If a supposedly mainstream pundit said “conditions for Jews in Europe must be made harder across the board”,
the reaction would probably be a combination of disbelief, condemnation, and a
thought that someone was just re-reading something from the 1930s. But that
statement – with “Jews” replaced by “Muslims” was indeed made recently by a
mainstream pundit. And
he got away with it.
Behold the new face of intolerance
That pundit is one Douglas Murray, who
has now been given a platform by Spectator
editor Fraser Nelson. “There are certain
things in Britain about which it is impossible to speak frankly. The birth rate
of the Jewish population is a prime subject”. Sitting up straight, are we?
Good. Then that instance of “Jewish”
can be corrected to “Muslim”, which
is what Murray actually said.
Had anyone really used the word “Jewish” in that statement about the birth rate, they would have
been instantly condemned. Yet when Murray uses “Muslim” instead, he is merely “reporting
... a fact which most of our media refuse to touch”. Yes, Doug is just
saying what ordinary people are thinking.
This “nicely
demonstrates part of the pickle this country is in. Even the papers that
will report on one of the biggest underlying stories of our time, and one which
demonstrates an unprecedented change in the make-up of our country, must on all
accounts be turned into a good news story. And since expressing any
worries about the fact is undoubtedly terribly bigoted and nasty, we’ll all
just have to nod our heads, keep our fingers crossed [and] mouth the same platitudes” he concludes.
Murray’s subtext – that Muslims are coming to get us by
out-breeding the natives – is OK when it is the followers of The Prophet who
are the target. So it should surprise no-one to see the more thoughtful of
their number have put everyone straight on where he is coming from. Mehdi
Hasan has noted that Murray encouraged the EDL, and that he referred to
Islam in Europe as an “opportunist
infection”.
This last led to the Tory front bench cutting its ties with
Murray, and Paul Goodman taking on the pundit’s bigotry, drawing
this response from Cristina Odone at the Telegraph: “The beauty of
Britain lies in its tolerance towards all, Muslims and Murrays. But when the
latter tries to eject the former, someone has to step in. Thank you, Paul
Goodman, for doing so”. This, too, is significant.
That is because Ms Odone is a Roman Catholic: it is not so
long ago that such an affiliation made its practitioners second class citizens
in the UK. She therefore knows all about prejudice towards religious
minorities. And that is what Douglas Murray is peddling, under the smokescreen
of playing devil’s advocate and supposedly saying what all those ordinary
people really think.
This is poisonous, rabble-rousing bigotry, and nothing else.
That’s not good enough.
2 comments:
I think it's worth noting further the extent of his extremism:
Muslims in Europe who for any reason take part in, plot, assist or condone violence against the West (not just the country they happen to have found sanctuary in, but any country in the West or Western troops) must be forcibly deported back to their place of origin.
I have no doubt that here 'The West' includes the state of Israel. Meaning that Murray's belief is that any Muslim who supports armed resistance against the Israeli military by Palestinians should be deported to their 'country of origin' - whatever generation of immigrant they are.
Murray spent several years claiming that parts of the speech had been 'taken out of context by my enemies', and even Private Eye believed him for a little while. A few years ago he eventually used the Amis defence - yes, he'd said all that, but he was very angry, so it's ok.
As far as I'm aware he still believs it all. He should be as taboo for the BBC as Anjem Choudhary.
Douglas Murray.. in the same league as Hitchens, Geller, Robinson and Bigitte Gabriel. Wonderful people.
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