I hate hypocrisy. That is why the story I’m about to tell you really bothers me. First of all, I mean no disrespect to people of the Muslim faith. I just happen to think that some rules, which Muslims abide by, are stupid. However, I mean that respectfully. The principal rule I consider to be stupid is making a woman cover herself from head to toe in black clothing. This is done to protect the woman’s purity. Well who is it that makes the woman “unpure”? Is it a man’s evil thoughts? Well if that is the case, then why don’t we just punch out the eyes of every Muslim man so that he doesn’t get to see women? The teachings of the Muslim faith, in my humble opinion, relegate women to the back of the bus so to speak. I find that offensive. 

Anyway, a woman in France wanted to go swimming in a pool, however, she didn’t want to wear a swim suit. Instead, she wanted to wear a Burquini to swim in, which is more like a jogging suit. The pool refused to let her do so. Instead, she was told she would have to change into appropriate swimming attire. She got upset and tried to file a complaint at a police station which refused to take the complaint. I couldn’t agree with the pool operators more. Their argument was that the Burquini can be warn outside accumulating body sweat and picking up various germs, while swimsuits - which are made for swimming - are more hygienic for everyone in the pool. Just so we are clear, France has very strict rules for pool users to make sure that the water isn’t contaminated by food on their clothing, germs in the street, etc. People have to wear appropriate swimming attire and they have to shower BEFORE they get into the water. They also must wear swim caps. This is a requirement. The pool managers pointed out that you don’t shower or take a bath in your clothes, nor should you come to a swimming pool in your clothes. I completely agree.

Here is where the hypocrisy comes in. If you honestly feel that showing the body is such an abomination, then why are you going to a public pool where everyone is showing their bodies? Also, the Muslim faith has rules, so why are you not willing to follow the rules of another organization when you come to their space? I think it is your right to practice whatever faith you believe in, however, I don’t feel that it is appropriate to expect other people to bend the rules because you want to wear something on the outside of your body for religious reasons. Some may disagree, but let me give you my take on things. Let’s say that I believed that the only way to heaven was by wearing poop in my hair. Everywhere I went I had poop in my hair. Now lets say that my daughter gets sick and I need to go visit her in the hospital. Due to the risk of infection, they ask me to wash my hair first. Now according to my faith, poop is the way to heaven. I could argue with the officials about my poop or I could abide by the rules of the hospital which state that I need to be clean when entering their children’s unit. The fact that the hospital wants me to wash doesn’t mean that they hate my religion. It means that they have considerations above and beyond me to think about. The same is true for this woman in France. 

If you want to swim in the ocean, wear whatever you want! If you want to swim with half naked people, then you need to be half naked too - or just stay home and swim in your bathtub! To try to break the rules is very stupid.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090812/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_burquini_banned