Muslim Hatred And The Media

Nothing, but nothing, comes close to the sustained hostility, nay, bigotry displayed not only by our free and fearless press, but also broadcast media and rather too many of what Robin Day memorably and rightly called “here today and gone tomorrow politicians”, towards Muslims. Demonisation does not even begin to describe it. It had gone too far a long time ago.

Now, it has got out of hand to such an extent that it has passed the wayside station known as Hate Speech and is gathering speed towards Underclass. Yes, followers of The Prophet are the new Untermenschen, the latest attempt to dump on them for no good reason at all being the debate earlier this week on calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, and for the slaughter there to stop.

It really kicked off when Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle told those gathered in the chamber that MPs face “frightening” threats. Allied to former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage telling “By the 2029 General Election we will have a radical Islamic party represented in Westminster”, the translation of “threats” into “Scary Muslims™” was on.

Flap-mouthed bigot Julia Hartley Dooda saw protests at the Commons and instantly converted this into more of those Scary Muslims™: “‘We have slept [sic] walked into this’ … Julia Hartley Brewer reacts to ‘outrageous scenes’ taking place across the country influenced by ‘Islamist Ideology’ … ‘a highly political, highly violent ideology called “Islamism” is sweeping on [sic] nation’”.

The loathsome Toby Young joined in, setting the bar yet lower: “If Keir Starmer browbeats the Speaker into breaching Parliamentary rules because he fears Muslim Extremists will attack his MPs, what would he do in office to appease the same mob? Ban cartoons of Mohammed? Make disrespecting the Qur’an a hate crime? Repeal the Terrorism Act?”

So now it’s terrorism! And it’s Hamas!! You think I jest? Along came Tom Harris to make the connections: “The intimidation of MPs is not coming from both sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Only one side's supporters believe it's okay to threaten and intimidate democratically elected representatives … Hamas supporters reckon they can get their way by violence and intimidation. Shocking revelation, eh?” What violence? What intimidation?

One hates to come over all Neil Kinnock, but here we have a former Labour MP - A Former Labour MP - scuttling round media outlets seeding hatred. Peaceful protest is violent! It’s Hamas! One Tweeter posted a photo of this supposed Muslim horde. Except they weren’t. They were white and elderly.

And then came the opportunist Tory politicians, for whom no barrel scraping went low enough. Leading off was the Creep’s Creep, Robert Jenrick, claiming “We have allowed our streets to be dominated by islamist extremists.... & now we're allowing islamist extremists to intimidate British members of Parliament”. He was, sad to tell, not alone in this view.

Previously sort of sensible Penny Mordaunt chipped in “I could not agree more with my right honourable friend”. Would anyone care to top that? Here’s Suella! “Suella Braverman says Islamists are in charge of Britain now” announced the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph.

It should not need saying that wanting an end to the gratuitous slaughter of little children and their mums, to be annoyed with your elected representatives for trivialising the matter, and exercising the right to protest does not make you extreme. It does not make you an Islamist. It does not make you Hamas. It does not make you violent. It makes you human.

Jew hatred was a feature of 1930s Britain: the hostility that those such as Nicholas Winton faced, just for organising the Kindertransport, was real. It took the Holocaust to stop that. The mass killing of millions of Jews stopped that hatred from passing the dinner party test. How much more slaughter of innocent people will have to take place before Muslim hatred goes the same way? You know, the latest hatred to pass the dinner party test?

It’s high time the press and politicians gave their heads a shake. And stopped pouring out the hatred. Then showed a better example. Just a thought.

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