Burqa & Bagism

Been thinking about the burqa garment worn in Islam and the prohibitions against it in public schools, as I’ve heard happening in Europe. A burqa is a useful example of tribal identity enveloping and covering (or protecting, conversely) individual identity. Another modern variant of this same thing is that whole thing John Lennon and Yoko Ono did where they got inside of featureless bags and gave interviews.

I have a tendency to recombine bits of information like this endlessly in my head, and then fast forward them years into the future using various thematic and narrative filters I’ve constructed out of my research. My current projection points towards something like Philip K. Dick’s scramble suit, out of A Scanner Darkly. It’s a computerized garment which is endlessly re-broadcasting scrambled imagery of hundreds of thousands of individual humans. So the person wearing it becomes kind of a featureless blur to the witness.

In a future made up of constant biometric data gathering and multi-modal surveillance, I wonder if something like a burqa (or bag) simply becomes illegal and dangerous because it obscures your identity. I always see signs at local banks about how you can’t wear sunglasses or hats when you come inside because you’re on candid camera and they have to act like every single one of their customers is a robber.

Articles With Similar Themes:

• Beneath the Burqa Ban

Read In Sequence:

• Prev: Tribal Identity
• Next: Sean Moriva’s Caritas Tattoo

3 Reader Responses

1. Julia Says:
   May 11th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

   I’ve seen a type of scramble suit being used but it only worked for the head. I don’t know if it was an actual physical object or a spell of some sort. It led me to some interesting thoughts on the nature of reality because I had never heard of PK Dick’s idea when I experienced these events.

   The reason I say it may have been some sort of spell is because it works for buildings and whole city blocks too.

2. Big Elk Says:
   May 11th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

   I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about

3. Julia Says:
   May 12th, 2008 at 7:28 am

   I was walking down a street near work and I noticed a strange alley that I thought I remembered being a block away from where I was at. I looked down the street towards my destination, a White Hen Pantry store which a the Chicago version 7-11, and I saw a building with an empty lot next to it. I thought they tore down the building that had been there pretty fast.

   I saw a tall black man exit the building wearing a tan jacket and dress slacks. I noticed him because he had a long neck and moved very gracefully, like a dancer.
   I looked down and to the side for the amount of time it takes to check for traffic and to cross another alley and the man was gone.

   In the spot the man should’ve been in was another, similarly dressed, hispanic or arab man. All I could see was his hair, not his face. Even so I knew a lot about this man and I knew he was staring straight at me even thought he seemed to have no face. His hair was very distinct at first but then it kept changing. There was no wind and the overcast sky made the light very flat. When I looked away from this man because I was a little disturbed at his staring I looked at the other alley again, the one that is in reality a block away, that’s when the man disappeared.

   I didn’t go to that intersection for a few weeks and when I did I saw that the buildings were in there proper places and there was only one alley, not two. I saw the black man again but this time it was really him. I don’t know how I know it was really him this time but I do.

   Another similar but much stranger incident happened to me but it would take a long time to tell so I’ll get back to you if your interested.