It really is not funny. This lady walks into an auto license office and waits to get her photo taken for identification purposes. This is not only the law, but also a practical measure in case of accident, emergency or public safety. Anyhow, the officials in charge photographed her while she wore a veil hiding all her features except for her eyes. She explained that her religion forbade her from exposing her face in public.
Before September 11, 2001, this woman drove her car, in effect, while wearing a mask. After 9/11, she was asked to have a photo taken of her face so she could be recognized as the driver who was pictured on the license if stopped for any legal reason. The problem is caused in part by our notion of religious freedom, public safety and policy in a time when terrorism is rampant throughout the world. It could be a funny thing but there are serious implications for the kind of life we have created here in America in the 21st Century.
The Ku Klux Klan, a nativist terrorist group, wore masks for a desired effect while marching en masse in cities where their purpose was to show strength, their beliefs in racial and religious superiority and quite openly, to frighten and cow Blacks, Jews, Catholics and the “different” foreign born. Laws were justly passed making the masks worn by the marchers illegal while they could wear the other accouterments such as robes and peaked hats without problem. Just wearing the white robes and hat with Klan markings should have been sufficient, but the masks made them menacing.
Children and some childish adults wear masks during parties, especially on Halloween. Thieves wear masks and murderers also if they wish to hide their identities. Masks OR veils are not part of a free culture. Unfortunately for religionists who must hide their faces because of their beliefs, they become like the K.K.K., thieves and murderers AND terrorists when they cover their faces in public. I cannot conceive of the community of Americans, part of which wears masks and the other part unmasked living together in a reasonable and peaceable way. In Israel, the soldiers wear transparent plastic masks against missiles thrown by masked children and adults. There is a lesson here.
Then, there is the ACLU. I love this extremist liberty loving organization. It has entered the picture on behalf of the lady in the veil with only her eyes showing. The ACLU is protecting her rights to test the logic and necessity of the laws requiring her to unmask and have her photo taken for the security of all. I am interested in the conclusion of this test of American democracy.