cypros-- no, the issue here is covering your face. because, you can't really hear the person as well because a lot of communication is actually lip and face reading. and in this case, the connection with fundamentalist islam, and therefore, terrorism.
in our society, there already ARE dress codes. and there are in others!! if a woman was to go into a fundmamentalist muslim area and go around WITHOUT your face covered, not only do they ask you to cover it, but they'll kill you!! in the days when hippies were controversial and deemed a subversive threat to society, they WERE asked to leave many places and rules WERE enacted to eonforce dress codes. and today schools are trying to set rules for that as well (and having a tough time i must say).
if a goth kid were to walk into school with a mask on, i'm sure s/he would be told the mask needs to come off.
'anything goes' has never been the established norm. on the street perhaps, but not in board meetings, in restaurants, in politics, etc. you get the picture. are we going to start seeing goth kids running for political office? is someone with a face & body full of tattoos going to be president someday? how about going into a fine dining establishment and be waited on by someone with a 'grill' in their teeth or some lady dressed like a hooker? what if you go into a hospital and there's a nurse with piercings all over her face and they had to hire her because she was "wicca" and they didn't want her to sue for discrimination? am i going to go into a state office only to be helped by some lady wearing a jihab? i sure as hell hope not. civilized society has always set rules and standards, that's what they do. it's not all about every individual's freedom of self-expression & their religion and whatnot all the time.
