Thursday, April 14, 2011

Who Gave Them That Power

I remember being outraged when the Burqa ban in France was passed in 2010, but just now as the ban is becoming effective I have been thinking about how this is just plain infuriating.

I am personally not religious at all. In fact I do not believe in a god. But I will respect people that believe differently. I will, if I know they will not get too upset, talk about what they believe and why. I will also say why I see that as false. Even though I don't believe anything about their religion I will fight for their right to practice it. This includes wearing a burqa whether they wear it as a religious or cultural thing.

They law passed in France is officially called, 'the bill to forbid concealing one's face in public.' It refers neither to Islam nor to veils. Officials insist the law against face-covering is not discriminatory because it would apply to everyone, not just Muslims. Yet they cite a host of exceptions, including motorcycle helmets, or masks for health reasons, fencing, skiing or carnivals. They say no face coverings, yet they say you may wear one at a carnival. I fail to see how a lion mask is any different than a veil or burqa. They both cover the face for emotional reasons. 

This ban greatly disturbs me. There is already a lot of hate and distrust for the Muslim faith, and when governments nurture this hated bad things can happen.

4 comments:

  1. This is outrageous.

    I know very little about France and the legal concerns there, so I will try to say this without offending the majority of the country. That's freaking stupid. If someone tried to pass that sort of ban here, hell would break loose. What exactly is so offensive about covering one's face? Is it physically harming another person? Does it cause distractions? Does it offend another person's religion? This is absurd, and I guess we're all waiting for the people of France who disagree with this, and others around the world, to do something.

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  2. This is why I could never live in a place with a government that could get away with this. I would be protesting all the time and not doing anything else. Things like this make me want to go to France and give the people a piece of my mind.

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  3. They gave some lame reason for the bannage, they said something like it was banned because if the people wearing burqas might commit a crime and they wouldn't be able to identify them.

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  4. That is total crap because they could just wear any other mask they could want. There is not excuse for this injustice.

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