Sunday, January 10, 2010

Banning the burqa unveils some nasty traits in us

So claims India Knight writing in the Times.

"This last bit seems perfectly sensible but the headscarf issue raised all sorts of questions — the law is opaquely worded and refers only to “ostentatious” religious symbols: would a Sikh boy in a French state school be required to remove his topknot and cut his hair, for instance? Would a Jewish child not be allowed his yarmulke? Would somebody who was vegetarian on religious grounds be offered no alternative to meaty school lunches? Or was the law just against Muslims, adherents to the second largest religion in France?

I find this whole subject uncomfortable because I don’t really know what I think; I change my mind constantly. I start off, as most people would, from the point of view that everyone should be allowed to wear what they like, regardless of how peculiar it might strike others as being, without being dictated to. "


And yet the answer is as clear as day. Listen to what was said earlier in the article.

“We spoke to religious and secular figures, who all confirmed [the burqa] was not a religious prescription. Wearing the full body veil is about extremists who want to test the republic,” he said. "


Once you know that the burqa is not a religious symbol but an extremist one, then the comparison to Jews and Sikhs is moot. A better comparison would be the burqa to a Nazi uniform. Educate the public to that reality and you can win this argument.

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