamental belief system was also the most strident and overbearing character in the house, prone to making every situation all about themselves and seeking to play the victim at every opportunity. Whether fundamentalism leads to this behaviour or whether people of that nature are drawn to fundamentalism in a conundrum for me, but I dislike extremes of any religion be it Christian, Muslim, Scientology or even atheism. The rest of them seemed very decent people with varying beliefs, but mostly tolerant of each other’s differences. I did empathise with the younger ones as they are clearly chafing against the strictness of their religion in a modern society - just as I expect young christians have, and maybe still do. For the record I’d call myself an almost atheist, still just enough of my catholic upbringing left to allow a bit of hypocrisy to creep in when I face my own mortality.