I tend to feel that some of these debates (headscarves, for example) become rather disingenuous when you get right down to it. Any time you move to a new culture, it is expected that you will adapt to their mainstream customs. Muslims want us to tolerate all of their customs, while you see little in the way of flexibility within theirs. Within the average Western culture, bandits, gangsters, and muggers conceal their faces. It has a very negative connotation to us. This is something of a hot button rant-type issue for me, since it seems that in these discussions we are always the ones who need to give up something, while they hide behind the bulwark of tradition and custom.

Ok...Monday morning rant is over with...