France's Niqab Ban

This is taken from a post I made on a thread about the controversy in France regarding a possible ban on the niqab.

I understand why some people are concerned, but I don't think that banning the niqab is really the best way to go.

You have two different ideas about what "equality" is, and two different cultures. You're not going to want to "force" integration or "force" people to be equal, especially since one culture's views of equality may differ from the other culture's. Forcing it is only going to cause resentment on both sides. Side A is going to get more defensive and less willing to integrate, and side B is going to react accordingly and there's going to be all sorts of harmful nativist backlash. ><

If a woman doesn't want to wear the niqab but her parents are going to force her to and harass her through ought her adult life for it, then yeah, she shouldn't be forced to. But if she does want to wear it, then go ahead and let her. One person might argue against it and say it makes her submissive, but she might counter and say it prevents her from being objectified by men and actually protects her.

As for the security thing...maybe there should be some extra security protocol made regarding the niqab. A lot of people probably wouldn't like that though and would shout about discrimination, but you know, what needs to be done for the sake of security just needs to be done. It shouldn't need to come to the point where Muslims/people who choose to wear the niqab or related dress (or any group of people) feel or are specifically targeted, but some people just screw it up for everyone else...I wish that didn't happen. ><

Racism is everywhere, and achieving peaceful and mutually respectful relations between two different cultures is no easy task. It's not going to get solved right away, if ever. Sometimes it takes a while, "a while" meaning over a hundred years. Just don't force things to a point where it produces too much friction, and a fire comes after it.