Banning Burqas: Yea or Nay?

by Will on May 11, 2010

I fall squarely in the “nay” camp, but here’s a nice summary of the debate over burqas in France from The Economist.

Tagged as: Burqas, France, Religion

Will writes from Washington, D.C. (well, Arlington, Virginia). You can reach him at willblogcorrespondence at gmail dot com.

{ 7 comments }

1 Ken May 11, 2010 at 12:16 pm

Nay. “You can’t be expressing yourself like that voluntarily, so we’re going to forbid you from doing so” doesn’t work for me. It’s a little “we had to destroy freedom to save it” for my tastes.

2 Scott May 11, 2010 at 1:25 pm

We in this country ban bagging/sagging pants in some places or thongs on some beaches so why not let them ban burqas?

3 Jaybird May 11, 2010 at 1:28 pm

@Scott, “We grossly exceed government power in area X, why not area Y?”

I can’t believe you aren’t a bigger fan of Obama, Scott.

4 Mike Schilling May 11, 2010 at 10:46 pm

I don’t consider banning risque clothing like thongs from public beaches is a gross excess of government power, but I’m not foolish enough to argue about nakedness with a jaybird.

5 Mike Schilling May 11, 2010 at 7:58 pm

I’ll go partway — it’s OK to ban overly revealing burquas.

6 North May 11, 2010 at 1:43 pm

Nay with caveats.
Liscences/ID: Require face photographs. Provide em or do without.
Public Servants: Have to serve all of the public and being hidden under a textile haystack severely impedes this. Meet your jobplace requirements or find a different job.
Prehistoric Arabic Men who harass women who don’t wear burquas: We’re not in 200 BC pal. Take your stone age social opression back to your stoneage countries. Anything that goes beyond yelling; throw the book at em. If the book isn’t tough enough; write a heavier book.

7 Cascadian May 11, 2010 at 2:06 pm

Wear whatever you want in the privacy of your own home.

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