France begins ban on full-face veil

I agree that 'American culture' is a very mixed bag, and I think that is one of the things that makes this a great country.

My Irish and Swedish/Finnish ancestors came to this country willingly, worked hard to become productive citizens, and to learn and accept the language and customs of the country they had moved to. They did not demand that the country adapt to them, they adapted to the country they had moved to. They, and all other legal immigrants, also added a lot to their adopted country.

What I do not agree with is immigrants, legal or illegal, who come here and expect us to immediately adapt to them.

chickaree wrote: The culture in Afghanistan is that women must wear the Niqab. I am equally opposed to that. Al free people should be allowed to express their religion freely as long as it hurts no one else. I fail to see how the 2000 women in France are hurting anything. If we wnat to give a pass to religious intolerance then we should be prepared to face it ourselves.

What I continue to see is associating the burqa with religion and arguing about religious intolerance. This is where you and I disagree. If the action were a matter of religious intolerance that would be quite another matter. IT IS NOT what you wish it to be. Your stance on Afghan women is admirable but idealistic and you know it.

FYI some women wear the burqa simply because it is more comforting to them. They have gotten so used to going covered that going uncovered leaves them feeling exposed. This from a good friend of mine when talking about why his wife prefers to remain covered in Bahrain, though it is not a requisite there. Furthermore your and my perception on what matters and does not matter is irrelevant as far as the French are concerned. They would rather condone nudity than the burqa.

I don't particularly agree with the ban - but it's not religious persecution (it is a statement about culture - French culture in particular).

While I don't particularly like the ban, I'm not really itching to boycott Pugeot, Renault, Motobecane - or any other distinguished French concerns. Nor do I wonder how we can do more to support Mr. Sarkozy (Secretary Clinton seems to have that - um - covered).

I would like to say that having a beard (if you are a man) is not obscuring of appearance. Shaving is obscuring a man's appearance. A man with a beard is how he appears naturally. How removed from nature we have become!

Wearing cloth over one's head is not natural.

Agreed!

NOBODY wants to see what's under this beard, Wiffie has only seen me clean shaven once (I think), and that was because I tried to trim it up, when I was too faced to see which of the 3 faces I was trimming in the mirror.
:yikes:


Seemed like a good idea at the time.