Thursday, December 02, 2010

Mistaken Identity

An Australian artist named Sergio Redegalli caused a lot of controversy when he painted a mural on the outside wall of his studio featuring the slogan “Say No To Burqas”.

Needless to say, Muslims were offended. And when Muslims get offended, official Australia jumps to their defense. Unfortunately for all the offendees, the mural was (and is) on private property, and was thus beyond the reach of the law.

Crikey! What to do?

The first step was to hold meetings, lots of meetings, in which feelings were aired and the diverse Down Under community engaged in dialogue. A young man donned a burqa and sat in the audience during one of those meetings, just to make a point.

You can hear him tell his story on an Australian talk radio program. Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for YouTubing the audio with a photo of the burqa mural to illustrate it:



Hat tip: Darrin Hodges.

4 comments:

Chaz said...

I like the point made on the Vid: More Freedom is the Answer... Not less.

If I can't see your face and properly ID you... how am I supposed to know who you are? If I don't know who you are, how can I verify I'm selling to the right person (or if it's legal)? Do I have to deal with a faceless Identity? I reserve the right to not serve those whose identity I can't ascertain.

You have the right to wear it. I have the right to ask that (when appropriate and necessary) take it off. You have the right to say 'no'. You don't have the right to sue me or doe something horrible because I react differently.

Blogger said...

What about those who are hearing impaired? I have a hearing loss myself, and unless I can see someone's face I don't know what they are saying. About 25% of people over 40 have some hearing loss, and this increases as time goes by. The burqa is discrimination against the hearing impaired.

MONSTER said...

There is a very good post (O.K I was the one who wrote it) about the canadian ruling that a witness can testify against the accussed in a burka. Check out monsterinthewest.com.MONSTER

imnokuffar said...

What would have really caused a stir is if he was wearing a fake suicide vest under the Burqua.

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