10Feb/1012
Kneejerkery
'Both my father and grandfather proudly served in the British Army in Kenya and I myself have devoted the best years of my life in voluntary service to Britain's poor, desperate and lonely.
'I never wanted to be divisive or offend anyone, the Britain I have loved for over half a century is a tolerant "live and let live" nation and the verdict is a victory for those values.'
So says Davender Ghai, who has won the right to a traditional Hindu open-air cremation. Unfortunately, despite his proud military service and his love for Britain, the fact that he wants to live his life according to the tenets of his faith and cultural tradition means he faces the wrath of inverted commas from the Mail:
'Human right'? 'Human right'? How dare he have so-called human rights!
Yes, that's right. 436 people either genuinely think that Christians cannot wear crosses, or they're confused about what people are allowed to do by their contracts of employment, or it's just plain kneejerkery. I'll go for kneejerkery, in this instance, but I'm delighted to see that, for once, people are demanding that health and safety should come to the rescue!
Where will it all end? Oh I don't know. It'll probably end with people being allowed to do whatever the hell they like when they've snuffed it, so long as they can find an appropriate crematorium (which doesn't exist at the moment), but what do you think comes out of those chimneys on current crematoriums? Flower petals? Confetti? Kittens? This man is a proud Brit who simply wants his dying wishes to be carried out in the tradition of his forefathers; what on earth is wrong with that?
Whatever faith you might have, or if you have none, surely everyone can understand that - can't they?
Yeah, hopefully someone will set fire to you, and do the world a favour.
But there you have it. A simple mention of 'rights' in inverted commas, and it brings the knees jerking immediately into action. It must be wrong! We can't wear crosses! Wurgh! How dare they bring over their funny ways and make us change out crematoriums, even though that isn't going to happen, I just want to think it will because that's what'll annoy me the most!
For someone like me, by my own admission a happily secular atheist, this decision seems right. Other people should be allowed to carry out their lives and their wishes in respect of their cultural and religious traditions - that's the Britain that Davender Ghai is proud of. And the Britain that I'm proud of too.
Thanks to Alex for the tipoff!
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February 10th, 2010 - 17:12
christains, not christians. I bet that chap is a regular church goer too…
February 11th, 2010 - 02:05
The third one tops it with “Britian”, and they definitely seem keen on britianishness. Still, they’d doubtless blame wishy-washy pc-gorn-maaad schools for not beating spelling into them
February 10th, 2010 - 17:13
I love the idea that open air funeral pyres is ‘unBritish’ – people were being sent to their maker long before Peter’s beloved Jesus came along.
February 10th, 2010 - 22:29
I seem to remember Beowulf had an ‘unBritish’ end, and what about Guy Fawkes night as a custom? Is it ‘unBritish’ or not? These people confuse me.
February 10th, 2010 - 17:25
The health angle reminds me of the burka-banners claiming that women will not get sufficient vitamin D.
February 10th, 2010 - 18:58
You’d have thought Mail readers would be right behind setting fire to Indians
February 10th, 2010 - 21:30
I suspect that you might struggle to find any mention of this excerpt from the report of the case in “The Hindu” in the usual suspects –
“Delivering the verdict, Judge David Neuberger, who chaired a three-judge panel, said: “It seems to us that Mr. Ghai’s religious and personal beliefs as to how his remains should be cremated once he dies can be accommodated within current cremation legislation.”
Earlier, Mr. Ghai’s lawyer told the court that his client agreed that the funeral pyre could be surrounded by walls and be covered with a roof with an opening.”
February 10th, 2010 - 22:34
They’ve probably also forgotten that anyone else, Christians included, can have open-air cremations now as well. It’s hardly pandering to minorities when literally everyone is allowed to do it, even if it’s a minority that starts it.
February 10th, 2010 - 23:31
“The eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth brigade”
Really?? Does such a thing exist? I sincerely hope so.
February 11th, 2010 - 08:39
Ummm… just a small point in Daily Mail land, but he hasn’t been granted the right to be cremated on an open pyre.
He’s allowed to be cremated on a pyre. In a building. Purpose-built, one would assume and just big enough to contain his pyre. But a building nonetheless, and one which therefore complies with existing laws.
February 11th, 2010 - 10:40
this is what seems to have passed the majority of the commenters by (all the ones in the green anywho). there has been no change in the law here, the existing regulations have simply been clarified. there was confusion, it was causing problems, and so it’s now been cleared up, end of confusion! nothing to complex to get your head around you’d think.
February 11th, 2010 - 15:58
good article, the DM comments are beyond belief really – this will not effect anyone in any shape or form, yet they still get livid about it, really strange.
reading the comments is really strange – you get comments that make total sense and are stating facts getting marked down, just due to the knee jerking reactionary fools that want England to be stuck in some sort of a time warp.
for a readership that goes on about “broken britain” so much it becomes odd to read other articles about “british man killed in foreign country x” – as soon as someone suggests this sort of thing happens in the UK too people get defensive and mark the comment down – so talk of “broken britain” is fine, as long as you still can pretend the UK is far superior to foreign countries……..madness.