13th July 2010, 10:58 AM
Yeah, and it's stupid. Let me make one thing clear. The burqa is a tool of female oppression. That's what it's for, by intent.
However a law against them is downright stupid. Rather, laws that (less effective though they may be) simply specifically outlaws forcing women to wear them or punishing those who enact violence specifically for women failing to wear them would be more just.
The burqa, after all, was worn IN A DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THEM. The point of this is how hypocritical it is to wear a symbol to outlaw it. It can serve a lot of purposes. The thing that amuses me is that these laws lately are being passed under the argument that "in public you shouldn't be allowed to hide your face". Well, in a store's property sure, but if it's winter and I wear a ski mask because it works better than a hat, I shouldn't be arrested just for walking down a sidewalk with one on. Told in a store to take it off? Sure, they've got that right, but outside? It's all just a silly distraction anyway.
All these laws really aren't going to help, and it's idiotic to think they will.
However a law against them is downright stupid. Rather, laws that (less effective though they may be) simply specifically outlaws forcing women to wear them or punishing those who enact violence specifically for women failing to wear them would be more just.
The burqa, after all, was worn IN A DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THEM. The point of this is how hypocritical it is to wear a symbol to outlaw it. It can serve a lot of purposes. The thing that amuses me is that these laws lately are being passed under the argument that "in public you shouldn't be allowed to hide your face". Well, in a store's property sure, but if it's winter and I wear a ski mask because it works better than a hat, I shouldn't be arrested just for walking down a sidewalk with one on. Told in a store to take it off? Sure, they've got that right, but outside? It's all just a silly distraction anyway.
All these laws really aren't going to help, and it's idiotic to think they will.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)