I love this shit. We estimate: No one! You can go to Google Image and easily find pictures of burqas and niqabs being worn in Swiss cities; you can ask yourself why several cantons already have burqa bans (Psychotic cantons! Seeing things that aren’t there!); you can ask yourself why 65% of Swiss will probably vote for an upcoming national ban (Psychotic Swiss! Bigoted Swiss!).

This article also begins with the Swiss far right’s complaint about the burqa; it doesn’t mention anywhere that there’s some left and plenty of center support and of course plenty of moderate right support as well. The article’s list of other European countries with full or partial bans is curiously incomplete:

France banned wearing a full face veil in public in 2011 and Denmark, Austria the Netherlands and Bulgaria have full or partial bans on wearing face coverings in public.

Tons more than that, mes petites.

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UD has long noted the game plan for trying to keep women in burqas:

You dismiss burqa-wearing as in any way a significant social phenomenon.

You dismiss bans as nothing more than far-right bigotry.

You gas on about everyone’s right to appear in public in any way they damn well choose.

You gas on about religious freedom, but fail to take the time to note the history/controversy revolving around the burqa as religious or tribal.

You condemn the bigoted European Court of Human Rights for upholding burqa bans.

You condemn the stupid bigoted super-majorities in country after country that vote in favor of bans.

You never ever calm down, take a deep breath, and spend a few moments considering why so many people – not just Europeans; there are full/partial niqab/burqa bans all over the world – want to ban burqas. You do not take the time to wonder why Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria all have bans, while Egypt is well on its way to one. One third of the members of the Swiss Socialist party support the ban.

None of this appears in what you write, even though it is exactly what you need to reckon with.

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The only truly intelligent response to burqa/niqab bans comes from rich guys who pledge to pay the fines of women penalized for wearing the garment. Go for it, lads.