Burqa continued: response to Jake
Thanks to Jake for responding to my post on France and the burqa ban. I cheerfully concede that this “is another case where practical reality affects political morality.” Jake argued that not every choice is a free choice, to which I agree. I’ll make my argument more specific: when the price to be paid is banishment or estrangement from a particular community, the government, from a liberal perspective, has no business regulating conduct. If the government were to do so, there are a wide variety of practices that are “choiced” on members of a community to be banned, such as the Amish bonet. One would have a hard time imagining the government defending all such sub-minorities from their oppression. As Jake points out, there certainly are “your money or your life” choices, but it is easier to oppose that choice since the government has an interest in disincentivizing muggers whereas the liberal regime would hvae a harder time eliminating all fringe religious sects.
There are, of course, situations where the action itself being coerced offends, such as the practice in various polygamous sects of marrying very young girls without their consent (if children that young could even be said to consent) to much older men. However, the burqa itself hurts no one; rather, opponents are offended by the gender roles at the heart of the community. Opponents may lash out at a symbol, but neither they nor governments have much power to eliminate deeply-held beliefs and traditions, no matter how offensive.
Related posts:
- Liberalism and the burqa
- Banning the burqa
- Burqa continued…
- Not all choices are free
- France vs. the burqa
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