Has anybody considered the fact that the fundamental and abiding European dislike of the veil is nothing to do with religion?

In Europe you cover your face only if you are cold, ill, distressed, or in mourning, otherwise you are trying to conceal your feelings.

Not showing your face to others and hiding how you react to them or what you might think of them is very rude. It's that simple!

This applies equally to men and women, as in Europe women are considered equal to men. Hiding your face gives you a “psychological advantage” and that is why some Muslim women claim that wearing a veil is “liberating”.

Some interesting points by "Libertyphile". Firstly, I am not so sure that one can really delineate something so starkly as a "European" dislike, especially in such a diverse region. It is a generalisation & is anecdotal, presupposing the vocal extreme minority is being represented in a balanced manner by an agenda-driven sensationalist corporate media Establishment.

The populist image being hyped up against a visible minority with "history" vis a vis "Christendom" is not that surprising in the current context of globalisation & the relative decline of the "West". During socio-economic shifts such as that preceding WW2 or the break of erstwhile Yugoslavia, atavistic tribal identity politics by insecure majorities took awful turns against scape-goated minorities. The unrelenting series of media-led populist divide & rule witchhunts is to be expected. The hysteria over the veil is being copied from the Serb template, where fantastical doom-laden conspiracy theories were popularised by those with vested interests.

Globally the Islamic world is geographically the heart of communication routes & has many resources which the US PNAC plan envisaged as vital to it & its allies interests against a rising competitor in China. We would be naive if we ignored the reality about Realpolitik, especially as after the Cold War, the NATO Secretary General Claes rather egregiuosly outlined "militant" Islam as the next threat. Not surprisingly since Eisenhower's warning about the insatiable beast called the Military-Industrial Complex. It is sad that a generation whose entire raison d'etre was war could not change a lifetime of habit, turning swords into ploughshares. Prof. Huntingdon's manichean zero-sum Darwinist conflictual "Clash" theory/ideology also dates from this period.

Ordinary poor Muslim colonial immigrants, whose native socities contributed so much against ultra-nationalist fascism now saw the demonisation of Bengali waiters etc. In European societies we have the frivolous adoption of masks too e.g. Austrian balls, fancy dress costumes etc. The assumption of guilty until proven innocent view of a whole section of society does not serve the silent majority who just want to live in peace. Unfortunately the natural assertiveness of the young is being portrayed as aggressiveness. If we see the declining elderly aboriginal populations adopt an ein volk, ein Fuhrer, ein Reich mentality as modern day Moseleyites, then Darwinian racism is the result, just as it was with the earlier minority Semitic faith.

Unbalanced populist histrionics is vulgar & more redolent of the Deep South US & parts of Continental Europe, unbecoming to a civil pragmatic people who produced a Locke instead a Rousseau .