Daily Star racism – not an accident
Hope Not Hate are sending a polite letter to the Daily Star telling them to be not quite so aggressive in their coverage of Muslims as they have been recently. It's a fine initiative and we'll wait and see what comes from it. I am guessing the answer is 'nothing', but you never know. This is the paper, after all, that very nearly once had a "Daily Fatwa" edition published.
But there seems to be a pattern emerging with the Daily Star. The tone is getting more and more shrill as time goes on. Last week, there was an article using the tried-and-tested 'us and them tactic' which we've seen so many times before with Richard Desmond publications. And then, on Friday, the front page headline said that Christmas had been 'nicked' by Muslims. Nicked by Muslims? No, not really; a council has left up Eid and Diwali lights alongside Christmas ones. Big bloody deal.
But it adds to the narrative. Today the Star carries a story that a lot of the screamsheets are wailing about, with KIDS AS YOUNG AS SIX TAUGHT TO HATE. As ever it's important to look at the language and the tone:
THOUSANDS of Muslim children are being brainwashed against Brits at weekend schools run by extremists.
Pupils as young as six are taught that all “non- believers” will face the fires of hell.
And they are instructed in the best way to hack off the hands and feet of thieves.
Now I'm no fan of teaching kids to hack off people's hands, but as ever it's Muslims being brainwashed against Brits, as if the two things are incompatible. It's us and them; it's them and us. They are being brainwashed against us; they are being taught to hate us.
You'll remember, also, the delight with which the Stormfront regulars greeted the Daily Star's coverage of the EDL threatening to 'close down towns' that weren't Christian enough. They were amazed that a mainstream paper should have treated them so well. Sadly, I'm not amazed; this is just the way the Star is going. The Daily Fatwa doesn't seem far away now; if they did go and print it tomorrow, it wouldn't really be that much out of step with the rest of their output.
What's the reason for the anti-Muslim agenda, and racism? Well, as Tabloid Watch reported the other day, the PCC couldn't even give the Mail and Telegraph a slapped wrist, even though they'd told a story that was complete rubbish, and which happened to blame Muslims for something which wasn't Muslims' fault. And of course there are plenty of appalling things done across the world and up and down this country in the name of Islam, which deserve to be exposed - but the agenda-driven rubbish you see in a lot of papers should disturb anyone who cares about freedom and not demonising people from one particular group.
I hope that Hope Not Hate do get a good response from the Star, but I'm not holding my breath. You can co-sign the letter and see if it makes a difference. The more people who do, the more impact it may have. But I rather fear that someone, somewhere has decided that pandering to racism and fear of minorities is something that's selling papers; if that is to be believed then I don't think that things are going to stop. All the rest of us can do is expose it and challenge it; they are the ones with a national newspaper to spread their message, after all, and we're not as powerful. But we are many, and they are few. It's the only thing we've got.
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November 22nd, 2010 - 14:25
Perhaps I’m being daft – but what are Christian kids being taught in weekend schools? Surely they’re warned about the perils of hell?
As for cutting off the hands of thieves? Sounds like something the Star would support!
November 22nd, 2010 - 14:28
The Daily Mail reports, with glee that it’s the BBC who’s exposing all this hate mongering.
Yes the Beeb is ok by the Daily Mail if it’s pushing the “Muslims want to take us over” racist line.
November 22nd, 2010 - 14:55
From the Star story about Christmas lights:
Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, West Yorks, said: “I’ve no idea why local authorities up and down the country are so ashamed of celebrating Christmas.”
Can Mr Davies explain how “Putting up Christmas lights” constitutes “being ashamed of celebrating Christmas”? And can he also explain what he’s doing commenting on the actions of a local council that is not anywhere near his constituency?
November 22nd, 2010 - 15:01
Davies is a bit of a rentaquote. he seems like the go-to guy for the Star and Express whenever they need someone to bark about PCgawnmad or whatever it is that’s upsetting them this time. I sometimes wonder if Philip Davies even exists. I’ll probably google him one day and find he’s just a chicken pecking at a keyboard in an office in Shipley, but no-one ever noticed.
November 23rd, 2010 - 08:00
http://www.philip-davies.org.uk …
“I have made it my duty to work for Shipley in Westminster and not for Westminster in Shipley, I am working for your interest, not self-interests. Above all, I will always put my constituents’ interest above my political career, therefore, I am in the constituency on a regular basis and I am available to hear your concerns.”
Where does Rochdale come into this quote from his homepage, then?
November 22nd, 2010 - 15:50
“Pupils as young as six are taught that all “non- believers” will face the fires of hell.” – i was taught that when i was at school to! of by the way i went to a Roman Catholic school!
November 22nd, 2010 - 16:06
“Pupils as young as six are taught that all “non- believers” will face the fires of hell.”
Seems a reasonable summary of some of the things that are taught at the Roman Catholic school my 7 year old niece goes to.
November 22nd, 2010 - 16:31
Much as I loathe THe Mail the Express and Star are worst. I can only think that Richard Desmond is a deeply racist man. If not he sees profit in racism and goes with it, which is no better.
I can’t watch Neighbours now either.
November 22nd, 2010 - 16:32
Worse, not worst. Actually maybe worst was right.
November 22nd, 2010 - 21:03
Oh for fuck’s sake… That whole shambles is so littered with contradictions it’s just ridiculous…
“The children are also taught told that all gays should be stoned to death or thrown over a cliff.”
Isn’t this exactly what the Mail / Express / Star would LIKE to be taught in schools? Either that or outright denial that gay people even exist until you reach A-Levels…
As someone who teaches seven year olds that non-beleivers will be going to hell (against my will I might add) week in week out, I wonder if it’s perhaps because I work in a nice, middle-class, Daily Mail subscriberville, Roman Catholic Primary school that nobody minds?
Last, and far from least, Gove should never be photographed that close up. That picture is truly terrifying, smug, obnoxious and repulsive all at once. I can almost see his slimy puppet-master hands dangling the silvery threads that hold up the entire Star article. I think I need a hot drink and a lie down now… Urgh!
November 23rd, 2010 - 08:33
And then, funnily enough, you get stories on the BBC such as “English pupils ‘less tolerant on immigration’”:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11810609
I wonder where those attitudes could have come from?
November 23rd, 2010 - 10:10
Good on Hope Not Hate. It’s refreshing to see an organisation that goes after religious extremists like Muslims Against Crusades as well as the mindless EDL thugs.
It’s not a contradiction to both be able to criticise religious schools teaching racial/religious hatred of others and to despise the way certain tabloids are capitalising on this particular issue as part of a racist, scaremongering agenda. Both teach fear and hatred and should be highlighted.
As Hope Not Hate would put it, a plague on both their houses.
November 23rd, 2010 - 10:35
So many disturbing issues in this story, and it seems as though all the tabloids are taking the same line:
1) avoiding the parallels with catholic school teaching
2) decrying homophobia in education (without referencing Section 28)
3) lamenting the craziness of the ‘zionist plot’ at the same time as making the same accusations against Muslims.
Covered it on my blog yesterday: http://p0pvulture.blogspot.com/2010/11/you-gotta-have-fai-fai-fai-fai-faith.html
November 23rd, 2010 - 12:04
“But I rather fear that someone, somewhere has decided that pandering to racism and fear of minorities is something that’s selling papers”
Possibly not. Despite spending half the year being the only national paper to grow its market share, October saw its circulation drop 8%: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/12/daily-star-circulation-abcs
For all that the Star’s been leading the race to the bottom of the barrel, it seems like the biggest factor in its circulation is its price. Apparently the “cheap” part of “cheap rag” is more important than the “rag” part.
November 23rd, 2010 - 15:55
A good post as always – it seems the irony of the Star handwringing about “kids as young as 6 [being] taught to hate” has escaped them. How many 6 year-olds do you reckon hear the Star’s paranoiac discourse parroted to them by their parents, or pick the horrid thing up and read it for themselves?!?