The Voice of every single unemployed, lager-swilling, foul-mouthed, army-loving, white van man in this country has spoken, writes Roshan Muhammed Salih.
On its front page today The Sun newspaper demands that Britain BANS face veils in schools, courts and hospitals. It should also BAN them in airports, banks and secure areas apparently.
But in a Mother Teresa-like act of benevolence The Sun also says that Britain should LET employers decide if the niqab is okay in the workplace, and there should be freedom to wear them in the street.
AND IN CASE THEIR AUDIENCE WAS STILL SUFFERING FROM A HANGOVER OR WAS DISTRACTED BY A GORGEOUS BABE PASSING THEIR BUILDING SITE, THEY HELPFULLY PRINTED THE KEY WORDS IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
Court case
This morning The Sun told its 2 million-odd “PHD-material” readers that Judge Peter Murphy was right to order that a Muslim woman in niqab uncover to give evidence in a trial yesterday. It said niqabs should have no place in courts and airports on security grounds and in schools or hospitals because face recognition is paramount there.
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The newspaper also barked that if an employer feels that the niqab is annoying his/her customers, then he/she should be given the right to order the Muslim employee to remove it.
But to be fair The Sun did add some surprising complexity to its argument by acknowledging that by and large British Muslim women who wear the face veil do so out of religious choice and do not feel oppressed by it. And The Voice of The Intellectually Challenged said that anyone should be able to wear what they like in the street.
Not offended … that much
So for once I am not massively offended by The Sun’s argument although I certainly do not agree with all of it.
My problem is the following: why has The Sun given this issue front page prominence and what right does it have to issue fatwas in the first place?
I mean maybe the inquest into the death of Mark Duggan (whose death sparked nationwide riots) would have been a little bit more newsworthy? Or perhaps the prospect of World War 3 and impending thermo nuclear global destruction?
But no, let’s “big up” a piece of cloth worn by around 20,000 often disenfranchised UK women at most and pretend it’s a threat to national security.
And quite frankly even if The Sun told its readers that Islam was the answer to all their problems and Muslims were the human equivalent of cheesecake I still wouldn’t take them seriously.
This is a newspaper with a long and undistinguished history of Islamophobia, of promoting war against Muslim countries and of whipping up anti-Muslim hysteria.
So stick to what you know about – topless women, celebrity gossip and b***** all else.
@RMSalih
