| Posted: 10 October 2006 at 2:09am | IP Logged | 9
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John Webb wrote (in response to my question on who Jack Straw is):
"he is one of our most left wing and Muslim friendly MP's who is in trouble for saying that Muslim women who totally cover the face with a burka can be difficult to read in conversation. Needless to say condemnation from 'community leaders' soon followed"
Thanks for sorting that out, John. And thanks for the link. Interesting.
Jo Harvatt wrote (on Jack Straw):
"He asked muslim women coming for advice if they would unveil because he found it uncomfortable talking to them when he couldn't see their full face. What a cissy!
I thought it rather presumptuous, myself and doubt his ingenuousness - does he ask people wearing tinted glasses or sunglasses to remove them when he is talking to them I wonder because personally I find it more unsettling when you can't make proper eye contact - the windows of the soul and all that."
Well, I can understand the notion of discomfort, seeing that we have such image ridden society. I do agree that the covered eyes is probably more sensitive in a way, but also think that a lot of doctors et al would ask someone to remove them. I know I probably would if I was having an important conversation (and unless there was an obvious immediate need for the sunglasses, like the person having to face the sun, that is).
You then have to add the cultural difference factor. From where a lot of us are coming, apart from superheroes who are rather absent in our reality, masked faces have a tendency to go with hooligans, criminals and terrorists, i.e. people who want to hide their identity for vicious purposes.
I don't think anyone would appreciate a man in a balaclava coming into a bank, and on one level the face covering veils, I think, can give the same signal (depending on context) even though it is not intended.
In today's sadly somewhat Islamophobic atmosphere, I would understand, though not condone, such a wariness towards women in veils seen as masked strangers.
As always, it's complicated stuff and with many layers.
Jo also wrote:
"Yes, as you will gather from my posts I am a pretty devout feminist, I just meant I wasn't religious."
Oki. So many things to be devout about though. ;)
Frank Lauro wrote:
"Mine is a head shot of Captain Benjamin Sisko, commanding officer the titular space station in STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE. It's a show I liked (and continue to like, thanks to some overpriced DVDs)."
My favourite Star Trek show and Star Trek "captain". So Frank... should I call you "O Captain my Captain" from now on? ;)
Frank also wrote:
"That idea about changing avatars at 1,000 posts sounds interesting. Hmmm..."
Indeed it is... it'd give me quite a while to think about it, since I just passed one hundred pretty recently.
It'd be sad to not see the Sisko face in the forum if you changed though.
On a totally different topic, or rather back to the main thread topic, as has been touched by many... the avatars are really part of what makes one recognise people in here, and as Ian Evans said, it doesn't instill too much trust if the avatar changes too often.
Then again, IRL I love playing around with having beard or not and the type of beard, so, maybe I'm changing too much to be trusted myself. ;)
L&B,
JJ3 a.k.a. The Mad Swede
Edited by Joakim Jahlmar on 10 October 2006 at 2:10am
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