This month, the French National Assembly has passed a vote by 335 votes for and one against to ban the burqa, the black veil used to cover the face by a small number of women in the country’s Muslim community. The Upper Chamber in France will take the final vote in September.
The bill bans the use of face covering veils in the street as well as inside buildings.
The law will fine women who wear the face cover around €150 (£117) and men who make women wear the veil face a year’s imprisonment or €25,000. Many Muslim women prefer the simplicity of the burqa outdoors and other forms of dress for home.
So much for the French ideals of Liberté, égalité, fraternité – liberty, equality and fraternity. Liberal democracy, again, seems far from liberal.
On the subject of appearances, why stop at the ban of the burka?
Let’s ban:
Beards. Beards cover up men’s faces. We don’t know what these men look like under the beard. What are these men hiding behind their beards?
Ties: Ties are pieces of cloth tied in a knot around the neck. They act as emotional strangulation cords for men. Men with ties live trapped in their heads and cut off from their feelings. They are afraid to remove them for fear of rejection and dismissal from secular society.
Trousers: Women reveal their legs and other parts of themselves. Male office workers cannot go to the office in Hawaiin shorts and thongs on a summer’s day. Men’s legs must be hidden from view. If men turned up in shorts, they would lose their jobs. Business strictly controls their dress. Employers must be fined or face imprisonment for forcing men to wear ties and trousers.
Women in business suits. More and more office women dress up like men, including wearing dark trousers, so that men can accept them as one of them. This is oppression.
Designer clothes for celebrities. Celebrities, who wear designer clothes, have to sign contracts agreeing not to express controversial views as any views might upset certain customers. Celebrities are not allowed to wear clothes of other companies. This is clearly an infringement of human rights.
Designer clothes for adults and children. We need a ban on such clothes. Clothes companies charge the high cost of these clothes and their promotion through low wages and poor working conditions to their factory workers and minimum or near minimum wages in their shops and stores. This is exploitation.
Uniforms: There are men, women and children who have to wear a uniform in many walks of life. This denies them choice. Why does secular society force them to appear in a particular way? A little badge is enough.
What has happened to Liberté, égalité, fraternité?