Women wearing burqas in Australia are few and far between.

Why, then, one wonders, is there so much heated debate about the issue? As if everyone is offended on a daily basis by having to look at a burqa-clad woman?

If women wear burqas because the male members of their family insist upon it, as some people claim, doesn't this mean that if the State says they can't wear the burqa these women will most likely be forbidden by those males to go out into the world?

Is this a just outcome?

Of all the non-issues, this burqa hysteria must be close to the top of the list.

Socratease, how did you conclude from my questions that I was a sympathiser? And with which side did you conclude I sympathised?
David Jennings, are you saying, while granting that face concealing can sometimes be disconcerting, that it’s nevertheless OK for Muslim women to engage in it but not young men because it is reasonable to expect the public to be able to make prompt and accurate judgments about whether a particular instance of face covering is threatening? If so, is it fair to leave the public with the responsibility of having to make this judgment? And if reasonable, is it also realistic? Is it relevant that the niqab and the burqa make it impossible even to be sure that the wearer is a woman?

OH DAAAVIIID! *Squeal*
I'd be more worried about White Chavs and African Gangstas than Muslim women too, hip hop or "urban" culture glorifies idiocy, crime and substance abuse, Islam pretty much does the opposite.
Hey have you seen the "Hijab hands free", Muslim women tuck their phones into their Hijab while driving, very clever.
I'd honestly rather see Muslims on the street than skinny Anglo Meth heads with white singlets and those stupid Burberry caps.
"Eshay Adlay"

*booming voice from the 'other' dimension"....

Dear Pericles.. or is it Arthur..or.. Martha ? I sometimes wonder which hat you are wearing?

From another thread you posted:

"Similarly, the cutting off of hands is absolute insurance that we the community are protected from any possible repeat crimes by the person concerned." (le'ts call that a post from "Pericles/Arthur")

Yet in this thread you are mocking Suz online and myself..using the same logic to persuade people of the wisdom of banning a burqa which is the very distillation of symbolism for the cutting off of hands.

We'll call that post "Pericles/Martha"

Please make up your mind!

Seems to me you just like arguing?

Let's use the kiss method. Keep it simmmmple.

"No face coverings in public places except for helmets or welding visors (or similiar safety devices)" full stop. Let's just vote on it and it's a done deal.

Aaaah democracy at work :)

@Briar Rose, you ask:

Women wearing burqas in Australia are few and far between.
Why, then, one wonders, is there so much heated debate about the issue?

Simple Prickle, if you saw some bloke walking down the main drag in a Hitler Youth uniform, complete with swastika's and jackboots..hmmm you jussssst might wonder what is going on.. and if there are 'more' of them. The Burqa, to me..is the moral equivalent, because the Quran, on which that 'clothing choice' is based says that the wearer is part of a community which is called to place me and my community and you by the way under subjection.

They are very tolerant though :) in fact..all they want from us is a small tax.. called the "Jizya" that's all. We can follow our own faith... But see what one of their major commentators says about this tax (please actually read it)

http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=9&tid=20986

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Dear federalist,

.

Thank you for your remarks.

You indicate:

"In a free country we do not live by the grace of an enumerated list of specific "freedoms" generously granted to us by laws, bills of rights, and so on".

Agreed: in a free country, the best laws are no laws - as long as everybody is as reasonable as you and me and the majority of our compatriots.

The problem is there is no guarantee a Hitler or a Stalin may not rise to power democratically or otherwise and install a dictatorship.

The absence of laws guaranteeing individual freedoms would offer him an open boulevard.

We have a duty as responsible citizens to "act with reasonable care" and build our house in bricks rather than straw or sticks.

The stakes are sufficiently important for us to take a few elementary precautions even though there may be no immediate risk in view.

Naturally, any system of protection entails inconveniences and restraints. These have to be weighed against the enhanced security it provides.

It is not just a problem of "Bill of Rights". Our constitution is obsolete. The constitutional monarchy is a museum piece. It needs to be replaced (in brick) by a carefully constituted republic, a president elected by universal suffrage, and clearly defined executive and legislative responsibilities.

Back to the burqa:

The essence is that, even in Islamic countries where legal reforms are applicable, many women still do not enjoy full citizenship status, due to deeply imbedded cultural traditions and religious conservatism. They have no individual existence. They cannot contract anything with anybody, not even their own marriage. Brides do not participate in the actual wedding ceremony. They sit and wait in another room until they have been transferred from the legal ward of their father to the legal ward of their husband.

The burqa and niqab symbolise and materialise women's non-existence. For society, they are invisible.

It will take generations for reforms to become effective in Islam.

The intelligent approach for us in Australia is to patiently unweave the thread, not chop it with an axe.

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Banjo... patiently unweave the web ? :) sure.. but that could be quite threatening to the warm fuzzy brigade.. u know..those folk who see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil....even of a Stalin, Pol Pot or a Muhammad. They all committed genocide, slaughtering masses of people systematically, and based on their core beliefs.

Would you please assist me in the case of those who the Burqa symbolizes.. how would you 'unweave' that particular web ?

Could it be by stacking together relevant information about the beliefs which underly such garb, and demonstrating that they are inherrently evil, and have no place in Australian or any free society?

I hope so.