Switzerland - What's in a handshake?

[Suzuki Johnny]

Switzerland - What's in a handshake? Well worth reading.

Sometimes it's the little things that are most telling. At first glance this may seem like a trivial story but what lies hidden beneath it could have serious consequences for our children and grandchildren.
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In Switzerland it has long been customary for students to shake the hands of their teachers at the beginning and end of the school day. It's a sign of solidarity and mutual respect between teacher and pupil, one that is thought to encourage the right classroom atmosphere. Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga recently felt compelled to further explain that shaking hands was part of Swiss culture and daily life.
And the reason she felt compelled to speak out about the handshake is that two Muslim brothers, aged 14 and 15, who have lived in Switzerland for several years (and thus are familiar with its mores), in the town of Therwil, near Basel, refused to shake the hands of their teacher, a woman, because, they claimed, this would violate Muslim teachings that contact with the opposite sex is allowed only with family members.
At first the school authorities decided to avoid trouble, and initially granted the boys an exemption from having to shake the hand of any female teacher. But an uproar followed, as Mayor Reto Wolf explained to the BBC: "the community was unhappy with the decision taken by the school. In our culture and in our way of communication a handshake is normal and sends out respect for the other person, and this has to be brought home to the children in school."
Therwil's Educational Department reversed the school's decision, explaining in a statement on May 25 that the school's exemption was lifted because "the public interest with respect to equality between men and women and the integration of foreigners significantly outweighs the freedom of religion." It added that a teacher has the right to demand a handshake. Furthermore, if the students refused to shake hands again "the sanctions called for by law will be applied," which included a possible fine of up to 5,000 dollars.
This uproar in Switzerland, where many people were enraged at the original exemption granted to the Muslim boys, did not end after that exemption was itself overturned by the local Educational Department. The Swiss understood quite clearly that this was more than a little quarrel over handshakes; it was a fight over whether the Swiss would be masters in their own house, or whether they would be forced to yield, by the granting of special treatment, to the Islamic view of the proper relations between the sexes. It is one battle – small but to the Swiss significant – between overweening Muslim immigrants and the indigenous Swiss.

Naturally, once the exemption was withdrawn, all hell broke loose among Muslims in Switzerland. The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland, instead of yielding quietly to the Swiss decision to uphold the handshaking custom, criticized the ruling in hysterical terms, claiming that the enforcement of the handshaking is "totalitarian" (!) because its intent is to "forbid religious people from meeting their obligations to God."
That, of course, was never the "intent" of the long-standing handshaking custom, which was a nearly-universal custom in Switzerland, and in schools had to do only with encouraging the right classroom atmosphere of mutual respect between instructor and pupil, of which the handshake was one aspect.
The Swiss formulation of the problem – weighing competing claims — will be familiar to Americans versed in Constitutional adjudication. In this case "the public interest with respect to equality" of the sexes and the "integration of foreigners" (who are expected to adopt Swiss ways, not force the Swiss to exempt them from some of those ways) were weighed against the "religious obligations to God" of Muslims, and the former interests found to outweigh the latter.
What this case shows is that even at the smallest and seemingly inconsequential level, Muslims are challenging the laws and customs of the Infidels among whom they have been allowed to settle [i.e., stealth jihad toward sharia dominance]. Each little victory, or defeat, will determine whether Muslims will truly integrate into a Western society or, instead, refashion that society to meet Muslim requirements.
The handshake has been upheld and, what's more, a stiff fine now will be imposed on those who continue to refuse to shake hands with a female teacher. This is a heartening sign of non-surrender by the Swiss. But the challenges of the Muslims within Europe to the laws and customs of the indigenes have no logical end and will not stop.
And the greater the number of Muslims allowed to settle in Europe, the stronger and more frequent their challenges will be. They are attempting not to integrate, but rather to create, for now, a second, parallel society, and eventually, through sheer force of numbers from both migration and by outbreeding the Infidels, to fashion not a parallel society but one society — now dominated by Muslim sharia.

The Swiss handshaking dispute has received some, but not enough, press attention. Presumably, it's deemed too inconsequential a matter to bother with. But the Swiss know better. And so should we.

There's an old Scottish saying that in one variant reads: "Many a little makes a mickle." That is, the accumulation of many little things leads to one big thing. That's what's happening in Europe today. This was one victory for the side of sanity. There will need to be a great many more.

This needs circulation far and wide.

[HARRIS]

IN MY HOUSE ... YOU FOLLOW MY RULES.

THE TAIL DOES NOT WAG THE DOG !

[jonnycando]

Switzerland may be neutral, but I think we'd do well to get them on our side!

[Designer]

Notable Quotes from this Article:

1. The Swiss understood quite clearly that this was more than a little quarrel over handshakes; it was a fight over whether the Swiss would be masters in their own house, or whether they would be forced to yield, by the granting of special treatment, to the Islamic view of the proper relations between the sexes. It is one battle – small but to the Swiss significant – between overweening Muslim immigrants and the indigenous Swiss.

2. And the greater the number of Muslims allowed to settle in Europe, the stronger and more frequent their challenges will be. They are attempting not to integrate, but rather to create, for now, a second, parallel society, and eventually, through sheer force of numbers from both migration and by outbreeding the Infidels, to fashion not a parallel society but one society — now dominated by Muslim sharia.

3. What this case shows is that even at the smallest and seemingly inconsequential level, Muslims are challenging the laws and customs of the Infidels among whom they have been allowed to settle [i.e., stealth jihad toward sharia dominance]. Each little victory, or defeat, will determine whether Muslims will truly integrate into a Western society or, instead, refashion that society to meet Muslim requirements.


About 6-7 years ago I got roundly chastised for saying this was happening on the Purple Board. Few Board members siding with the observations I made.

I predicted the doctrine of...." Immigrate, Populate, Dominate"....(that was really what the moo-slimes were doing)... would continue and become VERY apparent within 5 years.

Well, I was off by a few years,, but indeed It HAS become VERY APPARENT.

As we see even if they were born in the country THEY DO NOT INTEGRATE INTO IT. [space] Time to REMOVE THEM ALL.

Send them BACK to the sand boxes where their "religion" first appeared.

[DevilsFan]

The (il)legal immigration problem that I see is ASSIMILATION. When immigrants come into a foreign country that's one thing. But when they come into that foreign country and start demanding said country "change to their ways" is NOT assimilating. We have it here in the US with the Muslims and the Mexicans. I also see it in the Haitians coming here, although not as prevalent. (Have a garage sale in Florida and wait for a Haitian to show up. They DEMAND to buy your things for a price way lower than what you're asking. I had to tell a Haitian family to get the fuck out of my garage a few years ago.)

This is what the Leftists cannot comprehend. Without assimilation the hosting country will eventually become something else.

As for using the "violates my religion" excuse, I could care less. I am not a religious person but I know enough that this country was founded on people who wanted the freedom to practice whatever religion they wanted to. I have no issue with that SO AS LONG AS it doesn't FORCIBLY change US culture. And Islam is a religion, not a culture, so use it as a religion. I would say the same for any religion. I don't see Christians MAKING ME behave a certain way or taking away my rights in the name of Christianity. And I certainly won't have that with the Islamic religion either.

[YoDude]

So I'd like to know what happened in the aftermath of it all. Did the kids remain in school and now forced to shake hands with the female teachers? Did they move to another school where they could try the same thing? Are the parents getting fined $5000 dollars on a regular basis?

Yo-

[BlacktopTravelr]

If it is that important to them to keep the sexes apart due to religious beliefs then it is also important in my religious belief to show respect to your elders.

[jonnycando]

Freedom of Religion is not Freedom FROM religion....they gonna have to suck up on the way we do things. As said....assimilate or GTFO!

[Suzuki Johnny]

Notable Quotes from this Article:

1. The Swiss understood quite clearly that this was more than a little quarrel over handshakes; it was a fight over whether the Swiss would be masters in their own house, or whether they would be forced to yield, by the granting of special treatment, to the Islamic view of the proper relations between the sexes. It is one battle – small but to the Swiss significant – between overweening Muslim immigrants and the indigenous Swiss.

2. And the greater the number of Muslims allowed to settle in Europe, the stronger and more frequent their challenges will be. They are attempting not to integrate, but rather to create, for now, a second, parallel society, and eventually, through sheer force of numbers from both migration and by outbreeding the Infidels, to fashion not a parallel society but one society — now dominated by Muslim sharia.

3. What this case shows is that even at the smallest and seemingly inconsequential level, Muslims are challenging the laws and customs of the Infidels among whom they have been allowed to settle [i.e., stealth jihad toward sharia dominance]. Each little victory, or defeat, will determine whether Muslims will truly integrate into a Western society or, instead, refashion that society to meet Muslim requirements.


About 6-7 years ago I got roundly chastised for saying this was happening on the Purple Board. Few Board members siding with the observations I made.

I predicted the doctrine of...." Immigrate, Populate, Dominate"....(that was really what the moo-slimes were doing)... would continue and become VERY apparent within 5 years.

Well, I was off by a few years,, but indeed It HAS become VERY APPARENT.

As we see even if they were born in the country THEY DO NOT INTEGRATE INTO IT. [space] Time to REMOVE THEM ALL.

Send them BACK to the sand boxes where their "religion" first appeared.

[emoji106]

[Suzuki Johnny]

So I'd like to know what happened in the aftermath of it all. Did the kids remain in school and now forced to shake hands with the female teachers? Did they move to another school where they could try the same thing? Are the parents getting fined $5000 dollars on a regular basis?

Yo-

The handshake has been upheld and, what's more, a stiff fine now will be imposed on those who continue to refuse to shake hands with a female teacher. This is a heartening sign of non-surrender by the Swiss

[Tbeck]

The west needs to look at Islam in a context different from how we view religion. Islam is NOT a religion, it is a CULTURE. It CANNOT assimilate into Western society because it is an all encompassing cultural view. It is religion, law, and everything else all rolled into one.
Once we Westerners start looking at Islam in this manner, we'll begin to see that allowing these people into our society and nation's won't work. It isn't fair or right for our own citizens, and frankly it is not fair to these immigrants. They cannot assimilate and as such will be forced to invent a parallel society. That isn't good for anyone.