Today, France's ban on the niqab and the burqa went into effect, and women insisting on wearing the Muslim veils were arrested.
And we cats say, "Degoutant!"
Don't get us wrong. We cats firmly support gender equality. We completely believe in a progressive society with total separation of church and state. So when French President Nicholas Sarkozy says that women should not be oppressed, and that veiling Muslim women is an affront to the modern secular state, we are sorely tempted to agree.
But something feels very, very wrong about this.
It's not just that only a couple of thousand women in France are affected by the ban. (Although it's ironic that the anti-niqab folks' efforts probably will end up isolating those women more than the veil itself — by forcing them to stay at home rather than violate their religious principles.)
It just seems to us that an open, liberal, diverse society should be able to tolerate silly dress. Goodness knows we here in America do that every time a Tea Party rally is held. And Rome does it every time the College of Cardinals meets.
Besides, you start in on the Muslim niqab, and what's next? Jewish prayer shawls? Yarmulkes? Orthodox guys who wear big furry hockey pucks on their heads? Knowing France's history of anti-Semitism, we cats have an uncomfortable feeling of slippery slope here.
So, aujourd'hui, we cats say: France, nous vous aimons. We love your food, your wine, your language, your Eiffel Tower, and Albert Camus. But we don't love this law. You should dump it, tout de suite!
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