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News: Reddit Users Attempt to Shame Sikh Woman, Get Righteously Sc
Member Since: 11/5/2009
Posts: 8,096
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Reddit Users Attempt to Shame Sikh Woman, Get Righteously Sc
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Reddit Users Attempt to Shame Sikh Woman, Get Righteously Schooled

A Reddit user going by the handle "european_douchebag" posted a surreptitious photo of a Sikh woman with the caption "i'm not sure what to conclude from this." The user's apparent confusion stems from the fact that the woman—bound by her religion not to cut her hair or alter her body—has an abundance of dark, untrimmed facial hair. The mind of european_douchebag was SO INCREDIBLY BLOWN by the fact that women have hair on their bodies—and, yes, faces—and that some women are bold, self-assured, and pious enough not to cave to western beauty standards (and gender expectations), there was nothing for him to do but post her photo online and wait for the abuse to flood in.
But then something totally lovely and unexpected happened. The woman in the photo responded:
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"Hey, guys. This is Balpreet Kaur, the girl from the picture. I actually didn't know about this until one of my friends told on facebook. If the OP wanted a picture, they could have just asked and I could have smiled  However, I'm not embarrased or even humiliated by the attention [negative and positve] that this picture is getting because, it's who I am. Yes, I'm a baptized Sikh woman with facial hair. Yes, I realize that my gender is often confused and I look different than most women. However, baptized Sikhs believe in the sacredness of this body - it is a gift that has been given to us by the Divine Being [which is genderless, actually] and, must keep it intact as a submission to the divine will. Just as a child doesn't reject the gift of his/her parents, Sikhs do not reject the body that has been given to us. By crying 'mine, mine' and changing this body-tool, we are essentially living in ego and creating a seperateness between ourselves and the divinity within us. By transcending societal views of beauty, I believe that I can focus more on my actions. My attitude and thoughts and actions have more value in them than my body because I recognize that this body is just going to become ash in the end, so why fuss about it? When I die, no one is going to remember what I looked like, heck, my kids will forget my voice, and slowly, all physical memory will fade away. However, my impact and legacy will remain: and, by not focusing on the physical beauty, I have time to cultivate those inner virtues and hopefully, focus my life on creating change and progress for this world in any way I can. So, to me, my face isn't important but the smile and the happiness that lie behind the face are. :-) So, if anyone sees me at OSU, please come up and say hello. I appreciate all of the comments here, both positive and less positive because I've gotten a better understanding of myself and others from this. Also, the yoga pants are quite comfortable and the Better Together tshirt is actually from Interfaith Youth Core, an organization that focuses on storytelling and engagement between different faiths.  I hope this explains everything a bit more, and I apologize for causing such confusion and uttering anything that hurt anyone. "
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And then, THEN, something even more miraculous happened—the original poster apologized:
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" I know that this post ISN'T a funny post but I felt the need to apologize to the Sikhs, Balpreet, and anyone else I offended when I posted that picture. Put simply it was stupid. Making fun of people is funny to some but incredibly degrading to the people you're making fun of. It was an incredibly rude, judgmental, and ignorant thing to post.
/r/Funny wasn't the proper place to post this. Maybe /r/racism or /r/douchebagsofreddit or /r/intolerance would have been more appropriate. Reddit shouldn't be about putting people down, but a group of people sending cool, interesting, or funny things. Reddit's been in the news alot lately about a lot of cool things we've done, like a freaking AMA by the president. I'm sorry for being the part of reddit that is intolerant and douchebaggy. This isn't 4chan, or 9gag, or some other stupid website where people post things like I did. It's ****ing reddit. Where some pretty amazing stuff has happened.
I've read more about the Sikh faith and it was actually really interesting. It makes a whole lot of sense to work on having a legacy and not worrying about what you look like. I made that post for stupid internet points and I was ignorant.
So reddit I'm sorry for being an asshole and for giving you negative publicity.
Balpreet, I'm sorry for being a closed minded individual. You are a much better person than I am
Sikhs, I'm sorry for insulting your culture and way of life.
Balpreet's faith in what she believes is astounding."
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Holy ****, internet, I don't even know you anymore! I never thought something would come out of the seeping necrotic abscess that is Reddit that would actually make my day better, but wow. MY HEART GREW THREE SIZES THIS DAY.
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The internet has hope 
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Member Since: 3/27/2012
Posts: 6,274
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That was a good read 
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Member Since: 8/11/2012
Posts: 82
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lmao, this is why reddit is the true asshole of the internet. men's right's activists, pedos, and racists all flock there like closeted men to the republican party 
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Member Since: 3/4/2011
Posts: 898
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I have never seen a woman with that much natural facial hair either but I am glad that she isn't ashamed and that the poster apologized. I wish there were more confident people in the world like the young lady.
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Banned
Member Since: 6/25/2011
Posts: 37,192
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Quote:
Originally posted by stiles
lmao, this is why reddit is the true asshole of the internet. men's right's activists, pedos, and racists all flock there like closeted men to the republican party 
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Reddit has literally become what 4chan was 4 or 5 years ago.
Everything is such a cycle 
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Member Since: 9/22/2011
Posts: 9,178
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Quote:
Originally posted by stiles
lmao, this is why reddit is the true asshole of the internet. men's right's activists, pedos, and racists all flock there like closeted men to the republican party 
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I agree. But stories like this give me hope.
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Member Since: 11/2/2011
Posts: 2,237
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Quote:
Originally posted by stiles
lmao, this is why reddit is the true asshole of the internet. men's right's activists, pedos, and racists all flock there like closeted men to the republican party 
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That's a bit much, I admit there have been a lot of shady subreddits and craziness but Reddit as a whole has done a lot of cool and great things politically, with funraisers charities etc. Just don't join **** subreddits with creepy people.
Reddit for the most part is what you make of it, and I'd say as a whole the community is still of decent mind at least about as good as it could be for what something like Reddit is.
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Member Since: 11/5/2009
Posts: 8,096
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Quote:
Originally posted by stiles
lmao, this is why reddit is the true asshole of the internet. men's right's activists, pedos, and racists all flock there like closeted men to the republican party 
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And I bet if that user said that comment to any of us here, nobody here would take the time and educate them, instead we would be dragging their a ss all the way to the high heavens 
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Member Since: 6/1/2012
Posts: 6,899
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I remember when reddit used to be good, now they're just a shadow of their former self.
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Member Since: 11/15/2011
Posts: 13,901
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wow, she really is a great woman. i am blown away by her humility and kindness. i hope there are more women like her 
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Member Since: 12/31/2010
Posts: 26,257
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Props to her for so elegantly addressing the situation.  Handled it incredibly.
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Member Since: 6/2/2011
Posts: 28,055
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Classiest clock ever 
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Banned
Member Since: 8/24/2012
Posts: 1,598
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Don't pedophiles use Reddit?
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