Wetsuit or burkini? Surfers might want to stand up against the recent happenings in France. We might be next.
Apparently, this is the quickest way to get yourself on a terrorist watch list in some parts of France right now. The 5/4 hooded burkini is the winter lifeline of every serious surfer in Western Europe; at some point it also became a “provocation” and symbol of the dangerous subversion of French society by “extremists.” If believing that people have an innate right to enjoy the ocean dressed (or undressed) in any manner they see fit makes me an extremist, then put my name on the list. I’ll take the spot right next to Martin Niemöller – that vicious terrorist who wrote:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
