Islam in the media, is it being unfairly treated?

1« Previous thread | Next thread »
- brucepig
- Member
- offline
Islam in the media, is it being unfairly treated?
OP - January 08, 2009, 05:46 AM

Let me start by saying I think the British tabloid media don't play it straight and they seek to demonise whoever they can. They are the lowest common denominator scum and I hate them with a passion.

But Cheetah recently said that basically there are nutters in every community and Islam is being unfairly highlighted.

This is where I have to disagree.

It's not fair to say all communities have their fundamentalists and that Islam is being picked on. I don't think that is totally true, if I were a Hindu or a Christian I would take umbrage with that claim and for factual reality not partisan reasons.

There is a difference, Christians aren't as united, they aren't as politically active and they rarely erupt into violence. Also I don't know of any serious violent fundamentalist Hindu, Buddhist or Jain sects in the UK. When was the last Pagan riot or Shinto fatwa?

At this time in history Islam is uniquely fervent and the doctrines of martyrdom and jihad mixed with a strong sense of unity and victimhood are causing a large minority of Muslims to create big waves and even though the majority of Muslims are not part of this group they still stand united when it comes to things like blasphemy.

Most Muslims might disagree with the idea that violence is the way forward but the majority of Muslims would like to ban people from insulting Islam.

The Jerry Springer Opera protests weren't ignored, they got quite a lot of coverage. I remember the papers and TV having a song and dance about it and bad radio phone in shows devoting it hours of airtime and when the Sikhs attacked the Birmingham theater there was lots of coverage and I don't think it was just cynical Sun/Mail journalists saying "Look brown people at it again"

There is a big difference.

Christianity has been battered by modernity for centuries and become much more moderate than Islam is at present. It is almost impossible to get a moderate Christian angry about anything and the most you get from British fundamentalist Christians is a call for a boycott, a demand for censorship and a minor protest with a few placards waved.

No hard line nutters just a bunch of middle class letter writers. Christian activists in the UK are hardly likely to storm the barricades. The worst it gets is "Yours sincerely, Disgusted from Tumbridge Wells"

Most Christians are very difficult to upset, they would say it's because they are confident in their faith but I think it is more to do with the centuries of witch burning and routing out of heretics rendering aggressive European Christianity unacceptable and unlikely to get any sympathy from anyone least of all the centre Left/Right.

This is difficult to deny unless we make the assumption that the media is hiding all of the Hindu and Christian court cases and bomb plots from us.
- aife
- Member
- offline
Re: Islam in the media, is it being unfairly treated?
Reply #1 - January 08, 2009, 11:30 PM

Agreed .
Some of the coverage in The Sun et al might be a bit over the top , but if you're a tabloid editor then hook handed nutters constantly calling for bloodshed or mobs storming embassies over a cartoon must be a godsend (excuse the language..) on a slow news day .
There are other sections of the media that seem to bend over backwards to sell islam . The BBC currently has a series pushing the idea that islam invented science , several channels within the last year have given space to programmes depicting normal muslim life in a positive light , channel 4 had a muslim chat show and regularly invites some highly questionable muslim 'spokesmen' on to their news bulletins I don't think any other religion receives comparable air time .
I'm sure the intentions behind these programmes are good but I think there is a real , insidious danger in this promotion of islam as a good thing ( as opposed to merely pointing out that most muslims are perfectly decent people). The fact is christian europe is a good place to live today precisely because religion has been relegated to the sidelines and largely pushed out of public life and government . Most christians do not expect their spiritual beliefs to be allowed to dictate how the country is run or impinge on others . It's time muslims reached a similar accommodation .
- brucepig
- Member
- offline
Re: Islam in the media, is it being unfairly treated?
Reply #2 - January 09, 2009, 01:21 AM

I think that's the fundamental difference that is fueling much of the media attention.

It's a hypersensitivity that Muslims have to their religion. In a secular nation with a free adversarial press this is like a red rag to a bull.

I have never met a Jew who would fly into a rage if I said I thought that Moses was a thoroughly immoral man and probably a myth but I know moderate peaceful Muslims who want the law to step in to stop people insulting Mohammad.

On the whole Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists don't try to censor criticism of their religions. Both moderate and extremist Muslims stand united on the subject of blasphemy and in a modern Western nation this is bound to cause friction and the press will be finding stories left right and centre.

This is not unfair treatment of Islam it is a conflict of ideas.

Free speech and secular society or adherence to religious taboos and fawning respect for superstition.

In this instance I have no doubt which has to go and it's not the gutter press.
1« Previous thread | Next thread »