If you were ever worried about free speech in this country and the power of the Muslim attack lobby to frighten people into toeing the line here is the perfect example…
The Telegraph’s James Kirkup wrote an article which was decidedly pro-Muslim and based upon the ‘research’ by the extremist organisation The Muslim Council of Britain….it was originally titled ‘Worried about Muslims in Britain? Here’s the answer’...Kirkup has now changed that ‘offensive’ title.
The fact that Kirkup, a journalist, doesn’t know what the MCB is and what its intentions are is frightening.
This is the original article from Kirkup with the all new title from which you can see he has no idea what he is talking about…’Values’ are the be all and end all of this debate….
British Muslims: integration and segregation are about economics, not values
Many commentators and politicians approach integration as a cultural question, arguing that more should be done to persuade British Muslims to accept “British values”. Perhaps we’d be better off taking an economic perspective, accepting that a better aim is making them better off.
Worried about the rising number of Muslim children in our schools? Then you should hope they pass their exams, go to good universities and get well-paid jobs. Especially the girls. Really, turn more Muslims into fully paid-up members of the Waitrose-shopping, Audi-driving, Boden-wearing middle-classes and their values will take care of themselves.
That’ll be right..here’s a perfect example…a Muslim with a first class honours degree and a good job…‘I am a Muslim….I reject Liberal Values’ and that of course is just for starters…..
Kirkup says in his latest apologetic article…
Last week I wrote about Muslims.
My article appears to have caused offence. Quite a lot of people got in touch to accuse me of being “soft” on Muslims, of failing to report and confront what they describe as a fundamental incompatibility between Islam and British society and British values. I don’t share that view. I simply note the concerns those people express.
Others, mainly but not solely Muslims, took a different view of the article. They raised a number of concerns, which I’d like to address here. Broadly, there were three types of complaint.
He has no concerns at all about his non-Muslim critics….instead he writes a long apologia to his Muslim critics answering these questions…
1 “Why are you just writing about Muslims?”
2 “You’re treating Muslims as a problem to be solved”
3 “Would you say that about any other group?”
The bottom line is that I wrote an article arguing that British Muslims should be richer and more free, and treated just like anyone else. Yet a lot of people thought that article was anti-Muslim.
So I’m amending the headline and withdrawing the poll. And I’m apologising for any offence those aspects of the article caused. But I stand by my argument, and hoping that the changes will allow people to focus on that argument and not the way it was presented.
The poll he ran asked if you thought Islam was a problem for British society…he has withdrawn the poll but the result was a resounding yes, Islam is a problem…
Kirkup says..
For me, journalism should provoke thoughts, not emotion, not least since the latter often obstruct the former. That’s what happened here: I inadvertently and unnecessarily caused offence, and that obscured my argument.
Journalists should never be afraid to offend. We should report and argue as we see the world, not according to the feelings of others. But offence should only ever be the necessary byproduct of journalism, not its aim.
Which is why this principled and professional journalist who cares about facts and is not bothered about causing offence if the facts are the facts changed the title of the original article and removed the poll that was designed to find the truth about how people saw Islam in th UK….can’t offend people with unwelcome truths…..and surely somewhat important to register what a great many people think about Islam and Muslims if you are talking about integration and the future.
Free speech? My backside. They didn’t even need an AK47..Kirkup just rolled up and died as a journalist with his self-censorship.
What Kirkup and the BBC don’t admit is that the MCB ‘research’ is purely designed to put pressure on government and ‘society’ to further Muslim interests. It tells a sorry tale of Islamophobia, disaffection and economic and educational backwardness…more money and cultural awareness and tolerance needed!….as well as one of an ever growing Muslim population…and with such a growing population comes political influence as politicians buy votes with policies designed for specific communities regardless of the cost to society as a whole.
Compare the BBC’s report on the MCB’s ‘research’ into the Muslim population with a Telegraph one…the BBC does no thinking for itself, it does no forward thinking about the meaning of this massive population growth…what it does do is take the MCB’s narrative and finshes off with this plea for government and society to ‘deal’ with the issues..
Muslims in Britain: What figures tell us
“This addresses many of the social issues that are always in the media and being discussed,” added Dr Sundas Ali. “Now we have the hard facts, let’s do something about it.”
Yes, let’s do something about it….trouble is the MCB’s answer is just ‘more Islam.’ Hardly the real solution.
The Telegraph takes a more honest look at the problems that will be encountered by a ever increasing and powerful and separate Muslim population….
Number of ‘Muslim’ children in Britain doubles in a decade
The number of children growing up as Muslims in the UK has almost doubled in a decade in what experts have described as an “unprecedented” shift in Britain’s social make-up.
Muslims could play a decisive role in the coming general election, expected to be the closest in recent times, making up a significant share of voters in some of the most marginal seats in the country.
The Muslim population will continue expanding for “many decades” to come – something experts said could transform everything from social attitudes to foreign policy.
It is the dramatically younger age profile of the Muslim population which could have the biggest impact in the future.
Prof David Voas, director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research based at Essex University, said: “In terms of ethnic-religious minority groups expanding I think this is probably unprecedented.
“Even if immigration stopped tomorrow it is clear that in due course by the middle of this century or a bit later, 10 per cent of the population of Britain will be of Muslim heritage.”
He said that is likely to change political decisions and social attitudes on both a local and national level.
“It would start off with being relatively small but you could just imagine a situation where a more socially conservative view that might be conducive to Muslims might tip the balance.”
“You could see the effect with local authorities making accommodation with swimming baths where there are women-only swimming periods,” he said.
All, you might think, rather serious concerns, ones that might lead to serious conflict, more so than at present, in the future.
Wonder why the BBC completely ignored the likely scenarios.
