Let's not be a dead board...

shakken

Since this board has been dead lately, I thought I'd post a news article I read today that's fairly controversial:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8480161.stm

So what do you think about this?

shakken

Personally, I feel torn. I'm not sure that it's the "excess" that the report says it is, or that it's even necessarily a sign of of "radical religious practice" so much as a cultural heritage that's deeply rooted with the religion. I don't know that women should be banned from wearing such things.

That said, the idea of a burka and niqab do bother the western feminist side of me. I've seen arguments that the regular hijab/head scarf itself is feminist in its own way (that it makes a woman less of a sex object), but I don't see how the more conservative coverings could hold up against these arguments. But I also wonder how much of this will disappear over the years. Will the second generation of children still adopt this, or will they slowly acclimate into more western society and dress?

 

celiabeth

I don't agree with women having to wear face veils and have agreed to other policies where women have been forbidden to wear the veils for government IDs such as drivers licenses because it is used to identify you, not your face covering.  However, there is freedom and equality in this country and in France to wear what you want, and if they want to wear these items they are free to do so.  Yet, I don't get why they would move to a free country and continue to hide themselves.  I do believe that a business can restrict the wear of these garments just with any dress code policy, but the business should be prepared for negative publicity.  The government offices are businesses.  But the issue is that they are doing this to prevent promotion of radicalism, not dress code, which they view as helping them continue a free and equal country, yet is this policy to make them free and equal or repress their rights?  I do agree they should be worried about terrorism if enacted.

celiabeth

I love discussing social issues.  I am going to my first event for Across the Table which is an organization that hosts dinners in the Chicago area where they place you with a range of people to talk about a social topic.  It is a way for people to connect and learn from those who have experienced the world differently.   Check them out,  http://www.acrossthetable.org/

The topic of the dinner I am attending is; How do we, our families and our society(ies) define success?

shakken

Thanks for the link! I'll definitely check it out.

I was thinking about the security issue too. They only mention it as far as potential backlash goes. But, if this were up for discussion in America, that would be the prime focus of the debate. 

It struck me as interesting that they don't use something like that to justify the debate or to hide/disguise (no pun intended) what they're really most interested in - i.e., the cultural issue. 

 

So I'm actually most struck at the difference between America and France. Even if American officials weren't really interested in security but wanted a ban for the cultural impact, I'd think there'd still be a main focus on security to justify the discussion to the public. There'd be too much backlash against it otherwise. 

I kind of appreciate that France is much less PC about all of this, regardless of how sound their arguments actually are. At least they're upfront about it. And I know that France has been struggling with how to integrate the growing Muslim population for some time. But I'd be hard-pressed to say that they're more xenophobic than America. 

celiabeth

I like that the French are blunt and are not scared of the consequences of these actions.  We would never boldly state that we are afraid of radicalism in enacting anything similar.   Our country would definitely spin it in another direction to get it passed, but on the other hand, our country is so sensitive that this would never be considered.