It just occurred to me that it is interesting that English-speaking countries tend to allow the wearing of headscarves, while the European continent tends to ban them. I take that as evidence for my suspicion that Europeans don't share the liberal notion of freedom with the anglophone world: they have the Hegelian notion of freedom. (In the liberal view, there is no reason (only instrumental rationality), so "freedom" consists in doing what you want: so Muslims have a "right" to wear headscarves. But in the Hegelian view, there is no more such a right than a "right" to cut off your own limbs: wanting to do it can't be rational, so there can't be a right to do it. It is not just that a Muslim wearing a headscarve damages society (by undermining social solidarity and implicitly rejecting core European values): she damages herself.)

It's not because they're Hegelians: it's because they're Europeans. Hegel just articulated their own self-understanding better than anyone else did.

A bomb, H bomb, Minuteman / The names get more attractive / The decisions are made by NATO / The press call it British opinion -- The Three Johns