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It has been 83 years since the Republic of Turkey was announced to the world after a war of independence from forces way beyond any army could have imagined. But it is since that faithful day that Turks have celebrated their freedom from foreign occupiers having risen like a phoenix from the ashes and beaten them crushingly. I only wish for eternity that no man, woman, or country will be able to take this away from us. EVER. For that I would give my life.
Happy Republic Day!!!
As I was scanning through one of Aya's posts about the niqab face veil issue in Britain, I felt compelled to write a response in op-ed form to one of the commenters, which I now feel I must share
with you, my handful of loyal readers.
It goes as follows:
To figure out what harm it does we must, first and foremost, ask ourselves what consequences/effects the niqab really has on our society. In my opinion, the niqab is an unnecessary divider of peoples in conversation and hinders the integration process of an individual. What I mean by that is that in conversation we not only hear what the other person is saying but also look and register the facial expressions associated with each sentence. In this process, we judge the other person’s character and intelligence, which is the inevitable truth of human existence. A facial expression let’s us know about personal sentiments, the conviction of the person to the subject matter, the strength of character, and furthermore let’s us see the soul of a human being.
As the world is getting smaller and smaller we find ourselves side by side with people from all across this world and, hence, integration becomes inescapable as well as crucial to the absorption of a minority into the facets of society. In light of this, the niqab does completely the opposite and further helps distance women from men and one person from another. It does not encourage them to interact and fully get to know each other but rather forces them to keep a distance at mere eye level. I am afraid this is not enough and will never be enough in any mixed society of this world. So long as men and women have to coexist they must be willing to look at each other’s faces and register empathy.
So, what’s the government’s role in all of this? What should a government do? It really shouldn’t be too far fetched for any government to want to promote any productive kind of integration it can get. (Please note that I am not using the word ‘integration’ as in “Please come in and do whatever you want to do and I’ll be OK with it. So, come and exist in my society however you see the world.” But rather as in: “Come, let’s meet and get to KNOW each other and see if we can’t make this colorful country of ours work for the better of as many people as possible.”) In fact, it is in the interest of such a government because only then will minorities become a CONNECTED part of daily existence and on a more productive road to be accepted as well as less prone to hatred.
Now, obviously, not everyone is the same and should be treated as such. After all, it’s our differences that combined makes any country stronger. But these differences should not be a wall amongst people and that’s where the government comes in. Among the many things that governments should do to streamline a social order, which is also why we elect representative officials to begin with, they also need to set limitations to public discourse in such a way that disadvantages as little amount of people as possible. Let’s face it, you can’t make everyone happy. This is true for politics, religion, sports, and, in fact, relationships.
On that note, I would love to see the niqab banned. It is something that was invented by sick Muslim Arab men to isolate the women from any social interaction; much like the head scarves, and burqas, because they can’t and don’t want to control their urges as if their natural tendencies are “natural” given that the appearances of women are the aggressors; much like the hand shake that is taboo for men to do as to not get aroused by the touch of the female skin. What a feeble world such Muslim men live in, I say. If you must make up rules to defend your sick and twisted habits, then so be it in your world but not in mine (And I’m talking to such men here). Go ahead and try to separate yourselves until men live on one side and women on another divided by a wall that people call religion. I could care less. But please don’t come here and promote the same when I already have enough problems of integration and religious ideology as it is. Unfortunately, some women have accepted this division by niqab and it is even more sad to see such a matter being pushed by a woman. But, so goes the world of extremists down and down in a spiral.
Lastly, you say “Government needs to stay out of the religious issue 100%”
and I disagree. Religion with its issues needs to stay out of government 100%.
When governments don’t stay out of religious issues, evangelists become
politicians, extremists run governments, fundamentalists perverse social order,
zealots control cities, militants wreak havoc, and bigots become presidents,
all of which are far worse. Either create a new religion that funnels all
existing ones within a denomination into the new age of cohabitation (which of
course is not going to happen in the foreseeable future) or let governments set
limits to its influence. There is no other way.
I can’t for the life of me defend the niqab and the more I think about what religious freedom is the more I convince myself that such is a pipe dream that only looks good on a piece of paper.
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