The sanitisation and idealisation of the religion of Islam proceeds apace at the Beeb. It must- as this culture is being more and more forcefully advocated by its adherents, so it requires greater and greater efforts to retain management of the news in a way that the Beeb feels is responsible.
After writing this post originally, I heard of the terrible stampede at this year’s Hajj. I am naturally sorry for the people involved, but it only really highlights the terrible realities that the BBC is ignoring in the general course of things.
Lets look at what that means. No mention on the BBC of the appalling carnage of this incident of slaughter and sadistic chaos. Reuters filed this under ‘oddly enough’ when I think ‘sadly predictable’ would have been more accurate. Also no mention of this incident (on European soil too), where some modern day reality came into contact with medievalism. This is not any cull we’re talking about, such as fox-hunting facilitates, but sacrifice- blood for some mystical quality of blood’s sake.
Instead, from the BBC we had a picture sequence of a mass-slaughter fair which doesn’t even include any notion of during or after the slaughter. I am not sure ‘livestock fair’ was the appropriate term to use to describe it, myself. No wonder the animal rights people in the UK are naive, when their Auntie shields them from the big wide world.
As the Wall Street Journal recently observed: ‘Political correctness, for all its awfulness, is an effort to save souls through language.’ But not animals, obviously, lest the Islamic audience be offended.
Second example: the Hajj. The BBC’s coverage is, save the unavoidable reporting of the annual Islamic Hillsborough-style event which is a tradition for this time of the year, utterly nicey-nicey (this sentence written pre-stampede btw). The boy scout article I linked earlier is a good example, but the BBC are pleased to report organisational glitches, safety measures etc..
Yet what about these Iranians in Mecca? Not so nicey-nicey, eh? Somehow the BBC manage to make a sacrifice and omit the death to America, infidel-hand chopping rhetoric from their coverage.
I am not saying that what I’m outlining is not a dilemma for broadcasters, but what I am saying is that the BBC’s chosen output is not news, but cultural sensitivity, aka pandering. The fact that they have decided a priori on ideological grounds that Muslims are to be protected from criticism is their problem.
The BBC should not be hiding the reality of this but….
This is not any cull we’re talking about, such as fox-hunting facilitates, but sacrifice- blood for some mystical quality of blood’s sake.
Much as I dislike this bloody ritual I have to take issue with you comparison here, is fox hunting really an effective cull? OK foxes are un-desirable vermin but the amount killed by fox hunting doesn’t really count as population control but has more to do with tradition or blood for some mystical quality of blood’s sake or at least killings sake. At least the slaughtered “livestock” get’s eaten by those pesky Muslims.
Yeah, yeah, bleat away “moral equivalence” etc. I’m only drawing any comparison between the two because you choose to put fox hunting on a more favourable footing by using a culling argument. The two things may or may not be morally equivalent but to try and elavate fox hunting by implying it is a culling activity is a poor argument in my opinion.
On the general point of do I find the idea on ritual slaughter you link to uncivilised and barbaric – then I would say yes I do.
I think part of the problem is that the BBC is confused. They think its the early twentieth contuary and the Jews have changed their name to Muslims.
Because of this they are trying not to spread “predjudice” by pointing out Islams faults, instead they seek to spread peace and understanding by not talking about… well anything important really.
I also think that they are further handicapped by journalists and presenters simply not doing research. The stories in the Hadith and Koran justify just about every crime known to man; slavery? not a problem. Rape of captive women? Hey, chill man, if Allah wants them to get pregnant they wil get pregnant – they are just Kafir man. Paedophilia? Allah told me to do it… and so on.
I personnally thought people where just making this stuff up untill I actually saw the primary sources themselves, after all who could beleive any if that? I personnaly can’t beleive that the majority of those who call themselves Muslim could.
I also don’t beleive that journalists, on the whole, think that they have time to do the searching required to find out if these stories are truly part of Islam or not, rather they ask the MCB and get the answer they are looking for.
On the other hand that wouldnt explain “In the footsteps of Mohamed” from last year… hmm
That’s the problems with all that “beleiving” i guess.
OT
No mention on news at 10 last night re: Prescott not paying his council tax. Yet mention on ITV 10:30
Amazing.
Also i found it pathetic that the Chairman of the Labour Committee on Education arguing that everyone was out to get Ruth Kelly.
What a load of rubbish, would she like her kids being looked after and taught by people who had regularly viewed images of child porn or abuse?
Come on Ruth, get a grip here, and dare i say its nothing to do with you being a woman so stop crying about it..it no longer works…
Overall news at 10 last night had the air of a cover up as usual. NOt impressed.
OT
Football transfers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/4608688.stm
maybe now someone might like to take time to investigate the russians who invest millions of pounds of questionable money from sources unknown..
football is the easiest industry to launder money, i am also very surprised the govt hasnt ever spotted it….
OT – Mr Hamza and his video nasties:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4605726.stm
The Have Your Say section had a Haj section yesterday inviting people to tell their Haj experiences. The most recommended items ended up being quite un-PC. There was a complaint that someone’s grandmother couldn’t take her guide dog and a funny comment asking why the BBC didn’t ask “What are your Haj whines?” like they did “What are your Christmas whines?” before Christmas.
Unfortunately, it seems pretty obvious now what Haj whines are likely to be. Suffice to say, the HYS topic has disappeared completely and been replaced by one from last year (when referred to in articles such as those linked in the BBBC post).
There is probably an argument for it to be withdrawn on grounds of sensitivity. However, it has been done steathily. I am afraid I did not get a screen capture.
Aristeides
I’m afraid I’m not sure how to use it to search specific sites, but Google Cache is very good for finding the original copies of pages the BBC stealth edits.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4607110.stm
Why on earth isnt Prescott investigated by the Met Police?
They’ve questioned the likes of Prince Charles before, why can’t they question him?
Moreover, a judge should preside over the case as an example to the public.
Prescott should be made to pay the amount in full, plus interest, plus a fine, plus serve a month in Jail minimum.
Who the hell does he think he is?
Time to protest me thinks..
The BBC have just got a page up entitled “Guidance for Jewish visitors to Mecca”.
Or did I dream that up?
Huh?
“Mr Straw added: “We do more than any other non-Muslim country, indeed much more than actually many Muslim countries, to provide assistance for our Muslim community on their Hajj.
“We have a full-time Hajj delegation with Muslim doctors and nurses on it, led by Lord Patel….
“So we really are there to help and to provide medical assistance and counselling for anybody distressed in this situation.”
So why no similar medical teams for the annual Lourdes or Walsingham trips, no government help for many Christmas trips for kids which have to be run by charities such as London cabbies etc etc? Hmm?
To me, the most bizarre thing about the stampede is the official explanation: a bunch of pilgrims tripped over luggage and were trampled.
Luggage?
The deaths took place at Mina, which is all of three miles away from Mecca. Why on earth would anyone take luggage on a six-mile round trip? It would be like me taking a suitcase every time I went from central London to Hammersmith.
xj,
Apparently they take the luggage with because they want to move straight on from stoning satan to the next phase of their medieval ritual or get on a plane home or whatever.
Grimer
Yes – I had checked Google cache.
It’s so annoying because it makes you wonder whether you were imagining it!!
OT
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f0d39e90-83d9-11da-9017-0000779e2340.html
proof that the FT is in the Blair’s back pocket.!!! Talk about the biggest PR exericse ever..
Enough to make you sick as the FT tries in vain to beg the Govt for news. Let alone the fact that Blair & Co are leeching on to anything going.
As for trying to say Euan is on a par with Prince William. Simple answer: I think not. Ego from his parents seems to be rubbing off.
I would have thought the interest rate decision would be far more important.?
Imagine the output of a news organisation in an Islamic dictatorship:
*Cheerful, sunny articles on rituals such as Ramadan or the Haj
*Timid, respectful interviewing of the most rabid of Muslim leaders
*Whitewashing and justification of atrocities committed by Islamic terrorists
*Undermining of Christianity
*Spewing of propagandist hatred against Israel and America
That’s the BBC’s Muslim-friendly operation in a nutshell. It wouldn’t have to change a thing to function harmoniously in an Islamic dictatorship.
Makes me wonder what percentage of BBC staff is Muslim and what percentage simply PC dhimmies.
And how they can be prevented from leeching off the public while they pursue their insidious agenda.
OT, and in fact not really an example of left-wing BBC bias, indeed possibly even a counter-example, but this about George Galloway made my mind boggle:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4608082.stm
He is a contestant on Big Brother. I assume he expected to use the programme as a means of spreading his message to the television viewing public, just as Howard Beale thought that he could make America “mad as hell” in the film Network. It didn’t work out for Howard because the television viewing public is allergic to boredom and speeches about serious things are generally boring.
Thus, in order to excite the people at home, George has become more interactive:
“During a Big Brother task to see whether “humans can communicate with animals”, Mr Galloway asked Ms Lenska: “Now, would you like me to be the cat?”
…
Mr Galloway, 51, went on all fours and pretended to sip cream from actress Rula Lenska’s hands.
…
He crawled on all fours and then pretended to lap from her hands as if drinking cream, after which she rubbed the “cream” from his “whiskers” and stroked his head and behind his ears.
Earlier, Mr Galloway acted the role of “lab assistant” while Ms Lenska “read the mind” of a goldfish called Barry.”
This is kinky and surreal at the same time, and gives me a mental image of George Galloway MP dressed up as Frank N’Furter from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, perhaps whilst being whipped by Rula Lenska. I am not too pleased by this mental image, but I find it hard to think of something other than George Galloway’s bruised buttocks.
I don’t know what the BBC thinks of George Galloway. I can see him presenting them with a mass of contradictions. On the one hand he is against the evil Amerikkkan hegemony but on the other hand he beat a Labour MP and there is a suspicion that he might be a little wobbly.
The eviction pattern suggests that the public likes him as little as it likes Pete Burns, lead singer of Dead Or Alive, who did “You spin me right round (baby (right round)) (like a record (baby)) (round round (right round))”.
I remember leafing through a book by Giles, the cartoonist. He said that he felt sad when Mussolini was put to death because Mussolini had enormous comic potential.
Here’s an interesting thing I have noticed on the BBC website.
If you read the comments sections preceeded by “the following represents a balance of views received”, you would conclude that the outlook of most commenters is liberal/left/Guardian/Independent.
However, if you read the “most recommended” comments you seem to find a completely different picture i.e. the most popular comments are nearly always centre-right e.g. generally supportive of strong law and order, sympathetic to Israel, and heavily critical of Iran, PCness, Galloway etc.
Clearly the audience of QT or Any Questions self selects itself from the first group of commenters above, but are somewhat unrepresentative of British opinion in general.
Channel 4’s Big Brother is doing a marvellous service with their humiliation of The Georgeous One.
He hasn’t been able to spout his anti-war bile as effectively as Respect hoped, meanwhile his antics have even made the BBC report it!
For God’s sake vote for for either of the others to be evicted; we need this Georgeous George humiliation to continue.
http://beta.cergis.com/george/
Ian,
Other than being mildly irrelevant it’s hardly a puff piece, indeed it includes a dig at New Labour PR tendencies. Also links into the City graduate boom following the M&A upswing, although if they’re all as hopeless as the ones we’ve been getting here then then Frankfurt will be laughing.
For those unable to receive UK TV transmissions, Scott Burgess has must-see video:
http://dailyablution.blogs.com/the_daily_ablution/2006/01/mustsee_video.html
Hey, http://www.al-bbc.com does not seem to be registered…
I have a cunning plan…
Mr Galloway, 51, went on all fours and pretended to sip cream from actress Rula Lenska’s hands.
…
He crawled on all fours and then pretended to lap from her hands as if drinking cream, after which she rubbed the “cream” from his “whiskers” and stroked his head and behind his ears.
Good job she wasn’t the other way around
O/t Gorgeous George
The Beeb’s HYS on this is quite good; especially when you click the READERS RECOMMENDED tab:
http://tinyurl.com/8j9mp
If every one watches Big Brother on this Blog then all is lost.
“If every one watches Big Brother on this Blog then all is lost.”
This is one of the tele events of 2006!
Yes, the usual dross with Jack Dee, Vanessa Feltz and the other nonentities is unwatchable, but this…
This is probably part of GG’s plan – if he humiliates himself to this degree on national TV perhaps his lickspittle references to Saddam (“Sir, I salute your…”) will no longer be shown as much.
Bryan,
Excellent post and so true.
the_camp_commandant,
Thanks. Much appreciated.
‘It wouldn’t have to change a thing to function harmoniously in an Islamic dictatorship.’ A thing??!! Not sure ‘Songs of Praise’ would go down too well on a Sunday morning, let alone Jilly’s wine tasting extravaganzas on ‘Food & Drink’.
‘However, if you read the “most recommended” comments you seem to find a completely different picture i.e. the most popular comments are nearly always centre-right e.g. generally supportive of strong law and order, sympathetic to Israel, and heavily critical of Iran, PCness, Galloway etc.’
That’s slightly inaccurate. The HYS contributors certainly don’t like BBC-esque PC rubbish and are heavily into law and order, tax cuts and benefit scrounger bashing. However, they’re not too keen on Israeli policy (see recent Sharon tabs), George Bush, the war and free market economics either. Populist rather than rigid adherents to centre right ideology I’d say.
If your French is any good, check out
http://www.france-echos.com/
for some ripping articles on the RoP, like this one.
http://www.france-echos.com/actualite.php?cle=7966
Allan…….interesting article…….I somehow don’t expect the French Thought Police to be calling on him to account for his “ideologically unsound thoughts” nor to prosecute him for calling a police horse gay.
I am most puzzled as to one of the pseudonyms used on that French site (which frankly crosses the line from legitimate criticism of Islam to overt tacism with mimimal effort) is that of a former traditionalist Labour MP for Dagenham, John Parker.
..and that was before I found another called “Michael Collins”….
The trial of Abu Hamza al-Masri means the word ‘Kafir’ gets a rare outing on BBC Views Online.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4610094.stm
Naturally, for those benighted BBC readers who think its something usually found on the head of Arafat, ‘infidel’ has to be used in parenthesis.
BBC ‘news’ told us recently that the companion of a British girl murdered in Thailand is not very happy about what happened. I wonder what item was omittted from the bulletin to let us know that? Perhaps the BBC should have used the time to tell us about how the post Katrina collapse in the US economy and civilisation is coming along. If BBC news were a newspaper it would be a very down market tabloid without the saving grace of semi-naked girl on page 3.
OT
Blatant advertising
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4604850.stm
The BBC invoke their completely one-sided right “not to be judgemental” in describing Abu Hamza as a ‘controversial cleric’:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4609412.stm
Completely one-sided meaning that they cast aside concerns about being judgemental when they aren’t trying to defend their sacred cows.
Anyway, to me ‘controversial’ means someone who promotes gay partnerships for Anglican vicars, or someone who opposes the Catholic Church’s stance on contraception.
Someone who advocates the murder of non-Muslims is an extremist. Learn the word, BBC. One wonders quite what Abu Hamza must say or do to be classified as an ‘extremist’ by the BBC.
The funeral of the young man murdered during a race riot took place today:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4608596.stm
Unbelievably, the BBC have reverted to their previous reporting of this event, i.e. under no circumstances report anything which might suggest that racial prejudice was involved.
So what happened to this article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ifs/low/newsid_4380000/newsid_4386200/4386258.stm
“Are they holding something back?” Well, yes of course.
“We should handle issues of racial tension with great care, but we shouldn’t avoid or downplay it when it clearly does have a bearing on a story we are covering”. So, no bearing at all then?
That newswatch article was nothing but an arrogant dismissal of a genuine complaint, and today’s report merely emphasises that.
Cockney,
A thing??!! Not sure ‘Songs of Praise’ would go down too well on a Sunday morning, let alone Jilly’s wine tasting extravaganzas on ‘Food & Drink’.
Granted.
I was talking about the side of Auntie’s character that defers to Muslims as she more and more frequently steps into her black potato sack, puts on her veil and ventures fearfully and suspicously out to report on a world full of infidels.
Rob,
One wonders quite what Abu Hamza must say or do to be classified as an ‘extremist’ by the BBC.
They can’t call him an ‘extremist’ because they have reserved that label for terrorists.
Since he apparently hasn’t blown up any civilians yet, they’ll have to stick with ‘controversial’, though it’s beyond me why there should be any controversy over a cut-and-dried case of fanatical ‘religious’ hate-mongering powered by two or three brain cells.
When the BBC first started to mangle the English language in order to pander to terrorists it put its collective butt on a slippery slope.
Now there ain’t no way but down.
Rob and Bryan,
Extremists are only to be found to the right of centre. Muslims cannot be extremists.
Abu Hamza as a ‘controversial cleric’:
He’s not a cleric – he is a Syrian nightclub bouncer. Typical of Islam is that it is grafted onto tribal systems where the one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind.
Having a religion cobbled together by an illiterate merchant who pillaged the other tribes and looted their caravans is in marked contrast to the highly-educated world of Jews like Jesus Christ……………it still goes without saying that calling Abu Hamza a “cleric” is an insult when every respectable religion has educated clerics rather than ignorant thugs spouting fascist slogans as is the case of Abu Hamza.
He is as much a “cleric” as was Julius Streicher or Josef Goebbels.
“Completely one-sided meaning that they cast aside concerns about being judgemental when they aren’t trying to defend their sacred cows.”
The same might apply to the BBC’s coverage of the Hajj: completely non-judgmental.
Two million people have descended on the area and the place is in chaos. People are slaughtering cows all over the place (the potential for food poisoning and disease much be considerable) and the death-toll arising from accidents is in the hundreds, probably thousands. This happens every year.
Saudi Arabia is awash with money. It is a rich nation. Yet nary a tentative query about the (lack of) organisation, the (lack of) infrastructure.
I am quite sure there is plenty of demagoguery going on too. What are the clerics and the scholars telling the faithful? Is this merely a celebration or are ‘radical’ elements trying to subvert the minds of the innocent pilgrims?
In BBCland, the Hajj is wonderful; an affirmation of faith; a celebration of monotheism. It is almost as if the BBC’s journalistic curiosity has been erased.
btw, I suppose Saudi Arabia doesn’t have a Health and Safety Executive? 🙂
I wonder whether Nick Griffin is described as an extremist or mearly controversial when his trial starts next week. The Beeb – acting as government agents infiltrating opposition meetings and broadcasting programs before elections is really a disgrace.
Bryan
so few words, so funny and absolutley goddamned right.
thanks for the laugh!
Clematis Freud writes:
“In BBCland, the Hajj is wonderful; an affirmation of faith; a celebration of monotheism. ”
But, of course, only one variety of Abrahamic monotheism. No doubt the corporation will continue sneering at Christians and Jews…
http://hughhewitt.com/archives/2006/01/01-week/index.php#000962 is a fascinating chat about the Pope’s views on Islam…
Outline:
“the thesis that was proposed by this scholar was that Islam can enter into the modern world if the Koran is reinterpreted by taking the specific legislation, and going back to the principles, and then adapting it to our times, especially with the dignity that we ascribe to women, which has come through Christianity, of course. And immediately, the Holy Father, in his beautiful calm but clear way, said well, there’s a fundamental problem with that, because he said in the Islamic tradition, God has given His word to Mohammed, but it’s an eternal word. It’s not Mohammed’s word. It’s there for eternity the way it is. There’s no possibility of adapting it or interpreting it, whereas in Christianity, and Judaism, the dynamism’s completely different, that God has worked through His creatures. And so, it is not just the word of God, it’s the word of Isaiah, not just the word of God, but the word of Mark. He’s used His human creatures, and inspired them to speak His word to the world, and therefore by establishing a Church in which he gives authority to His followers to carry on the tradition and interpret it, there’s an inner logic to the Christian Bible, which permits it and requires it to be adapted and applied to new situations. I was…I mean, Hugh, I wish I could say it as clearly and as beautifully as he did, but that’s why he’s Pope and I’m not, okay? That’s one of the reasons. One of others, but his seeing that distinction when the Koran, which is seen as something dropped out of Heaven, which cannot be adapted or applied, even, and the Bible, which is a word of God that comes through a human community, it was stunning.
Kirsty Wark once more playing Mother Confessor to a gay drug addict on BBC 2 Newsnight Review.
“The Mother Confessor is more than a queen. Queens bow down to the Mother Confessor. All Confessors follow the Mother Confessor. Confessors have position according to their power, because the ones with the strongest power will bear daughters who have the best chance of having that stronger power, and so the Mother Confessor is the most powerful Confessor in the order. There is no jealousy among the Confessors for those with the strongest power, only deeper affection and devotion in times of trouble. The lower ranks will protect the higher, with their lives if need be”
more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Confessor
meanwhile…….
over on (Socialist) News 24 (7), Gavin Essler is lapping up the anti Republican Party musings of Pink Floyd`s Roger Walters, a useful Song & Dance man but political commmentator?
My point is, as ever, the BBC only ever solicit one type of response.
Republicans are evil, Pink Floyd think so ergo it MUST be true.
Debate is stone dead at Socialism Central. The minds are firmly closed.
Based on the very good comments in this thread, could we not say that the BBC telly-tax is actually the jizya. I’m not paying it. Are you going to pay your jizya?