CBS’s Lesley Stahl made a comment Sunday that in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing might give many Americans chills.
During a discussion about that horrific event on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Stahl said, “We're all going to end up wearing burqas” (video follows with transcript and commentary):
LESLEY STAHL, CBS: Can we go back to what Bob [Woodward] had mentioned about privacy? Because, yes, we have something brilliant happened here, but it happened because the tools that they are using are the tools that deprive us of any kind of anonymity in our own lives. We will never be able to go anywhere
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: I agree.
STAHL: We're all going to end up wearing burqas. I’m telling you, we are.
Now, in fairness to Stahl, she wasn’t saying this from a religious standpoint.
Instead, in a world where our privacy is diminishing on almost a daily basis - security cameras such as the crucial one atop the Lord and Taylor building in Boston everywhere - we may some day want to hide our faces in public.
However, as a burqa clearly has a religious component, given the Muslim connection of the bombers, wouldn’t it have been far more appropriate to say something more - shall I say - agnostic such as masks, veils, or shrouds?
After all, if there ever comes a day when people in America need to conceal their identities, most likely won't opt for burqas.
