Driving home today I was confronted by a Times Online billboard. It had a close-up of a pair of eyes looking through the slit of the full Muslim veil (burkha or hajib? I can never remember). There was also a tagline about discrimination but the exact wording escapes me.
Obviously the eyes and veil have become a sort of visual short-hand for the "great veil debate" (in the Daily Mail at least). However, here in Norfolk we don't have a huge Muslim community, and those that shop in the main centres tend to wear the open face veil. Whether that's for practicality or a concession to living in the UK we'll never know. But its because of this relaxed attitude that when I see eyes peering from a thin slit in black material I don't think "Muslim" I think "ninja". Too many video games and bad films I guess.
And this is why I spent a good five minutes pondering who would be stupid enough to discriminate against a silent killer, before my brain made the mental leap.
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