Dutch plan to ban burqas

[windovervocalcords]

I agree with both these posts! The Muslim religion is extremely repressive towards women. For that reason, women should not wear burqas! Orthodox Jewish women cover up their hair but not their faces. There are also security reasons involved, and I don't believe banning burqas is a step back towards the Holocaust.

I thought this view was interesting:

"I have “uncovered” what I think is the real threat that European societies seem to feel from the burqa. In the West, it seems that we hold the right to express one’s individuality as of paramount importance. We want to be seen as individuals, and respected as individuals. The Western mind is frankly terrified of cultures which recognize that in life there are perhaps more important things than individual expression.

And so, allowing women to walk around in full-body and face covering burqas becomes a threat. Not a terrorist threat though, like they are saying, but a threat to the cultural hegemony of the cult of individuality. Because that’s all it is: a cult. It is one out of a multiplicity of ways of being human which for various reasons our modernist technocratic has enshrined as the one true way of being: mainly because the other myths of democracy and consumerism rest so firmly upon the ground of the myth of the importance of the individual. “One vote makes a difference.” You can control how others see and treat you by purchasing a costume which broadcasts your cultural identity. Without the underpinning of individuality being more important than anything else, these sub-systems wither away into nothing. And yet, what we believe to be our individuality is nothing more usually than a kind of groupthink: we want to be different by ultimately being like everyone else: different but not TOO different. We want to be seen as different but not seen as strange.

For how many of us want to be anonymous online, few of us think to do it in real life. What if all of us started wearing burqas or something similar as well? What if we did it as a symbol of our recognition that individuality is not our most important quality, but that our humanity is? Our culture might rightly see that as a threat as well… "
http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/11/17/beneath-the-burqa-ban/

 

[reb]

linasK, exactly. just pass the damn law banning the buquas already. then if the women find some twisted "freedom" in oppressing themselves, then fine-- go back to your own backwards country and oppress yourselves all you want. the rest of us are living in the 21st century and would like to continue to evolve-- not go backwards. there are plenty of muslim countries now where you can go live with a bag over yur body, surrounded by men who will shoot you if you dare show your toe. if that's what makes you happy, go for it. but we have to do something before EVERY country turns into a muslim country and this kind of behavior becomes normalized. and if you don't believe me,, check back in about 100 years, if things keep going in the direction they are going. like i always say, our fear of standing up for ourselves and or fear of being anything less than politically correct is going to be the death of us.
there's freedom of expression, and then there's this. THIS is completely dangerous, and a definite threat to the liberties of modern western thought, women, our culture and way of life. in other words: yes, freedom of expression is important- and one of the hallmarks of the western world. but you should NOT be free to express something saying that that women should be hidden and oppressed, and killed if they express themselves. do you get it now????? to make matters even more complicated, the western world is being invaded by a culture that wants to kill us and hates our way of life, but for some reason they want to be around us. and we're not allowed to stand up and defend ourselves, and protect our culture???

geez.. what happened to the good old days when a group of people could just fight off the invaders and send them home? you call this progress...???!

 

[JanetElaine]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257259,00.html

Anybody want to comment on how stupid this ban is, anymore?

 

[Jacobi]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257259,00.html

Anybody want to comment on how stupid this ban is, anymore?

Yes, a complete ban on burqas, specifically in Holland where less than 200 women wear them, is ridiculous. As the minister of Housing and Integration has recently said, a complete ban would be stigmatizing and counterproductive. The burqa has become a symbol of fear towards Islam and people who demand a ban based on the extremely remote security threat it poses (in Holland) are simply using terrorism as a convenient excuse to exercise their prejudices. Terrorists can just as easily disguise themselves as clowns and street performers. In fact, people wearing burqas are known to be stopped more often for identification than any other group - not much of a disguise, is it?

The law as it stands now in Holland I think is sufficient, i.e. a limited ban exists, specific to areas such as public transport, government buildings and banks.

 

[sandraladeda]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933257259,00.html

Anybody want to comment on how stupid this ban is, anymore?

Yes. I will....

What does this one incident in Afghanistan have to do with decent women in Holland, living their faith and their culture?

From your own link, it was obvious to soldiers this was a man masquerading as a woman....quote:
"Alert (Afghan) soldiers at this checkpoint spotted the oddity and quickly arrested him," NATO said.

imho

 

[JanetElaine]

Anybody want to comment on how stupid this ban is, anymore?

I was joking.... :doh:

And please, refer to the country as The Netherlands. Holland is only a part of the country.

 

[Jacobi]

I was joking.... :doh:

And please, refer to the country as The Netherlands. Holland is only a part of the country.

Yes, absolutely, it's entirely incorrect to refer to The Netherlands as Holland (pars pro toto). Funnily enough, the board of tourism for The Netherlands uses Holland itself, to promote the country. I guess brand name recognition takes precedence over the correct usage, sometimes.

Now back to this evil ban...

 

[JanetElaine]

I guess brand name recognition takes precedence over the correct usage, sometimes.

That's exactly it. What an eloquent way to put it.

Yeah, back to the ban for those who wish to discuss it... not me, LOL. The article I linked just reminded me of this thread, so that's why I posted it.

 

[reb]

i will definitely comment on how stupid it is for women in a free western society to wear a sheet over their face/head/body when they go out in public, in the year 2007.

i would like to see a western country be able to stand up for themselves and make their own laws about this issue, without other people damning them and tying their hands behind their backs with "PC rope".
western women travelling to the middle east are not really allowed to wear daisy duke shorts, tank tops, or bikinis, right?? unless you want to be shot by the men, of course. it's out of respect for their culture, so how about a little respect for ours??
the dark ages are over, honey.. if you want to crawl back to them then you are free to return to your country... but don't try to spread the dark ages into other peoples' countries. besides, in the curent climate of crazy muslims running around blowing things up.. the least they can do to put us at ease is not dress like they're hiding a bomb.