Case A: thugs attack en masse at a beach in Portugal. The race of the attackers was not mentioned by the BBC, although the prim way that the story says that the municipal authorities believed that
“the youngsters came from poorer suburbs of the capital”
made me guess that they were not white before Tim Worstall, who lives in Portugal, confirmed it. The fact that they were black was the aspect of the story everyone in Portugal, where race relations are generally good, was talking about. In failing to report it the BBC were failing to tell the story properly.
Case B: thugs attack en masse at a beach in Sydney. In the BBC story the race of attackers and victims appears in the very first line:
“Thousands of young white men have converged on Cronulla Beach in Sydney, Australia, and attacked people of Arabic and Mediterranean background.”
Why does this difference in reporting matter? If, as I maintain, race should make no difference to our condemnation of criminal violence, why is is it a big deal that the BBC mentions race in one case and not in another?
Because – and I make no apologies for repeating my line from the coverage of the Lozells riots – one of the major spurs to mob violence is rumour. And rumour flourishes where people believe that they are not being told the whole truth. In cases of racially charged violence people are correct to believe that the British Broadcasting Corporation and culturally similar organisations like the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are often not telling the whole truth.
While flicking through various websites a few days ago I came across this post from Romeo Mike, an Australian blogger. Having seen it, the riots were not such a surprise to me. The author describes the incident that was the flashpoint for the riots: the beating up of two white lifeguards by immigrants of Lebanese origin. He quotes the Australian Daily Telegraph.
The Telegraph article says:
Surf Lifesaving Sydney rescue services manager Stephen Leahy said it was common for Middle Eastern men from western Sydney to taunt Cronulla surf lifesavers by stealing their equipment, making idle threats and kicking balls at them.
Some regular Cronulla beachgoers said that the behaviour of Middle Eastern groups was so offensive, they opted to travel to other beaches instead.
The BBC report linked to earlier did allude to this history. I shouldn’t laugh at such a time, but I couldn’t help being amused to see the BBC’s latest “youngsters from poorer suburbs” euphemism for “non-white thugs” popping up again:
“[Cronulla beach] is often visited by young people from the poorer suburbs of western and southern Sydney.
Area residents accuse the visitors of being disrespectful and of sometimes intimidating other beach-goers. ”
In the days following the attack on the lifeguards, white thugs, fully as vicious as their Lebanese-origin equivalents, passed around inflammatory text messages and emails and set a time and place to take revenge on any Arabic-looking person unfortunate enough to stray into their path. It is a grim fact that the blogosphere motto popularised by Instapundit, “A pack, not a herd” can apply to the bad as well as to the good.
I think it is significant that Romeo Mike, writing on December 6 before these riots happened, says that with the exception of the Australian Telegraph, the Australian media had either been silent about the simmering problems or had downplayed the race angle. The ABC had not mentioned the beating of the lifeguards at all.
The Australian and British Broadcasting Corporations have much in common. Both need to become aware that the small risk to public order involved in reporting the races involved in racially charged crimes in all cases, not just those conforming to their worldview, is much outweighed by the large risk to public order involved in allowing a news vacuum to form around sensitive incidents. Into that vacuum rumour and paranoia will inevitably flow.
Most race riots have an alleged inter-racial attack as the flashpoint. Where the allegation is untrue – for instance the alleged multiple rape that started the Birmingham riots, for which no evidence has ever been found – then it is the duty of the media to quell the rumours. It can only do this effectively if it is trusted and it can only be trusted if it has built up a record of trustworthy behaviour. Where the allegation is true then it is the duty of the media to calm the situation by making it clear that the police are making every effort to bring the criminals to justice. If the media don’t do this then lawless elements will fill the gap themselves, with their sort of “reports” and their sort of “justice.”
(Tim Blair has more on the Sydney violence.)
UPDATE: I see these riots have already been discussed extensively in the comments to the previous post. Commenter Susan pointed out that in this story, “Second night of riots hits Sydney”, the BBC reporting has the same imbalance as before. It seems that, in revenge for the events in Cronulla on Sunday, people of Lebanese origin have gone into that and neighbouring suburbs and thrown bricks. The BBC does not report the race of the perpetrators. However, in the same story, it does manage to remind us, twice, that “thousands of young white men” were behind Sunday’s riots. Susan writes, “Notice how MinTruth doesn’t give any racial or ethnic identifier for the thugs currently destroying cars and throwing bricks in Mabroubra and Brighton-le-Sands (Sydney suburbs). That’s your infaliable Orwellian clue to the actual ethnic identity of the thugs.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: In deference to the good point made by commenter PJF, I should amend the above to say that it is the duty of the media to report that the police are making every effort to bring the criminals to justice so long as the police are, in fact, making every effort. PC though the PCs are these days, I think they generally do make strenuous efforts when it comes to serious crimes. The point I was trying to make was that media silence is dangerous.
FINAL UPDATE: The “Second night of riots” story has since been stealth edited to include a paragraph saying “Some of the violence appeared to have been carried out by youths of Middle Eastern appearance, raising speculation it was a retaliation for Sunday’s unrest.” There have been similar interpolations in other BBC stories about the riots, as Toby points out in his post of 15 December. These changes are a good thing, but they should be done openly. Perhaps the BBC was influenced by blogs, or by the fact that Tim O’Neill’s comment on this forum (“surely the BBC should be actually reporting what is happening, not picking and choosing”) was recommended by so many people.
Yes the IBC/MinTruth’s full-on spin mode for the Aussie riots is hilarious. Don’t bother even reading their output, just go directly to the Australian newspapers like the Daily Telegraph which are not pussy-footing so much around the truth.
Here are some ‘have your say’ comments from Australian channel 9.
Quite informative, really.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=77000
Perhaps the writer of the article was half-way through and was ‘distracted’ by another news event (that’s two in one day! Crisis!!) and so ‘forgot’ to mention ethnicity for the second group? It’s understandable – an organisation with an income of £3.2bn is going to make mistakes, and if those mistakes always point in a common direction, then hey it’s just a coincidence. Come on guys, move on.
I love it how when white thugs riot it’s fact but when the trigger was only ‘reportedly by youths of Arabic and Mediterranean backgrounds’.
I love it how when white thugs riot it’s because they’re evil and racist, but when “North African youths” riot in France. it’s because they are unemployed, poor and desperate. Surely the white thugs rioting at Cronulla beach are not exactly the cream of Australian society either? Probably plenty of poor and unemployed amongst them also.
Interesting comparison between blunt and straightforward Oz media and handwringing BBC newspeak.
The Sydney Morning Herald article on Saturday was unequivocal and damning, Pakistani man thought Australian girls have got it coming, because they don’t wear headscarves in public and enjoy the occasional pint.
The headline pretty much says it all:
“Gang rapist claims right to assault
THE eldest of four Pakistani gang rapist brothers has admitted lying at trial and apologised to his victims but said he thought he had a right to rape the “promiscuous” teenage girls.”
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/gang-rapist-claims-right-to-assault/2005/12/09/1134086806845.html
Even though this article might have played a part in the incidents at Cronulla, at least Aussies know they’re being presented with most of the facts by their media.
Again, Natalie, you’re spot on. The BBC can’t wait to name and shame white youths involved on Saturday at Cronulla Beach. But while the Oz media reported the Saturday night trouble as predominantly Middle Eastern thugs looking for revenge, the BBC excises any mention of this, opting for the spineless ‘youths damage cars and shops.’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4521442.stm
See no Islam, hear no Islam, speak no Islam. A disgrace.
So there`s oppression and victims in Australia now.
The BBC of course cant say who the white racists are attacking-is it other whites?The people they are attacking surely would be an ethnic group that was different to themselves.You couldnt have a headline for example;Lebanese Racists Attack Other Lebanese.
How are the BBC to know the white thugs were racist unless they attacked another ethnic group?
The BBC mentions, or fails to mention, race or culture in order to make a point.
The UK public is considered a recalcitrant child, due its dose of medicine – if you don’t like it, tough.
Auntie knows best!
It should also be noted that the BBC is down playing the level of violence. The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting:
SYDNEY erupted in a second night of racial violence last night as Middle Eastern mobs fired shots into the air, attacked women and smashed shops around Cronulla, while up to 600 young men – armed with guns and crowbars – prepared for a battle.
…
Hours earlier, about 200 men had assembled outside Lakemba Mosque – some armed with Glock pistols – and dozens more gathered at Campsie. They were preparing to travel to Maroubra Beach, where up to 300 locals, many armed with crowbars, waited for an arranged fight, according to “Bra Boys” at the beach.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/armed-gangs-on-rampage/2005/12/12/1134236005902.html
Not a single mention of guns in the beebs story. Haven’t handguns been banned in Oz? hmmmm
John_R,
Very scary reports coming out of Sydney.
Well guess what? The BBC describe the disturbances in Australia as “race riots”!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4521442.stm
On the front page of the site, in the summary below the headline, they write:
“Fresh violence breaks out in Sydney, despite PM John Howard’s condemning the weekend’s race riots.”
Well, have they learned their lesson from the Birmingham riots, or will they conveniently ‘forget’, again, to use this term the next time Muslims and Blacks attack each other?
Yeah, John. You can only compare and shake your head.
BBC:
Violence triggered by race tensions has hit Sydney for a second night, with youths damaging cars and shops.
The Australian:
SYDNEY exploded into a second night of race warfare as tensions between rival ethnic gangs escalated into a series of late-night revenge attacks on white Australian males across the south and west of the city.
This has absolutely nothing to do with race. Why are people accepting the complete reworking of the meaning of race?
It is Muslims who are calling Aussie girls in bikinis sluts. It is Muslims who are perpetrating gang rapes. It is Muslims who are intimidating neighbourhoods. It is not Lebanese Christians, which have assimilated successfully in Oz. It is Muslim Lebanese. They’re all Lebanese, but the violent, vengeful
troublemakers are, as ever, the Muslims. This has nothing to do with “race”. The leftist media must not be allowed to get away with completely perverting the meaning of a word in order to further their lefty agendas.
Verity – where’s your source for your claims that it is the muslim lebanese and not the christian lebanese that are the trouble causers?
Slightly OT: And now the IBC give us this gem
“Jail for ‘honour killing’ family”
Really? I would have expected “Praise for ‘honour killing’ family” or “Sweets for ‘honour killing’ family” – what a surprise they have to go to jail… Does anyone think the Beeb are shocked by the verdict?
No mention of the religion of the perpetrators either (surprise, surprise)!
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/4520682.stm
“Most race riots have an alleged inter-racial attack as the flashpoint.
…
Where the allegation is true then it is the duty of the media to calm the situation by making it clear that the police are making every effort to bring the criminals to justice.”
I disagree. If the news media has a “duty”, it should be to report the facts. Why should the media have a duty to “calm” things? That’s just social engineering, similar to the BBC informing us (for instance) that most muslims don’t agree with a violent act – when the BBC haven’t got a clue about that one way or another.
In your example the media could, at most, report that the police were saying they were “making every effort to bring the criminals to justice” (if the police were indeed saying such). But since the media couldn’t know if the efforts of the police were comprehensive – they shouldn’t report it as fact.
Added by NS: Good point. I’ve added an update to reflect your comment.
.
Edited By Siteowner
OT
There are some great anti-BBC worldview posts in the ‘Readers Recommended’ section of the ‘Have your say’ page regarding the latest optimistic news from the Iraqi opinion poll. I particularly like:
“The big surprise is that BBC actually posted these optimistic results. Of course to counter-balance/insult the Iraqi people we will now have to read through an avalanche of posts which will tell the Iraqis that they really aren’t all that optimistic and that George Bush somehow skewed the polls in his favour. Good luck and every blessing to the Iraqi people and their very legitimate government of new freedoms. Your success is everyone’s hope.
L Monroe, New Richmond, Wisconsin, United States”
But a bit worrying is the ‘most Recent’ section of this topic. It is now 20.56 and the latest comment is timed at 17:45 GMT 17:45 UK. and is about how we were all lied to about WMD etc etc. Have there really been no posts relating to this topic for the last 3 hours? I have noticed this before, whenever there is an avalanche of recommended posts at odds with BBC group-think, the most recent section seems to grind to a halt with, coincidently, a piece of BBC how-you-should-think propaganda at the top.
Boot/Face/Grind
Lurker – I have encountered so much about this today that I can’t be sure – and I’m not going to trawl back through everything – but I think the first place I read it was in Dhimmiwatch. It may have been Little Green Footballs (singley, or also). There’s a well-known Aussie blogger – I think it is Tim Blair, but anyway, he’s linked on one of the sites, and I think it was also mentioned on Rottweiler Puppy. Again, not certain. Actually, it’s all over the internet today. Anywhere that is not the MSM.
The Christian Lebanese are well-integrated and well-regarded and don’t have any issues with Australian customs and mores, according to my friends in Melbourne. I have read elsewhere that they are also a success story in Canada.
Lurker, this issue has been simmering a long time although the IBC typically doesn’t offer any context to the “white thugs beat up on helpless immigrants” agenda they are promoting. It goes back to 2000 — and maybe before — when there was a huge wave of gang rapes of Australian non-Muslim girls (one as young as 14) by Muslim Lebanese who were deliberately targeting girls they called “Aussie sluts”. If you google “Sydney Gang Rapes” you will undoubtedly get some of the flavor of what went on.
Beyond that, news reports said that thugs “of Middle Eastern appearance” were gathering at a mosque in Lakemba and waving around Glocks (Lakemba is, I gather, the eqivalent of Luton or some parts of Michigan in the US.)
Here you go, this is I believe, fairly accurate from the media reports I remember reading at the time:
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Sydney_gang_rapes%2C_2000%2C_2002
O/T but notorious Los Angeles gang killer Tookie Williams has been denied clemency by the Governator and is scheduled to get the needle shortly:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4520512.stm
This ludicrious article by the IBC’s religious affairs analyst attempts to make a Christian argument for letting Tookie (who murdered four people including an entire immigrant family from Taiwan) off.
If it were central, the district attorney’s statement would have to be withdrawn, because in traditional Christian theology everybody is eligible for redemption.
By this yardstick even such icons of loathing as Hitler, Pol Pot and Osama Bin Laden can be redeemed.
And Williams’ supporters would have to change tack as well, and stop arguing for him to be spared on grounds of his utility alone.
In Christian teaching redemption is free, but it is not automatic
It does not matter, in the teaching of Catholic, Anglican and many other churches, how “useful” or “deserving” anyone is.
All of us are on a journey towards redemption, towards being the people we are capable of being.
And God, the churches say, has done everything that is needed to redeem us. All we have to do is to accept redemption.
This is BS. Christian teaching on redemption says that heinous sinners such as Tookie can indeed be redeemed — in God’s sight — due to Christ’s blood sacrifice. Christian teaching says little about redemption on earth from temporal judgements for past crimes.
For an organization that so loathes and despises Christianity, it’s rather nauseating to see the IBC trot out Christian theology when it’s useful — to push one of its pet causes.
“It seems that, in revenge for the events in Cronulla on Sunday, people of Lebanese origin have gone into that and neighbouring suburbs and thrown bricks. The BBC does not report the race of the perpetrators.”
Methinks it’s not the Russians or the aliens or whatever who are taking revenge. It’s pretty simple.
I think the muslim gang rapes of non-muslims in Australia have a lot to do with the riots.
And here is Norway
http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/12/immigrant-rape-wave-in-sweden.html
According to the BBC/NPR program “The World” The riots are because of Australia’s recent adoption of “draconian” anti-terrorism laws. Somehow these laws have taught the Aussie thugs that the muslim population are fair game.
just heard Paxman on Newsnight, reporting that riots have been continuing in Sydney,, with MUSLIMS coming under attack … following the assault on two lifeguards by people of “MEDITERRANEAN appearance”.
Why the inconsistency of description???
Oh, never mind, we all know why…
J.G. | 12.12.05 – 9:08 pm
Yes, I’ve noticed the same thing on ‘Have Your Say’. They’ll engineer it so that a pro-BBC-worldview comment sits at the top of the pile for hours, or even days. Also, they have allowed comments spouting outrageous untruths about Israel but point blank will not publish my rebuttal.
Some deliciously non-agenda comments on the Sydney riots have made it to the top of the pile curtesy of “readers recommend”:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=581&edition=2&ttl=20051212235100&#paginator
It appears that when white people riot they are condemned as racist, but when non-whites riot they are considered oppressed. If these were non-whites, the government would be using dialogue rather than arrests. They would be setting aside funds for special programs for white-only benefit. Seems like a double standard to me.
I’m not supporting what’s going on in Australia, just offering an alternate perspective.
Robert G, Kansas City, United States
That’s the number 1 comment, recommended by 76 people so far.
“Mediterranean description”? Are the initiators of the Aussie beach conflicts Italian, Spanish or Greek? Can the BBC not be a bit more precise given their huge budget and top-quality reporters?
Wow, Susan! That should scare the bejeesus out of the little [D] Have Your Say Editors! Their constricted lefty sociology dept minds will be boggled.
BTW, I see George Clooney was quoted yesterday as saying he couldn’t think of a single time the left had been on the wrong side… Comment is superfluous.
Allen@Aberdeen – They may Portuguese or Maltese. You just never know. Or maybe from Provence, the Languedoc or Monacco.
BBC News earlier described the Australian rioters as “Neo-Nazis and white supremacists”……..
.and I thought they were just beach bums!
The BBC have established the rules of engagement. Henceforth, where the colour or creed of rioters is not mentioned they can be presumed to be non white.
Second night of rioting and ABC reports thus ” At a mosque, several hundred Muslims converged and ringed the facility, some openly carrying guns, while others carried iron bars, the Australian Broadcasting Corp., reported.”
and the BBC reported?
Andrew West of the Syndey Morning Herald writes in article, ” Is Islam the problem?”
http://blogs.smh.com.au/thecontrarian/archives/2005/12/is_islam_the_pr.html
When groups of young Muslim men stalk the beaches of Sydney making sexually threatening comments against women in bathing costumes, as they indisputably do; and when they believe they act with the license of a sheik who claims that such women are responsible for their own sexual violation, then I do blame, in part, their religion.
Andrew concedes, “then I do blame, in part, their religion”
In part? What else gave excitable, ignorant young men the licence to think in this abnormal (as in not a custom in the rest of the human race) way? Drilling in irregular French verbs?
Michelle Malkin has linked a 2004 article by Sydney det. Tim Priest:
…
The Middle Eastern crime groups and their associates number in the thousands, not the hundreds as the government and senior police would have you believe. It is the biggest crime problem we have ever faced, and it is growing. Hardly a day goes past without some violent crime involving a “male of Middle Eastern appearance”, though I see lately that description is watered down now to include “and / or Mediterranean appearance”. To an operational policeman, there is a noticeable difference between an Italian and a Lebanese male.
http://www.quadrant.org.au/php/article_view.php?article_id=581
These incidents do not give me much confidence in Britains rae relations future. However Australia seems at least to have some honesty in its state broadcasting left. The BBC has long had a policy of sweaping that ” nasty racist stuff” under the carpet. To its shame. Equily smamefull is that when this sort of thing becomes even more difficult for even them to ignore. Nobody has any confidence that any member of the BBCs organisation will take any responsibility for there part in it. They would not have any responsibility for it if they just reported facts instead of there own brand of social engineering. The BBC is only a broadcaster not a goverment and has no representatives elected by the people. It has now become so powerfull (inspite that its audience is shrinking) that it now seems to strongly infuence the election of the leader of the conservative party. Which incidently was proberly your last chance to do anything to stop the thought police and there political party for cotinuing to set the political agenda for eternity. Two thirds of Tory members elected a man that believes he or any politician can stop “globle climate change”. A vision of DC standing on the beach trying to push back the glaciors while kissing babies comes to mind. This should worry everyone.
Unless 2/3s of Tory members elected a lier. Which should also worry everyone.
They are not race riots, they’re religious riots.
It’s Islam v Civilisation.
Rob – can’t contradict much else that’s been said about this, however if ‘civilisation’ is represented by shirtless mulletted Aussies scrapping with coppers after a day on the Fosters then we’re all in trouble.
Cockney,
Those same shirtless mulletted Aussies are probably the children of
Servicemen who died for Australia and the British Empire. They didn’t die for a multi cultural society but to preserve Australian culture. At least they have the balls to fight again, but don’t worry, the thought Police will soon smear them, as you appear to do. If you have ever served your country you will know that Servicemen are not adverse to a cocktail or two..or three.
The Aussies drink Fosters, good on them its Aussie beer. The Russians drink Russian vodka, the Yanks horrible cold beer such as Coors and Bud while the English can still down an ale or so, and if your are in the Marines have a friendly knockabout.
Don’t mock the cannon fodder mate, you will want to point them in the right direction when push comes to shove.
mrdgriff,
The Aussies drink Fosters, good on them its Aussie beer.
Having visited Australia a lot you’ll find very few Australians drink Fosters.
Bill,
I believe you, it’s Cockney who thinks they drink Fosters. Mind you if they were Muslims instead of drinking alcohol they may have a more harmless pastime. Can you think of one?
….and the Scots drink er Scotch?
The 51st Highland Regiment who fought in every theatre of the Second World War may not have performed so heroically if it was not for a wee dram. Don’t forget RUM! Given out before going over the top and a long lasting Navy tradition. Ever been to Plymouth on a Saturday night? The point I am making is that accusing demonstrators (rioters) of being drunk is taking the side of the Islamists who preach that the consumption of alcohol is sin. It is also the same mantra of leftie dogooders (many in the media) who would like to see the yoof of today safely tucked up indoors in front of the telly at weekends watching the BBC News.
“…however if ‘civilisation’ is represented by shirtless mulletted Aussies scrapping with coppers after a day on the Fosters then we’re all in trouble.”
Indeed we are. But that problem has arisen because our political, judicial, academic and media elites have chosen to stop representing our civilisation and instead represent some bizarre utopian project(s) that have little to do with the interests, concerns and desires of most people – and least of all little to with reality.
Militant Islam is an enemy they cannot acknowledge, for to do so ackowledges the failure of their project(s). So they treat ‘us’ as the enemy. Most good people sit on their arse and do nothing until it’s nearly too late (or is too late), so the only ones doing anything about it are drunken chav scum.
Yup, we’re in trouble.
.
PJF, quite but the appropriate response is to keep banging away at the PC distortions of reality, not claim the drunken chav scum as representatives of ‘civilisation’. Two wrongs don’t make a right as my mum always says.
mrgriff
I’m quite concerned about your apparent conviction that no servicemen or descendents of servicemen could ever be accused of behaving like an idiot. Given WWI & WWII that presumably goes for most of us (or is it only one generation removed?), yet I’ve met lots of idiots including some existing servicement whose idiocy defies belief. Next time I’ll remember that their occupation entitles them to a ‘get out of idiocy card’.
Cockney,
As much as you may despise the drunken yobs, it is they who are living in the front line against islam, it is they who have to put up with the unpleasant realities of multiculturalism.
Western multicultural states seem to rely on the premise that ordinary white people will meekly accept what ever violence is handed out to them by groups championed by the left. I guess those surfers haven’t been reading the script.
The question the BBC should be asking is why 5000 surfers thought they needed to protest in the first place. And it was not over just one incident last weekend.
It appears that muslems have over a number of months been attempting to create a muslem only beach, another no-go area in which non-muslems are violently not welcome. The fact that women and children were routinely threatened and assaulted, and that the police were reluctant to uphold the law because of PC constraints (the same constraints police forces face in the UK: the community policing in ‘sensitive areas’ bollocks) were very much prime factors in the disturbances.
Note to liberals and leftists. To avoid mob rule, start applying the laws equally to everyone, even if it makes one of your chosen groups look bad.
Interesting how after only two days of trouble in Cronulla Beach in Sydney, our screens and newspapers have been filled with images of angry white faces, all contorted with aggression and hate. Yet after three days of rioting in Birmingham, and the huge riots in France that lasted for weeks, the only images the media were able to capture were of burnt out cars and riot police looking menacing. No pictures of angry Black or Asian youths at all!
Hmmm.
One would get the impression that the “news” and especially the BBC isn’t objective at all, and is in fact biasely run by a liberal elite who want to surreptitiously force multiculturalism onto industrialised western societies without asking the indigenous populations first!