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The French banning the niqab/burka
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IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Apr 22, 2011, 13:20
Re: The French banning the niqab/burka
Apr 21, 2011, 19:35
Moon Cat wrote:
Dont like the burka and what it represents, or at least what it represents from my perspective. But I'm more against the notion of banning it. Choice and expression are things of value even if what they represent is pretty abhorrent to one's values. It's the classic liberal conflict. A lady wearing a burka doesn't really do any harm apart perhaps to one's sensibilities. Let's face it, unless you go and ask every individiual lady why she's wearing one, the practical and sober assesment must be that she is practicing her faith and lifestyle in a way she desires.

Shell-suits and their 21st Century equivalent though are genuine things of malignant evil and should be banned ;^)


I am with you all the way though coming from a less libertarian left position. Additionally, and this chimes with what you and ratcni01 and HandofDave and Joudicca are all saying, I see this as just one great big right wing dog & pony show deliberately intended to make sexism something that we associate with cultural difference (ie the problem of Johnny Foreigner and not ours) while completely ignoring stuff in our own back yard like the normalisation of the sex trade (which has fairly successfully rebranded itself as being about choice and empowerment rather than slavery) and the ubiquity of consumerist body fascism which leads to far more dangerous forms of self-denial and self-abasement (speaking as the father of three daughters) and dangers to our collective sanity than the wearing of a fucking faith accessory. Revolting as the burka may be to a generation that grew up with Sally James and Pans People I think we could be doing more to get our own house in order before making top-down pronouncements on public display. Where faith groups encourage and actually defend acts of vile criminality (usually acts of violence against women of one kind or another) then the state should not hesitate to clamp down and send people to jail rather than be thinking about respecting cultural borders. Talk about fighting the wrong battle for the worst reasons.
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