AIBU to think face coverings in public should be banned?

[OpheliaWasntMad]

Should all types of face covering in public be banned? I think they should. Mainly I’m concerned that people in balaclavas and face coverings are shoplifting and stealing phones etc with impunity.
People with balaclavas on marches look threatening and sinister.
Women with niqabs create a barrier between themselves and others as it’s hard to form connections if you can’t see someone’s facial expressions.
I think all face covering should be banned. It contributes to a society that feels more unsafe and divided.

https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/25986134.clapham-high-street-crowds---fire-started-clapham-common/

I agree apart from those with low immune systems who wear a mask in confined public spaces.
I am in this category due to cancer treatment.

You can see it in person in many areas. 15 years back there weren't the daily sightings of groups of late teen/early 20s males in black balaclavas that you see now. It would have stood out as extremely unusual whereas now it is commonplace.

I despair.

By your reasoning shops would then also be able to ban immunocompromised people wearing masks. That would be disability discrimination.

But these gangs aren’t women wearing niqabs, or disabled people wearing medical masks, or runners wearing snoods.

Why try to use the behaviour of these gangs to justify making it harder for other groups of people to access public life, rather than arguing that antisocial behaviour needs appropriate policing and punishment?

I find it really hard when I see lady's wearing the entire covering and I'm with my daughters.
I also find it intimidating when men wear face covering and hoodies etc. .

Head coverings and wigs don’t hide the face.

To avoid spreading a cold or other infection when I have one, I wear a medical mask in indoor public spaces, eg shop or hospital. I usually push it down briefly to show my face when I first speak to anyone. Same if I’m muffled up in a scarf.

It’s simple to show this courtesy if you’re well disposed to the people around you.

People keep saying “France have done it with no issues”, which just isn’t true. It was hugely controversial at the time, and considered Islamophobic. Islamophobia is a huge problem in France to this day. When I lived there just a few years ago, government officials explicitly told me I didn’t need a residence permit because I “wasn’t brown or Muslim”. I heard police being racist to Muslims in the course of their jobs, and coworkers openly said shit that wouldn’t be tolerated here at all.

What people mean when they say “France did it and it was fine” is “France did it and the white people feel things are fine”.

Yes I agree.
I see youths riding about in pedestrian areas wearing balaclavas. Lord knows why their parents allow this.
The problem is you can’t allow one group of people to wear a face covering whilst banning another, so yes a total ban.

I want the police to solve the murders of young men in my area. Abraham Badru, Meneliek Robinson, Darren Ogiste, Corey Wright and Wayne Henry. Nobody had a face covering in these crimes.

Yep

15 years ago, people in my demographic wore those scarf things that men wear in the middle East. I think the only thing different now is that white kids who arent from the inner cities are wearing these things, too.

I went to Littlehampton recently and the number of kids who went around fully masked and ballyed up was ridiculous. They're not even doing anything!

So you are proposing to ban immunocompromised people from public life instead of appropriately policing and punishing antisocial behaviour?

Aside from the blatant disability discrimination, have you thought about the downstream impact of this? If people can’t safely travel to work, they can’t work. I hope you have room in your planned budget to put all the people currently cracking on going to work on public transport with a mask on benefits?

Antisocial behaviour needs policing and punishment - and the punishment should be targeted at the perpetrators, not other groups.

No thank you. I don't want to live in a society where the government can tell me what parts of my person I must show when I'm in public. For official business, where facial identity is required, fine. I also support shops that may want to impose rules. But an everyday audit that I can't cover my face, if its cold, or I have toothache, or if I had an injury, or if I simply wanted not to be seen, no. Women's clothing choices have been policed for centuries. I'm not going to support any move to write that into law.
A ban on face covering in public will not stop criminals covering their faces just prior to committing their crimes. I've never seen anyone wearing tights on the face on public, yet I believe it was a popular choice for robbing banks.

Lots of evidence that masks in public spaces embolden people to behave badly . We should follow the lead of the 24 other countries and ban face coverings ( with medical exemptions)

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/16/rise-in-suspects-using-face-coverings-to-mask-identity-say-kent-police

Face covering isn’t exclusively offensive or threatening to white people!

People can tell the difference between face covering for reasons of health or warmth, and face covering for antisocial reasons such as committing crimes or showing rejection of the society you live in.

Loads of Muslim countries have also banned face covering

Nah. I think the moment we start telling people what they're allowed to wear, we've lost something very important.

People can wear whatever they like - as long as their face is visible. It’s about accountability for public behaviour

I am sure I could suggest an obvious answer which the OP would then deny has anything to do with it…

Sure, because women in niqabs zoom around on Lime bikes, shoplift & nick mobile phones…
WHAT public behaviour accountability are you after there?

Other countries ( including many Muslim countries) manage to ban face covering but have exemptions for medical situations

There is an increase in anti social behaviour from people wearing masks. Look it up…

I have repeatedly explained that my concerns about the niqab are different