Monday 18 March 2019

Shutting down debate over Muslims

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As I mentioned yesterday, the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, where the massacre on Friday took place, had a small congregation yet produced two terrorists that are known about: Daryl Jones and Christopher Havard, both of whom were involved with Al Qaeda and killed in drone strikes.

Their parents blamed the Christchurch mosque for introducing the pair to radical Islam, according to a 
news story from 2014 in the New Zealand online magazine Stuff. 

Stuff quoted someone who attended the mosque saying,
“A visiting speaker from Indonesia talked about violent jihad and plenty shared his views.”
It sounds as though the mosque was not always the innocent place of worship that it appeared.

Of course, none of this mitigates the crime of murder in any way or even explains it. I have no idea whether the man arrested knew of any of this backstory. 

But the important point is this. This story would flog a lot of newspapers but instead was deliberately taken off the internet, by the news magazine, after the massacre. 

Why?


That the press has not just kept quiet about this story but rather actively suppressed it is terribly wrong and worrying. Once more, in Douglas Murray's words, the press seem to be negotiating between their readers and the truth.

And this makes people distrust the media and trust rumours and online stories. In the not necessarily very long run it makes violence more likely to happen.

Instead the BBC talks about the New Zealand Prime Minister's rapid action in proposing tighter gun controls. In the Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik argues for much less freedom of speech and tighter control of what can be said. She writes:
If there was ever a point at which anti-Muslim prejudice could have been staved off by any effort, journalistic or political, it has now passed. This new, militarised white supremacy nexus is global. It has adherents in the White House, and its representatives grace our news programmes and debating shows, explaining that their positions are nothing to do with race, of course: they are just worried about the white race being replaced. 

...It is time to stop pleading. It is time to call things what they are and not temper or apologise for the strength of the allegations, to call people racists, opportunists and complicit hatemongers even if they do grace our prestigious publications and seats of governance. It is time to do what they always accuse you of doing anyway, and “shut down the debate”.

Comments by readers on her article are not permitted nor on any article touching on immigration or Islam. They were turned off by the Guardian a year or two ago because of the sort of comments that were being left. 

What she says is disgraceful but she is also right. Right, that is, to be terrified from her point of view about how she sees the debate moving. 

If you put Daryl Jones and Christopher Havard into Google News and specify 'over the last week' you get four stories, two of which are in English, one in Dutch and one in Polish.



3 comments:

  1. Pamela Geller has published extracts from the article that Stuff deleted.



    Australian Christopher Havard, 27, and dual New Zealand-Australian national Daryl Jones were killed by a missile fired by a US drone in November, 2013.
    Australia’s ABC news yesterday reported the pair had been on an Australian Federal Police watchlist because of their links to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terror group.



    Havard and Jones – who went by the name Muslim bin John – reportedly met in Christchurch after Havard converted to Islam.



    Havard’s mother and stepfather, Bronwen and Neill Dowrick, said their son joined the local mosque and told them that was where he first encountered radical Islam.

    Dr Mohammad Alayan, a former senior member of the Christchurch Mosque, said claims of radical Islam in Christchurch were “not true.”

    “The mosque in Christchurch is very against that. Islam is all about peace.”



    Farid Ahmed, who delivers weekly sermons at the mosque, said he was “disturbed” by the allegations and worried about the effect it could have on how people perceived the Muslim community.



    “I don’t believe it. Our community here, most of them are refugees; I myself came from Bangladesh 26 years ago. We are very grateful because this country opened their hearts to us.”



    Radical speakers could be found online but such material “has nothing to do with the mosque or the mosque community,” he said.



    “If [Havard’s family] have any evidence they should provide it so we can deal with it, because we want to stop it.”


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  2. It looks like a false flag set up, and the NZ PM had months to prepare it during her maternity leave.

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    1. Rodo, I cannot believe that for one moment, for so many reasons. She is a rather annoying woman but not a mass murderess. And things like that cannot be done in secret. And, and, and...

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