Saturday, June 24, 2017

Islam Misrepresented.

There are few rational sites where violent or nasty Islam is more stringently attacked than on this one. Nonetheless, I am getting fed up to the back teeth with generalised attacks on the Islamic population.
Our electorate over the last 60+ years did not vote for an Islamic takeover of huge parts of many cities. TRUE!
It is a false religion. TRUE!
Too many moslems have kept quiet in the face of terrorist attacks.TRUE!
Treatment of Christians in Islamic states is, all too frequently, dreadful. TRUE!
Islam receives a light touch from government leading to the covering up of crime; tax avoidance; beatings of children in mosques and in an array of other areas. There is special treatment from the powers-that-be. TRUE!
But these demonstrable truths in no way validate wanton attacks on so many ordinary moslems. 
If we do not possess integrity when dealing with the vast majority who are peace-loving - and, in so many instances, fair-minded - then shame on us!
There are incredibly few critics of Islam who know how to do it properly. They extract random verses from The Koran, decontextualise them and use as ammunition. This is rabidly unfair. As with so many things in life - one must choose targets accurately - and dare I say it? - You would probably need to study their religion using wholly unbiased sources. (Would you want neutrals to base their opinions of Christianity on the wretched scribblings of a Richard Dawkins or similar?)
Imagine the wide divisions throughout Christendom. Now multiply these. In Islam, you have sects which resemble the Quakers and others which resemble the hordes under Saladin a millennium ago. The vast majority of the rest are just ordinary people, in the middle, who deeply resent being lumped in with evil people.
If you wish to 'radicalise' many - all you have to do is follow the paths which Ukip are currently taking. So many are trying to formulate policy based on the purest of ignorance.
The line being taken by Ann-Marie Waters, (Who is she? Where did she come from?) is based on ignorance at its most simplistic and disagreeable.
I am waiting to see which will come first - my resignation from the party or the expiry of my membership. The hard right are clearly attempting a coup.
Where have they come from? - A few short years ago in 2014 - there was no hard right to be found anywhere in Ukip except in the addled minds of Guardian columnists and their acolytes.
If the party moves to the hard right instead of to the pragmatic centre - they will no longer merit my support.

Farewell, Frank.

                    Frank Field’s legacy  Obituary. The political maverick understood that sooner or later we will run out of money to fund ...