Banning the Burka

[birdie1971]

Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party has called for the all full-face covering apparel to be banned in public places.

Good idea or not?


http://news.bbc.co.uk..._politics/8464124.stm

[birdie1971]

Cheers Wiz.

[birdie1971]

Question to Muslims - If God had intended women to cover their faces why did He not provide them with a flap of skin for this purpose?

[philkool]

would these women who wear burqas have to remove them in a police line up ?

[sp1814]

birdie1971,

So if we banned burqas in public, effectively putting Muslim women under house arrest, can you explain how we would be freeing them from oppression?

[naomi24]

Sorry SP, I know your question is addressed to Birdie, but it seems odd to me to support the wearing of the burka because the alternative is house arrest. Surely any civilised person should be opposing these archaic traditions and championing women's freedom from both.

[sp1814]

By the way - there is no law banning people from wear KKK robes. There IS a law banning people from appearing in public places in the nude, but that law applies to everyone.

What you're proposing is a law which only affects one section of the community.

A liberating law would be one that makes it illegal to FORCE a woman to wear a burqa. Frame it like THAT and it makes more sense. If Mr Farage were truly interested in the promotion of female equality (and I have my doubts), he wouldn't be putting forward an idea which would leave Muslim women with the choice of either staying at home or facing arrest.

That, is absolute and pure oppression.

[sp1814]

naomi24,

Personally, I don't 'get' the burqa at all. I smacks to me HIGHLY of inequality and subjucation. However, I'm operating from a position of ignorance. I know, and am mates with, a number of Muslims, but none follow the brance of Islam which dictates the wearing of the burqa...in fact, I'm lead to believe that it's cultural, rather than based on religious teachings.

I'm not defending the wearing of the burqa per se - I just don't feel that as a Westerner, and especially as a man, I have the right to dictate what any woman can or cannot wear. I can have an opinion as to whether I like it on an aesthetic level, but for me to say "You cannot wear that", would be an exercise in arrogance.

[TCL-MUMPING]

"there IS another alternative...take the dam thing off and learn to communicate"

in what way does the burqa prevent communication?

[tamborine]

Why would a woman be confined indoors if she's unable to wear a burka and who would confine her?

[sp1814]

wizard66

But if she wants to wear the burqa, thus propsed law would mean she has no choice.

And one other point - the crash helmet/hoodie analogy isn't quite watertight.

As far as I'm aware (willing to be proven wrong), is that no burqa-wearing gang has ever performed an armed robbery in a bank, and gangs of burqa-wearing youths don't generally hang out in Bluewater, videoing themselves 'happy slapping' rival gangs.

Banks and shopping centres put those rule in place to combat specific, recorded incidents.

[sp1814]

tambourine

She would be confined indoors, because if this idea ever became law, she would be liable for arrest fir stepping outside in a burqa.

[naomi24]

What a pity the arrogant men of Islam have the right to dictate what a woman should or shouldn't wear - and that, although you don't appear to realise it, is what you are actually supporting. If a woman doesn't wear her burka, she's confined to her home. Oh, well. that's alright then. Sorry, but in a civilised society it isn't alright. It's barbaric.

[birdie1971]

Sp1814 -

No one would be putting muslim women under house arrest. Your argument suggesting that every muslim woman would be psychologically and physically incapable of leaving their houses if they couldn't wear the Burka is spurious and you know it. The fear that some women have about being in public without the Burka is based on perceived male retribution. It is based on the fear of violence perpetrated by men.

As I stated before, freeing someone from oppression is not oppressive. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous, insulting and quite frankly, idiotic.

[TCL-MUMPING]

Wizard you are deaf then are you, or do you assume that the wearing of a burqa renders the wearer speechless?