Dutch Ban Burqas

I'm not sure how I feel about this Dutch burqa ban.

My initial reaction is just this side of outrage, because everything about this smells like targeted, paranoid harassement. Plus it feels very illiberal. The banning of crash helmets with face visors under this law bothers me as well, because I know if I get a motorcycle some day I will want a face visor, not to commit crimes but to keep the fucking wind and bugs out of my face.

While we're at it, let's ban beards and trenchcoats. Beards cover your face and most Muslim men wear them, and, well, you've seen the Matrix. Let's ban those SARS masks too, even though only old Asian women wear them any more. You never know, she might be from Indonesia and bomb-laden.

The best part of the whole story was the fact that the Immigration Minister said this ban was needed, as the BBC said, "to promote integration and tolerance."


However, I don't have an answer for the question of photo IDs. I guess you need a photo ID to do a lot of things, so the face covering would be a problem there. Although, we live in an age where I'd be fine just doing finger print identification and calling it even.