Veils Never Fails

today with jason we discussed the issue of muslim women wearing veils, and the many sub-topics that came with it. the perfect way to enjoy my birthday!

the debate, as usual, got quite heated, as some people were starting to take offense to some of the comments being made. What started out as a discussion about how Jack Straw felt uncomfortable about talking to someone who he couldn't see (a woman wearing a veil) turned into to a debate over some controversial racial issues.

I am agreeing with the fact that when you are talking to someone, you like to be able to see who you are talking to, and that part of communication is reading someone's facial expressions. It is uncomfortable talking to a pair of eyes. It must be like talking to someone in a post box!

I can understand how it can make some people feel quite threatened, as you have no idea who is behind the veil, it could be anyone at all. This debate was obviously going to end up discussing a few racial and cultural issues. People soon started to debate whether or not people should be allowed to wear them in public areas, which was then countered with the arguement of 'who are we, or anyone else for the matter, should be able to tell some else what to wear?' surely people should be able to wear what they like.

I feel they should have to be removed in certain circumstances, e.g for security reasons. I have in no way got anything against anyone's religious beliefs and traditions, but when people's safety can be put at risk then I feel someone has to step in. This country has become so rediculously 'politcally correct' that you cant even ask someone, even for a few seconds, to remove their veil to check their photo on a passport!

I knew it was going to be an interesting seminar today as soon as i saw what we were going to discuss. As soon as anything to do with race or religion comes you have to be very careful what you say, it's like walking on egg shells when it comes to this sort of thing. You could even tell today in our small group, if someone mis-used a word by accident when trying to explain something, people would pick up on it straight away. As soon as the word 'threat' came up, some people took offense to it. I personally love it when you are involved in discussions where people get so involved, it is very entertaining!

On the racial subject, if ever I go to other cultures with different codes of ethics, clothing, beliefs etc etc etc... I will show it respect, and in turn I expect the same to be shown towards me when other people are within my culture. This is not always the case however, for example, during the world cup i was told i was not allowed to fly my St Georges flag out the window or on my car, because it could offend people of different ethnic background. What a load of bollocks.

There is so much to say on this subject, we could have sat in that room for another 4 hours and people would still be giving their views with the same enthusiam, and people would still be taking offense with the same enthusiam!

That's all for now on this subject, im going to read through all this to make sure i havnt said anything accidently that someone could get me put away for.

Other than that, im glad ive written all this down because as it is my birthday, im going to get so bamboozled tonight i wont remember this tomorrow!