Women in face veils detained as France enforces ban

[DarkFish]

Originally Posted by Tribesman

At what point did kilts become part of Scottish culture? was that scottish culture, highland culture or british culture? Irish maybe or norse? celtic perhaps or even french? such a mishmash ain't it that culture thing.

The small kilt or walking kilt (similar to the 'modern' kilt) did not develop until the late 17th or early 18th century
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_kilt

I do get your point however which I will address below.

So if they became part of that culture was it wrong to ban them? What on earth was a bloke from lower saxony doing telling the locals how to dress?

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Nor were curry, kebabs, saris, turbans, mantillas and christianity.
So your point was?

Well first of all I don't see curry, kebab, saris and turbans as part of Western culture. You could have chosen better examples to make your point.

So let's continue with your kilt example, assuming it were indeed the Saxons who introduced the kilt. In the present time, the kilt is part of Scottish culture. Banning it would be senseless. But when the saxons introduced it, if the Caledonians disliked it, IMHO they would have been well within their rights to ban it.

Burqas may very well become part of our culture once. When that has happened, banning them would be just as stupid as banning kilts is nowadays. But until that day I will oppose them every bit I can.

A person choosing to wear an item of clothing doesn't really impact on anyone in any meaningful way so there is nothing real to override

Depends on the clothing. Burqas can have an impact, see below.

banning a person from wearing something overrides their freedom of choice.

Well we already have "clothing laws". I can't walk around naked. Now should I feel offended that my freedom of choice is overrided?

And since they could do still do both in a dozen different ways your arguement doesn't stand.

which is why I only used the argument in support of my fear argument The chances of a burqa-wearing person being a bankrobber are practically zero. There are a thousand other ways a bankrobber can dress, many of them much more likely. Fearing that someone wearing a burqa is a bankrobber isn't rational. But neither are our instincts. There could be an AK47 underneath that burqa. There could hide a criminal under that veil. And that alone is often enough to, either consciously or subconsciously, instill fear in the hearts of some.

Do you think your personal sensibilities requires national legislation to make people to conform to fit to your insecurities?

If many people share those sensibilities, yes I do.

Your only arguement that wasn't directly dealt with is your strange sense of fear, but it was indirectly dealt with by showing those fears to be irrational.

And I completely agree. Most fears are. But the fact that they are irrational and often instinctive doesn't mean they aren't real. And I think banning muslims from wearing burqas is a small price to pay to remove some of that fear from many Westerners.