This is a guest post by MoreMediaNonsense
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in the Evening Standard is very angry about events surrounding the publication of an historical novel by Sherry Jones on the imagined life of Ayesha, Prophet Mohammed’s youngest bride.
But guess what it’s not the book she objects to but the media reaction, specifically that of the BBC.
Talking about the recent blustering media appearances of the attention seeking “Muslim activist” Anjem Choudhary and its affects on ordinary Britons she says:
“For years now, they [i.e. ordinary people] have heard our ranting fanatics bullying and threatening reprisals, most of all on the supposedly ethical BBC, which habitually seeks out for comment the most vile Muslims it can find. And so it is today. Anjem Choudary, a trained lawyer with poisonous slime on his tongue, has this week been on every BBC channel, saying: “The messenger Mohammed said that whoever insults any messenger of God, they will carry capital punishment, so this has been clear with the case of Salman Rushdie, Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh.”
Choudary has taken over from old villains Abu Hamza (under house arrest) and Omar Bakri (exiled in Lebanon), who were regulars on radio and TV expressing hatred of the West.
Meanwhile sensible, integrated Muslims are excluded by the corporation. When some launched British Muslims for Secular Democracy, the broadcaster was disdainful and uninterested; an independent producer asked me to present a series on the perceptions of Muslims in the popular imagination. All quiet on that front suddenly — I am not the right kind of Muslim for the BBC, I reckon. “
I really wonder what is the motivation of these BBC producers and journalist in seeking out these extremists for comment on these matters, is is just sensationalism and the desire for a “good story” ? On the other hand they wouldn’t seek out the rabble-rousing likes of the BNP for comment if there was a nasty racial murder of a white kid would they ? Who knows why they do these things but not only is it stupid and dangerous in instances like this to actively seek out extremists, it’s also, as Yasmin says insulting and derogatory for UK Muslims always to be always associated with these types.
More support for a sensible reaction to this book comes from the newly moderate Inayat Bungawala on CiF where the ex-Satanic Verses incendiary has now undergone a Damascene conversion to common sense :
“To those who are sending out emails urging Muslim organisations to call for the Jewel of Medina to be banned on the grounds of “provocation”, just imagine if members of the BNP were to threaten to riot because they found the publication and distribution of the Qur’an to be offensive – would we consider withdrawing copies of the Qur’an? Of course, we would not. “
Such newly moderate reactions from the likes of Inayat should be broadly welcomed and encouraged.
Unfortunately such moderation, for whatever reason, appears to be of no interest to the BBC and its cabal of “hideously white” muck raking media luvvies.
