French MPs vote to ban Islamic full veil in public

[Deckard]

Chris Hitchens in Slate:

The French legislators who seek to repudiate the wearing of the veil or the burqa—whether the garment covers "only" the face or the entire female body—are often described as seeking to impose a "ban." To the contrary, they are attempting to lift a ban: a ban on the right of women to choose their own dress, a ban on the right of women to disagree with male and clerical authority, and a ban on the right of all citizens to look one another in the face. The proposed law is in the best traditions of the French republic, which declares all citizens equal before the law and—no less important—equal in the face of one another.

Ah I see.. so all the French are proposing is "lifting" a ban?

Presumably conservative Muslims are similarly "lifting" the right of women to reveal their heads/faces?

Seriously Hitch, for all your strengths, every now and again you come out with the most shocking sophistry.