Check out the bias riddled throughout this BBC article, which is about how scientists have managed to link the genetics of people in the Middle East to those of the medieval Crusaders.
The BBC directly links the "Crusaders" to Christianity in paragraph 5. But it then mentions Islamic "expansions from the Arabian Peninsula which brought Islam to the area in the 7th and 8th Centuries." It mentions Muslim "expansion" four times in the article. But nowhere does it say HOW this expansion occurred: by jihad. But equate medieval Christians with the Crusaders? No such hesitancy. I wonder why that is?
Thursday 27 March 2008
Fitna
Here it is at last: Dutch MP Geert Wilders has finally released his 15-minute Qur'an film Fitna. You can watch it here.
My initial impressions: I like it, although I must say I am rather surprised that of the Qur'an verses in the film, 9:5 and 9:29 were not among them.
And for a laugh, try this BBC article about the film.
"And pictures appearing to show Muslim demonstrators holding up placards saying "God bless Hitler" and "Freedom go to hell" also feature."
Appearing? There's no "appearing" about it, as you'll see when you watch the film.
My initial impressions: I like it, although I must say I am rather surprised that of the Qur'an verses in the film, 9:5 and 9:29 were not among them.
And for a laugh, try this BBC article about the film.
"And pictures appearing to show Muslim demonstrators holding up placards saying "God bless Hitler" and "Freedom go to hell" also feature."
Appearing? There's no "appearing" about it, as you'll see when you watch the film.
Round-up
1. Here is a summary of a talk given by conservative thinker Dinesh D'Souza about racism, in which he apparently said a lot of sensible stuff about the playing of the race card, and gave some un-PC truths about the ACTUAL reasons for the apparent behind-ness of ethnic minorities in the West. It seems to me that on most issues, D'Souza is actually pretty much right and a good thinker. It's a shame that when it comes to talking about Islam, he becomes such a blathering idiot.
2. A hate crime complaint made by a traveller against The Basil Brush Show has "turned the Gypsy community in Northamptonshire into a laughing stock", according to the president of the Gypsy Council.
This man - Hughie Smith - I like him. Read his comments in the article; they AREN'T reactionary and nonsensical, which makes a very welcome change coming from the gypsy community.
3. Two Stephen Fry-fronted TV ads for Twinings Tea have been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority after a complaint that they presented a negative stereotype of a black man as sexually promiscuous. The watchdog accepted the arguments by ad agency Lowe that "race was not central or relevant to the ads", which were based on Fry's character being "older and less cool" than the young black American man he featured alongside.
2. A hate crime complaint made by a traveller against The Basil Brush Show has "turned the Gypsy community in Northamptonshire into a laughing stock", according to the president of the Gypsy Council.
This man - Hughie Smith - I like him. Read his comments in the article; they AREN'T reactionary and nonsensical, which makes a very welcome change coming from the gypsy community.
3. Two Stephen Fry-fronted TV ads for Twinings Tea have been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority after a complaint that they presented a negative stereotype of a black man as sexually promiscuous. The watchdog accepted the arguments by ad agency Lowe that "race was not central or relevant to the ads", which were based on Fry's character being "older and less cool" than the young black American man he featured alongside.
Read the description of the two adverts and Lowe's justification of them and you will see why this complaint was so ludicrous.
Also, I notice that only ONE person complained about this advert. I feel pity for that person. And I also feel a sense of resentment that agencies are being forced to take seriously any complaint made by any hyper-sensitive, deranged individual. It shouldn't be that way. Things should only be investigated if there is widespread complaint. Same goes for the Basil Brush story - that should NEVER have got past the initial complaint stage.
Wednesday 26 March 2008
Islam and Race Relations!
This article is exclusive to this site; it will not appear anywhere else or in any other format. I thought it would be interesting to write a piece about Islam's attitude towards race, since after all Islam and race are the two things I write about most at this blog. This will be fairly short, but I hope interesting and informative.
So what does Islam say about race? On the one hand, Allah states in the Qur'an that "We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other)." (49:13) Elsewhere, "And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colors; most surely there are signs in this for the learned." (30:22) And in his Last Sermon, Muhammad preached: "All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white - except by piety and good action."
Nevertheless, the odd questionable tradition remains. The most notorious of these is Muhammad's infamous "raisin-head" quote: "You should listen to and obey your ruler even if he was an Ethiopian (black) slave whose head looks like a raisin." (Bukhari v.9, b.89, No.256). Elsewhere, one hadith has him saying: "When Allah created Adam, he hit Adam on the right shoulder and the white race sprang out, while the black race came from the left shoulder. Allah said to those of the right hand to Paradise you are and to the left hand to hell you go." (Mishkat Al-Messabih, v.1 , no.119) However, it should be pointed out that this tradition does not appear in one of the collections considered most reliable by Muslims, although many scholars still consider Mishkat Al-Messabih an important work.
Others point to verses such as 3:106 and 10:26-27, which say that the faces of those in Paradise on the Day of Judgment will be white, while the faces of those in Hell will be black. However, while these at first seem to be racial statements, Muslim scholars have traditionally not interpreted them as such. Rather, these are moral judgments.
Nevertheless, racism has popped up in Islamic culture from time to time. This was particularly evident in the long tradition of trafficking black slaves from north Africa. The great medieval Muslim theologian Ibn Khaldun wrote that Africans submitted to slavery because they "have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals." In the modern day, following a visit to Palestine by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Hamas TV broadcast images of Rice with a caption that labeled her a "black snake". However, it would probably be unfair to link racism such as this intrinsically to Islam, since human nature is everywhere the same and anyone of any race and religion can be racist (although the media often tend to forget this...)
So overall, it has to be said that, while Islam has many undesirable aspects to it which make its culture inferior to Western culture, racism is not really one of those aspects. It largely does not teach race hatred, since anyone of any race can become a Muslim. Now, religious hatred; that's an entirely different matter...
So what does Islam say about race? On the one hand, Allah states in the Qur'an that "We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other)." (49:13) Elsewhere, "And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colors; most surely there are signs in this for the learned." (30:22) And in his Last Sermon, Muhammad preached: "All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white - except by piety and good action."
Nevertheless, the odd questionable tradition remains. The most notorious of these is Muhammad's infamous "raisin-head" quote: "You should listen to and obey your ruler even if he was an Ethiopian (black) slave whose head looks like a raisin." (Bukhari v.9, b.89, No.256). Elsewhere, one hadith has him saying: "When Allah created Adam, he hit Adam on the right shoulder and the white race sprang out, while the black race came from the left shoulder. Allah said to those of the right hand to Paradise you are and to the left hand to hell you go." (Mishkat Al-Messabih, v.1 , no.119) However, it should be pointed out that this tradition does not appear in one of the collections considered most reliable by Muslims, although many scholars still consider Mishkat Al-Messabih an important work.
Others point to verses such as 3:106 and 10:26-27, which say that the faces of those in Paradise on the Day of Judgment will be white, while the faces of those in Hell will be black. However, while these at first seem to be racial statements, Muslim scholars have traditionally not interpreted them as such. Rather, these are moral judgments.
Nevertheless, racism has popped up in Islamic culture from time to time. This was particularly evident in the long tradition of trafficking black slaves from north Africa. The great medieval Muslim theologian Ibn Khaldun wrote that Africans submitted to slavery because they "have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals." In the modern day, following a visit to Palestine by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Hamas TV broadcast images of Rice with a caption that labeled her a "black snake". However, it would probably be unfair to link racism such as this intrinsically to Islam, since human nature is everywhere the same and anyone of any race and religion can be racist (although the media often tend to forget this...)
So overall, it has to be said that, while Islam has many undesirable aspects to it which make its culture inferior to Western culture, racism is not really one of those aspects. It largely does not teach race hatred, since anyone of any race can become a Muslim. Now, religious hatred; that's an entirely different matter...
Tuesday 25 March 2008
Please stop...
...with the "Obama and Racism" stories. No one cares.
On the other hand: some of those who do care are writing intelligent, thoughtful pieces on the matter instead of the usual claptrap linked above.
On the other hand: some of those who do care are writing intelligent, thoughtful pieces on the matter instead of the usual claptrap linked above.
Friday 21 March 2008
Too White
Two of Britain's most dangerous Islamic terrorists have been moved to different prisons after complaining their fellow inmates were "too white".
Hello? If that's not racism, then what is? But rather than "investigating" this racism (as they did with Basil bloody Brush), they simply acquiesced to these jihadists' wishes. British dhimmitude strikes again.
Hello? If that's not racism, then what is? But rather than "investigating" this racism (as they did with Basil bloody Brush), they simply acquiesced to these jihadists' wishes. British dhimmitude strikes again.
Thursday 20 March 2008
Round-up
1. Basil is cleared of racism! Gypsies are still whining, though.
2. Numbers of "racist incidents" in Austria dropped by 45% in 2007 from the previous year.
2. Numbers of "racist incidents" in Austria dropped by 45% in 2007 from the previous year.
Basil!
I was away while this farce was going on, but I just HAVE to comment on the ridiculous Basil Brush story. In case, by some miraculous set of circumstances, you haven't heard about this, here's the deal: The children's television character Basil Brush is at the centre of a police investigation after an allegation that an episode of the programme was racist towards gypsies. A complaint was made after an episode of the long-running BBC show aired in February this year, which featured a gypsy character selling pegs and lucky heather and a joke about a fortune teller stealing Basil's wallet. Gypsies have reported the show to Northamptonshire Police alleging that the storyline is racist towards their community and way of life.
Awwwwww, bless 'em!
Meanwhile, a former writer for the Basil Brush Show has defended this joke, explaining that the character has always insulted people with an "almost Tourettes-like enthusiasm". And Anne Widdecombe has weighed in on the right side of the debate, saying that the gypsies should "go and get a life" - which could almost be construed as "racist"! Haha!
That said, it is the obvious solution. If the gypsies don't want people to be suspicious of them or to make stereotypes about them...stop stealing things, and get a job.
Awwwwww, bless 'em!
Meanwhile, a former writer for the Basil Brush Show has defended this joke, explaining that the character has always insulted people with an "almost Tourettes-like enthusiasm". And Anne Widdecombe has weighed in on the right side of the debate, saying that the gypsies should "go and get a life" - which could almost be construed as "racist"! Haha!
That said, it is the obvious solution. If the gypsies don't want people to be suspicious of them or to make stereotypes about them...stop stealing things, and get a job.
Coming Next Week
I've got at least a couple more posts in store today, but I thought I'd let you know now that over the weekend I'm gonna try and write up a piece about Islam and race, to be posted up here next week. After all, race and Islam are the two things I write about most here, so I thought it would be interesting to write a post about Islam's attitude towards race and racism. Look out for it some time next week.
The (Obvious) Difference Between Christianity and Islam
Apologies for my absence so far this week. I'm back now, but will be gone again over the weekend and the two Bank Holidays. Enjoy me while you can...
I thought I'd get the ball rolling with these two quotes. They come from the highest authorities in Christianity and Islam: therefore, they represent the mainstream and essentially "true" teachings of each religion in the modern day. Right here is indisputable and irrefutable evidence that Christianity is a religion of peace and Islam is not:
I thought I'd get the ball rolling with these two quotes. They come from the highest authorities in Christianity and Islam: therefore, they represent the mainstream and essentially "true" teachings of each religion in the modern day. Right here is indisputable and irrefutable evidence that Christianity is a religion of peace and Islam is not:
"The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, colour, condition of life or religion. On the contrary, following in the footsteps of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, this sacred synod ardently implores the Christian faithful to "maintain good fellowship among the nations" (I Peter 2:12), and, if possible, to live for their part in peace with all men, so that they may truly be sons of the Father who is in heaven."
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Second Vatican Council, 1965
"O you believers! Fight the unbelievers, namely the People of the Book...they do not embrace the True Religion, i.e. Islam. Fight them until they believe, or force them to pay the jizya humbly and obediently, not grudgingly, so that they contribute to the Islamic budget."
Al-Muntakhab Fii Tafsiir Al-Qur'aan Al-Kariim, Al-Azhar University, 1985
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Second Vatican Council, 1965
"O you believers! Fight the unbelievers, namely the People of the Book...they do not embrace the True Religion, i.e. Islam. Fight them until they believe, or force them to pay the jizya humbly and obediently, not grudgingly, so that they contribute to the Islamic budget."
Al-Muntakhab Fii Tafsiir Al-Qur'aan Al-Kariim, Al-Azhar University, 1985
Thursday 13 March 2008
The Howling
I've posted this song here before, but this week's music share is the edited single version of "The Howling" by Within Temptation, with a different video to the one the song originally appeared with. That's a very...interesting outfit Sharon den Adel is wearing...:
Muslims: Appease Us NOW!
The world's Muslim countries warned yesterday that an "alarming" rise in anti-Islamic insults and attacks in the West has become a threat to international security.
This is rubbish, of course. According to US FBI statistics, at least, Muslims are the victims of the least hate crimes out of any group in America. And in both Europe and America, the media is resorting to inventing anti-Muslim hate crimes because they can't rely on anyone to ACTUALLY show any hatred or bigotry.
So what is this "Islamophobia" the Muslims are whinging about? "Islamic leaders have long warned that perceptions linking Muslims to terrorism, especially since the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States, would make Muslims more radical."
Nonsense! First of all there is the oft-made assumption that if we talk about the fact that there seem to be rather a lot of Muslim terrorists, this will make peaceful Muslims - who we are told abhor violence because the Qur'an is peaceful - suddenly go out and blow people up. And note that while they are condemning Western Islamophobia for daring to suggest a connection between Islam and terrorism...no condemnation of the many thousands of Muslims who are making that same connection every day. A while ago, the British jihadist Omar Brooks said that Islam is a "religion of terrorism". Did any of these countries condemn him? Uh...
...no.
This is rubbish, of course. According to US FBI statistics, at least, Muslims are the victims of the least hate crimes out of any group in America. And in both Europe and America, the media is resorting to inventing anti-Muslim hate crimes because they can't rely on anyone to ACTUALLY show any hatred or bigotry.
So what is this "Islamophobia" the Muslims are whinging about? "Islamic leaders have long warned that perceptions linking Muslims to terrorism, especially since the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States, would make Muslims more radical."
Nonsense! First of all there is the oft-made assumption that if we talk about the fact that there seem to be rather a lot of Muslim terrorists, this will make peaceful Muslims - who we are told abhor violence because the Qur'an is peaceful - suddenly go out and blow people up. And note that while they are condemning Western Islamophobia for daring to suggest a connection between Islam and terrorism...no condemnation of the many thousands of Muslims who are making that same connection every day. A while ago, the British jihadist Omar Brooks said that Islam is a "religion of terrorism". Did any of these countries condemn him? Uh...
...no.
Wednesday 12 March 2008
RAW Watch
We haven't had too many sightings of RAW (Racism is Alive and Well) recently, but today there is one from South Africa.
Tuesday 11 March 2008
Dubai To Set Up Muhammad Museum
I see that Dubai is to set up a museum dedicated to Muhammad.
Note the Beeb's peculiar certainty in the first sentence of the article. It refers simply to "the Prophet Muhammad". Not "the Islamic Prophet Muhammad"; simply "the Prophet Muhammad", as if it takes the fact that Muhammad was a true prophet for granted. A bit further down, they do refer to "the man Muslims believe is the last messenger of God", which is more than they've done before, but this is merely damage control. Can you imagine them ever writing "Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" in an article - and the outrage it would cause if they did?
Anyway, the museum "aims to shed light on his [Muhammad's] life in 7th Century Arabia, as well as his legacy for the world's 1.3bn Muslims." I wonder: will there be a section dedicated to the "excellent example of conduct" (Qur'an 33:21) he provided for Muslims even today when he personally beheaded hundreds of men of the Jewish Banu Qurayza? What about the legacy of Islamic mistreatment of women that is drawn from Muhammad's example?
Probably not.
Note the Beeb's peculiar certainty in the first sentence of the article. It refers simply to "the Prophet Muhammad". Not "the Islamic Prophet Muhammad"; simply "the Prophet Muhammad", as if it takes the fact that Muhammad was a true prophet for granted. A bit further down, they do refer to "the man Muslims believe is the last messenger of God", which is more than they've done before, but this is merely damage control. Can you imagine them ever writing "Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" in an article - and the outrage it would cause if they did?
Anyway, the museum "aims to shed light on his [Muhammad's] life in 7th Century Arabia, as well as his legacy for the world's 1.3bn Muslims." I wonder: will there be a section dedicated to the "excellent example of conduct" (Qur'an 33:21) he provided for Muslims even today when he personally beheaded hundreds of men of the Jewish Banu Qurayza? What about the legacy of Islamic mistreatment of women that is drawn from Muhammad's example?
Probably not.
"White Season"
Did you see the latest piece of biased filth from the BBC?
"This provocative and emotive drama from the Bafta Award-winning writer of Sex Traffic tells the story of the clash of cultures that occurs when a white family relocates from Leeds to an otherwise wholly Asian community in Bradford.
"This provocative and emotive drama from the Bafta Award-winning writer of Sex Traffic tells the story of the clash of cultures that occurs when a white family relocates from Leeds to an otherwise wholly Asian community in Bradford.
Abi Morgan’s compelling film is told from the perspective of 11-year-old Leah, played by newcomer Holly Kenny, whose world is turned upside down when her mum Debbie (Bleak House’s Anna Maxwell Martin) moves the family to Bradford to escape the fallout from her recent relationship break-up.
Leah becomes friends with her neighbour Yasmin and discovers that the culture she was initially intimidated by isn’t so alien after all. She is soon seeking sanctuary in the rituals of Islam, away from the pain and strife at home. But this innocent fascination turns sour for Debbie when her daughter comes home wearing a hijab, and the family’s violent reaction has explosive consequences for everyone."
It seems clear to me that this "white season" of Auntie's, supposedly dedicated to examining the trials and tribulations of white working-class England, is really simply going to be a hate-fest...against whites, and in fawning support of Islam.Monday 10 March 2008
Round-up
1. Jonathan Kay at National Post is copying me! He's doing a weekly round-up of "phony racism" - that is, incidents which were billed as "racism" but in fact have non-racist explanations. Click here to see this week's digest.
2. I laughed at this review of the new Roland Emmerich movie, "10,000BC". It points out many of the blatant historical inaccuracies, which have been making me laugh since I first heard about this film months ago, but it also suggests that there is some kind of veiled racism in the plot. This latter is something that I will take with a pinch of salt having not actually seen the film, however.
2. I laughed at this review of the new Roland Emmerich movie, "10,000BC". It points out many of the blatant historical inaccuracies, which have been making me laugh since I first heard about this film months ago, but it also suggests that there is some kind of veiled racism in the plot. This latter is something that I will take with a pinch of salt having not actually seen the film, however.
Thursday 6 March 2008
Jews Rioting In The Streets? Nope.
Did you catch the story the other day about the Israeli academic who contends that Moses, as well as other Christian and Jewish characters, were high on drugs, thus explaining the miraculous things they saw which are immortalised in the Scriptures? Note that NO Jews went out burning things, rioting and killing people in response to it. And yet when someone draws some cartoons of Muhammad - or names a teddy bear after him - thousands of people are killed by Muslims who are furious at the suggestion that...Islam is violent.
So I thought this was funny: an imagined and totally made-up news story in which the academic is forced to apologise and resign as a result of worldwide Jewish riots over his statements about Moses. It's obviously ludicrous with regard to Jews, deliberately, but this story definitely WOULD have played out for real had the guy been talking about Muhammad, which is, obviously, the point that is being made here.
So I thought this was funny: an imagined and totally made-up news story in which the academic is forced to apologise and resign as a result of worldwide Jewish riots over his statements about Moses. It's obviously ludicrous with regard to Jews, deliberately, but this story definitely WOULD have played out for real had the guy been talking about Muhammad, which is, obviously, the point that is being made here.
Tuesday 4 March 2008
Obama "Blacked Up"?
At Little Green Footballs, Charles Johnson discusses the latest blathering idiocy from the far Left, who are accusing the Clinton campaign team of altering an image of Barack Obama to make his skin look darker - cos everyone who opposes Obama is a racist, you see. But as Charles points out, this is probably just a case of variable picture quality due to transfer on different computer systems and software.
Not that this will convince the Left of anything beyond their own blind stupidity.
Not that this will convince the Left of anything beyond their own blind stupidity.
Lion King Producer Spurns Award Over "Racism"
The South African producer of the box office hit musical "The Lion King" said Tuesday he had rejected a domestic theatre award as his black peers had been snubbed by the judges.
"I felt strongly that nominations for the award was not representative of the social and moral fibre of South Africa and the African continent," Lebo Morake told AFP, a day after storming off stage at the Naledi Theatre Awards in Pretoria.
Aw, come on, man...YOU won an award!
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