Pandering to Paranoia

The five-year-old girl on the left had her passport rejected at a local post office in Sheffield, England because according to the clerk who handled the form her exposed shoulders might offend Muslims. No where are there restrictions on exposed shoulders. A post office spokesman responded by apologizing for the incident and insisting that it is not the policy of the post office to reject passport photographs on the basis of exposed shoulders. This is exactly why we can’t let paranoia control our lives simply because we’re afraid of offending someone.