It has happened again. A Muslim has done something terrible and it is time for Britain to wrestle with its conscience. For some, the beheading of a British soldier in the nation’s capital by two black Muslims is the perfect excuse to post excrement through the letterbox of the ‘pakis down the road’ and tell anyone who will listen that the Prophet Mohamed was a paedophile.
We all know the types. In the small rural town where I live, it is the idle teenagers that sit underneath the market cross eating cheesy chips and calling passersby ‘gay’ for shopping at the local COOP. After yesterday’s attack the gobby ginger ringleader, who has recently joined the EDL, articulately outlined how he intended to protect Norfolk from political Islam. It easy to ridicule this tiny minority and believe me, I take great pleasure informing Mr EDL that a Muslim seems to have set his hair on fire. Nonetheless, these voices are getting louder and groups of angry white men drinking tins of Carlsberg chanting “E-E-EDL” is not an uncommon sight in British city centres in 2013.
Annoyingly, however, I am ashamed to admit that that for 10 uncomfortable minutes part of me empathised with Britain’s underclass yesterday afternoon. When scrolling through the horrifying photos of an axe wielding psychopath on Twitter, part of me nearly gave in to the EDL’s simplistic, sensationalist rubbish. The attack slotted right into the media’s carefully crafted portrayal of ‘Islamic terrorism’ and for a while, I seriously considered whether Islam was fundamentally flawed.
Of course, I reasoned my way out of the ignorant train of thought but reason has not been enough for some. Membership of far right groups has soared on social media websites in the last 24 hours and apparently, it is now acceptable for Tweeters like @jasonGillan_ to quip “they should put these paki bastards in a room with a few members of the EDL, just lock the door and come back an hour later, would be great.” Something has changed.
I am sure that the majority of us are certain in our belief that the claims of the far right are wrong. Nevertheless, I put it to you that it is no longer enough to say you are not Islamophobic and get on with your life. It is no longer enough to complain about ignorant racists but ignore their violent mutterings. Active inaction will not suffice. Stand up for your Muslim friends and have the courage to confront the growing bigotry, especially at the most difficult moments. Comment on the hateful words of the few and challenge their flawed opinions.
Like it or not, Islamophobia in Britain is not going away and the rational must halt this hateful creep before it is too late. Speak out.
Thing is, that’s exactly what people HAVE been doing. Go through your feed and count the racist comments. Now count those speaking out AGAINST racist comments. There’s a clear winner.
When you’re dealing with an organisation whose leader when he first came in said he ‘didn’t know the difference between left-wing and right-wing’ it’s a difficult battle to engage in rational discussion.
Actually, highlighting what these people say, do and believe in is quite an effective way of allowing the public to form their own opinions…
Hallelujah. Little is done about hypocritical racial hatred in this country, it does need to change. But, this man wasn’t a Muslim, no ‘terrorist’ is of any religion; no man who condones murder on behalf of a religion can be of that religion – no religion preaches hatred and murder.
So, you have a go at them discriminating Muslims, but then you insult Gingers? Nothing but a hypocrite, you asshole.
Oi u wot m8? fink ur so ard do ya? Ur lucky I dont hook u in the gabber. meet me on tha market cross and see if u can mug me off with words then.
Ooh look at me im twatrick greenburg and i can bully a hard working proud british man wiv fancy words. i oughta skiv you roight in the giblets ya weasly proink.
Ginger av souls. Big Tom. Just to confirm that Islam specifically specifies that them Muslims have souls.
I have read through this very considerate article but seriously? Going after a guy because he has ginger hair? That’s just plain cruel, and frankly gingerist. Yes that is a word.
First the whole debacle about whether or not we have souls, and now this blatant slander piece. You should be ashamed of yourself for marring what was otherwise a very good article with this obvious ginger hate crime.
May I suggest you google hot gingers, because you would totally go there with like eight of ten of them. Now whose the hypocrite?
Just as all muslims arent ‘bombers’ or fundamentalist at all, neither are all EDL members racist. It would be appreciated if you would have a degree of equality when commenting on people. As it seems easy for the few to say that ‘all muslims are scum’, it seems even easier for the media to persecute those that are white, working/middle class and male.
Going by their website the “EDL are an inclusive movement dedicated to peacefully protesting against Islamic extremism.”
Guess most of their 100 odd members last night in Woolwich didn’t get the memo. How ironic is it that they battled the police to protest against the murder of a serviceman? What’s happened is shocking but their idiocy does as much if not more than extremism and terrorism to destabilise the country.
Fantastic article, really hit the nail on the head!
Islam IS fundamentally flawed. Read the Quran and tell me it is not a religion of violence. The usual counter to that is to either say “Oh, that translation is wrong” or to refer to the peaceful verses. The thing is, Muhammad himself was a warmonger, and the hateful and violent verses came AFTER the peaceful ones, and they are therefore the ones to abide by. I’m not saying all Muslims are terrorists, but they have to critically analyze their own religion, which is the perfect breeding ideology for terrorism and violence.
How classist are you Patrick, referring to people as the underclass, how about you pull the silver spoon out of your arse.
“for 10 uncomfortable minutes part of me empathised with Britain’s underclass yesterday afternoon”
Well that is a brilliant way to get anyone to empathise with you, isn’t it?
I mean really, is this satire? Or are you that much of a pompous twonk?
“Annoyingly, however, I am ashamed to admit that that for 10 uncomfortable minutes part of me empathised with Britain’s underclass yesterday afternoon.” God forbid you would empathise with somebody else’s point of view, let alone one which contradicts your guardian filtered perception of reality you utter tool. Instead of focussing on the real issue at hand here (the fact that two terrorists decapitated a serving British soldier in the middle of London) you’ve decided to focus on a tiny minority of the British right (or “underclass” as you so sweetly put it). No mention of the fact that a father and husband has been hacked to death for serving his country. You talk about Islamophobia but there is no mention of Islamism or Islamofacism, perhaps this is because this would interfere with the dream world you seem to inhabit were everybody gets along just fine? A dialogue needs to be opened up over religious extremism in this country, but you’d rather ignore that by focussing on the reaction rather than the action itself. I can’t work out whether you’re being wilfully callous or accidentally moronic, but neither’s great.
Are you trolling, or to stupid to realize the irony and contradictions of your article?
Disgusted, what happened was a tragedy. It was needless, senseless violence. But I think you have missed the point of the article. He is not denying what happened nor trying to trivialise it, HOWEVER it is important that we don’t take the actions of an isolated few to be representative of the Muslim community. EDL have shown that they are a threat to the stability of the very place they seem to think needs their “defence”…
We don’t take kindly to references of an underclass, this smells like elitist smugness akin to the behavior of our rivals the infamous di Medici family, or that creature Julius II.
Our Lord sees such cretinous actions for what they are.
brb going to see a mistress
#hatersgonnahateisblatentlytheauthor
Would just like to defend the vast majority of the “underclass” (as you so thoughtfully dubbed us) against the claim that we see no further than Islam when seeking blame for this. Whilst a loud 1% of the working class seem to be making all the headlines,the other 99% aren’t quite as blinded by the fear of Islam as you seem to suggest, and are also sticking up for British Muslims, just like the rest of the UK.
I’m sorry but, forgive me if my sympathies are with the victim and his family at this moment in time, rather than Muslims.
It’s a disgrace that this event is already being used as a propaganda tool to fuel an agenda.
@Conservative:
Christianity IS fundamentally flawed. Read the Bible and tell me it is not a religion of violence. The usual counter to that is to either say “Oh, that translation is wrong” or to refer to the peaceful verses. The thing is, most of the Old Testament prophets were warmongers. I’m not saying all Christians are terrorists, but they have to critically analyze their own religion, which is the perfect breeding ideology for terrorism and violence.
@Isidore:
That is pure brainwash. First, most of Christianity’s teaching is about the New Testament, and Jesus’ teachings are clearly not violent or hateful, all the different. Second, even in the Old Testament, the violent verses are written in the context of time, that is, these are commandments given to people thousands of years in the past. This is not the case with Islam, where the verses are timeless and they are commands to every Muslim today. Besides, I don’t understand the usual trick of turning this around on Christians – tell me how many Muslims have been killed in religiously motivated terror attacks carried out by Christians in the last 10 years? The amount of religous hatred that comes from fringe groups in any religion, be it Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism etc is negligible compared to what Muslims have done in the years after 9/11. Almost 21,000 terror attacks speak for themselves.
Yes Patrick Greenfield. Well written article. You’ll go far, you remind me of a young Christopher Hitchens.
British troops have killed MANY muslims. Iraq, Iran… anyone remember these countries? Britain is at war with Eurasia and EastAsia…. Britain is at war with a lot of countries.
@sd,
would you be open to considering that the majority of Muslims are also victims of what happened? Whether indirectly, through the increase in islamophobia, or directly, as in the cases where mosques have had petrol bombs hurled at them, and the ten-fold increase in racial abuse and racially-aggravated crimes since the Woolwich murder? Just as that poor soldier did nothing to warrrant what happened, neither did they.
@Rodrigo Borgia I agree with a lot of this article but sadly cannot claim having written it
‘And for a while, I seriously considered whether Islam was fundamentally flawed… Of course, I reasoned my way out of the ignorant train of thought’
What do you want, a medal? What a self-indulgent, conceited piece. ‘Underclass’- why I oughtta!!
This is quite frankly the worst article I’ve read on the matter, but I won’t be abusive without given your constructive feedback.
Firstly, the world does not need another posh boy patronising ‘the underclass’ and shoehorning class warfare into every article he writes. Secondly, you completely overstate the EDL’s importance or significance. Thirdly, you ignore the fact that radical Islam is – factually – the biggest exterior threat to Western society (and it’s not the big in the grand scheme of things). Finally, ‘islamophobia’ is what many right-wing commentators have been accused of over the years when they dared to mention the threat of radical Islam. They were, in some small part, proven right by recent actions.
You should think carefully before you call on us to ‘unite’. If there is a need to unite (and there really isn’t) it would be against radical Islam, not in defense of a fairly benign and pointless islam.
Remember, there are two sides to every story. One man’s “fighting for his country” is another man’s “bombing our country”. It is naive to view soldiers of war as “heros”.
You may have “killed the enemy” and “fought for your country”, but the “enemy” was my uncle, brother, dad, grandfather and cousin.
It seems that only British soldiers have faces whilst everyone else that dies is a faceless nonentity. You may have “killed the enemy” and “fought for your country”, but the “enemy” was my uncle, brother, dad, grandfather and cousin.
It seems that only British soldiers have faces whilst everyone else that dies is faceless.
You’re right that the EDL is dangerous and must be stopped.
That doesn’t make your article any less a piece of classist shite as bigoted as the racist vitriol the EDL spout.