Zeitgeist for the 2000's?

Bristol Pete

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Of late, have been surfing a lot on www.bbc.co.uk where I cannot help but notice that whenever there is an terror related inncident somewhere in the world, the word MUSLIM is added.

Such as -

'The seriel killer, a strict Muslim' or 'the bomber, a Muslim'.

Do you see what I mean?

Anyway, it got me thinking over a coffee, surely this is a bad thing as it is a distinct minority of so called Extremist intent on killing us all.

I mean - you dont read about an average English murder where the press write 'the killer, a christian faithfull' or 'kidnapper is born again christian..'. :confused: Nor 'agnostic double murderer on the run again'.

Ultimately, has the word MUSLIM become zeitgeist for the 2000's, along with i-pod and terror and is the press only making it worse?

What do you reckon. Personally, less of it would be a good thing. Lets report the facts and drop the word Muslim. Cat Stevens has never offended me.

Rant over. :eek:

Pete.
 
Totaly agree Capt, it hightens racism and promotes a sense that all the worlds problems can be scape goated to one group of people (sound familiar?).
 
It's more convenient to label people that way. Muslims think of themselves as Muslims first and then Iraqi, Pakistani or whatever second.

These terrorist acts have all been committed in the name of Allah and not Jesus Christ. Doesn't matter to the press if the terrorists are from Afghanistan, Algeria or Leeds.

The press have identified Islam as the bad guy, just as 'the Nazis'(and by association all the Germans) were in 1940 - even though not every German was a Nazi. Personally, I think that not enough has been done by the Muslim community to distance themselves from the more extreme elements in their community. Last thing we need is a similar situation to that in Northern Ireland when the Provos held sway over the local Catholic communities, and bred dissent, hatred and violence to the youth of the community.

This, at least, may solve the home grown terrorist issue.
 
Chris Lamle said:
It's more convenient to label people that way. Muslims think of themselves as Muslims first and then Iraqi, Pakistani or whatever second.

Chris,

You've just joined the bandwagon. Change that to "...a minority of Muslims think of themselves as Muslims first and then Iraqi, Pakistani or whatever second." and you'd be right.
 
Captain Benefit said:
Of late, have been surfing a lot on www.bbc.co.uk where I cannot help but notice that whenever there is an terror related inncident somewhere in the world, the word MUSLIM is added.

Such as -

'The seriel killer, a strict Muslim' or 'the bomber, a Muslim'.

Do you see what I mean?

Anyway, it got me thinking over a coffee, surely this is a bad thing as it is a distinct minority of so called Extremist intent on killing us all.

I mean - you dont read about an average English murder where the press write 'the killer, a christian faithfull' or 'kidnapper is born again christian..'. :confused: Nor 'agnostic double murderer on the run again'.

Ultimately, has the word MUSLIM become zeitgeist for the 2000's, along with i-pod and terror and is the press only making it worse?

What do you reckon. Personally, less of it would be a good thing. Lets report the facts and drop the word Muslim. Cat Stevens has never offended me.

Rant over. :eek:

Pete.

couldnt have said it better :thumbsup:
 
shahedz said:
where did you get that idea from?

In the same way that a devout Christian would say "I am a Christian first, English second..." Christianity is what defines that person first, not his country.

The issue I see is that the hardcore extremists have warped the usage of the idea of "Muslim brothers" to an obscene extent. The cry goes up from the likes of Al Queda that the fight in Iraq/Afghanistan/Palestine is a war on all Muslims. So local disaffections (ie in the UK) are widened out to the international spectrum. A tiny minority are then perverted to the International cause.

For the press it's just a small step to practically label everyone muslim as a terrorist in waiting.

EDIT: I think, though, that if you look through a few more nes stories you are likely to note that the tabloids like to label their other bad guys as well. whether it be "blond, busty mother of 3", "Fat cat businessman" etc.
 
Chris Lamle said:
In the same way that a devout Christian would say "I am a Christian first, English second..." Christianity is what defines that person first, not his country.

The issue I see is that the hardcore extremists have warped the usage of the idea of "Muslim brothers" to an obscene extent. The cry goes up from the likes of Al Queda that the fight in Iraq/Afghanistan/Palestine is a war on all Muslims. So local disaffections (ie in the UK) are widened out to the international spectrum. A tiny minority are then perverted to the International cause.

For the press it's just a small step to practically label everyone muslim as a terrorist in waiting.

EDIT: I think, though, that if you look through a few more nes stories you are likely to note that the tabloids like to label their other bad guys as well. whether it be "blond, busty mother of 3", "Fat cat businessman" etc.

please refer to MrTbag's post

Chris,

You've just joined the bandwagon. Change that to "...a minority of Muslims think of themselves as Muslims first and then Iraqi, Pakistani or whatever second." and you'd be right.

its only a minority that the seem themesleves as a mulsim first and a pakistani, iraqi etc second, you are tarring all muslims with the same brush, not all muslims think like that
 
It's not that straightforward Shahedz, and you're making just as big a generalisation saying it's only a tiny minority who think like that?

In certain areas/situations that is undoubtedly true, but in others it's quite the opposite.

I spent most of last year working with a guy who (a few years back) lived 3 doors down from where they discovered the bomb factory... He's a Pakistani born Muslim who has grown up in the UK, and he describes himself as British.

However, of the younger generation in the area.. the ones born in the UK to Pakistani parents, a great majority see themselves as being neither Pakistani or English, but will readily describe themselves as Muslim
- these are his words, not mine..

There are (if he's correct) over a million such Muslim English/Pakistanis in West Yorkshire alone.....
 
and AJ would undoubtedly say the same thing about the 'tiny minority' statement ;)
 
sorry.. 'the guy I worked with' would make more sense...

I threw that in just to confuse you. :D
 

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