Arabic woman wearing a traditional burka which conceals most of her features and, therefore, her identity.
If you ask me we shouldn’t just ban Islamic face coverings, like the burka, but we should ban all face masks and coverings in public places. We need to ban the burka and ban all face masks to ensure the safety of people in public areas. Anything that obscures or hides a person’s identity, outside the privacy of their own home or private venue, should be banned. We have already banned the wearing of motorcycle helmets in sensitive locations, such as banks and airports, and we should extend this concept to all locations where people congregate. Considering the threats of terrorism, rioting and general crime, surely banning face coverings would be a good idea? I certainly think so.
Some European countries have already banned the burka and in other western nations the calls for similar bans have been growing. In view of the worldwide threat of Islamic terrorism, I believe that these calls are quite valid. However, many liberal minded people deride such calls as being racist, Islamophobic and generally anti-Muslim. However, it is my understanding of the Islamic faith that the requirement for women to cover their faces is not a religious decree but a man-made decree and is not mandated by their god. Accordingly, a ban on Islamic face coverings is not an attack on their beliefs nor is it islamophobic.
There is another aspect to the proposed ban on the wearing of the burka that I believe is also quite important. On a number of occasions I have encountered female motorists who are wearing burka, niqab and similar garments. These garments are, quite frankly, safety hazards that obstruct the view of the driver, especially their peripheral vision. I have had a couple of close calls, on the road, with drivers wearing face coverings and it was clear that they simply did not see me and are not seeing enough of the road environment for appropriate safe driving. Wearing any face or head covering, even the fashionable hoodie, is simply not acceptable when driving a vehicle.
However, let’s not just put bans on Islamic face coverings. We should ban all face coverings in public places irrespective of your religious or other views. In the past years we have seen a disturbing rise in civil disobedience, violent protests and outright rioting. This has been especially so in the USA with the rise of the Black Lives Matter criminal movement and, following the US election, the anti-Trump movement. Sadly, extremist groups around the world have also conducted protests, often including violence and the destruction of property, in support of the criminals in the US. Many of these criminals, and there is no other word that can be used to describe these people, use face masks and coverings to escape justice.
An anti-Trump protester carrying a banner, the wording of which gives some idea of the mindset of this individual.
An anti-Trump protester prepares for the mayhem to come. You have to question his intentions when he goes to so much trouble to hide his identity.
While people who are willing to conduct criminal activities are not going to respect a law banning the use of face coverings, the fact that wearing such coverings adds to the likelihood of being arrested and prosecuted, might just dissuade some of them. If the ban dissuades protesters from covering up, but they still decide to riot, then it makes it possible to identify these criminals from images and videos taken of the violence. If such a law could reduce the number of individuals who are willing to undertake violence and the destruction of property, in place of peaceful protest, then perhaps such laws are worth considering.
In addition, the opponents of the bans on Islamic face coverings should have no objection if the ban on face coverings applied to everyone, now would they? So let’s ban the burka and ban all face coverings in the public arena for the good and the safety of all.
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