As long as we can’t see it, who cares what happens

Angry Young Alex explains what the the French burka ban and European responses to the political revolutions in the Middle East have in common:

There’s another clue if we look at why we’re not banning it here: it would run “contrary to British instincts”. Our tabloids can’t look at sickening fear, desperation and poverty abroad without worrying about our ethnic purity being soiled. Our government declines mandatory face-nudity, because it’s not quite compatible with our petty, sense of arbitrary national identity. The French are so outraged by women’s oppression that they demand not to have to look at it any more. We see the injustices suffered by Arabs and Muslims the world over, and the first thing we think is “how can we stop it affecting us?”.