Does it occur to anyone that this clothing issue has implications about female enslavement ? Certainly, if a woman wants to wear a particular kind of clothing she is free to do so? Personally, I don’t care if she wants to wear a clown outfit or nothing at all. It’s a choice.However, what if someone in the community sees her and complains she’s revealing herself to the detriment of her family and her religion? Could there be a danger to her? Could she put others at risk? Is she really choosing freely, or is she under compulsion? Is her choice this one or no beach at all?

We were once asked to leave the snobbish Carmel Country Club outdoor restaurant because my wife had a modest tube top on in spite of wearing an unbuttoned, sleeveless, cotton blouse and sporting a magnificent tan. It was during a record heat spell! I was very upset and we stomped out somewhat ungraciously; I was more upset than she was, I recall.

This all conjoins with more parallels than I can include here, but for the love of God, let’s all quit judging in haste if our actual well-being is not imminently threatened. Can any human agency or a person claim they have the right to demean others when it is perfectly attributed in the Christian book (the only one I really know) “ Judge not, lest Ye be judged?”

I’ve been to France many times as a child, adolescent, and as an adult; was raised in a French colony, am saddened by what has happened since the era of De Gaulle to the delusional socialist policies of later regimes, the general decline of public courtesy and behavior in a country that was once the standard bearer of politeness.

Is there is a scapegoat in the form of the “other” that serves to place universal blame for this historical decline, now set free because of the horrors of the attacks, free to focus itself on people who were once the enemies later the virtual slaves of France, and now serve as cheap labor to the proto-fascists who connive or strive to enrich themselves using virtual economic slavery and always seem to succumb to gross ineptitude? France is certianly not alone, but it’s sad to see the erstwhile guardians of liberty, equality, and fraternity once again dangerously challenged by xenophobia.

Gen. G.S. Patton describes his strategy for defeating the Afrika Corps in the famous film, saying “ We’re gonna hold him by the nose and kick him in the ass “ (I paraphrase poorly). This is a likely strategy for curbing the fanatics of Daesh and fundamentalist lunatics everywhere. The public humiliation of women is not, especially as many are not allowed a viable choice in practice.

We read that French tourism is in decline; unless the French people manage to elect representatives who serve their better natures and resist these outrages using other methods than the erratic deployment of civil and military forces, bureaucratic ineptitude, spineless blandishment, and useless strategy, the decline may well proceed apace.

Persecuting the innocent is shameful. I would admire the sight of hundreds of Frenchwomen crowding the beaches of Juan-Les-Pins in burkinis, daring the “flics” to force them to disrobe.