Brussels attacks

Towards the end of my working day, I heard about the awful events that unfolded in Brussels, which started with the bombing at Brussels airport and later at Maelbeek station.  As I write this there are 34 confirmed deaths and countless injuries.  When events like this happen on instantly thinks of terrorism and Islamic terrorism in particular.  Commentators are already linking this with the recent arrest by Belgian police of Paris mastermind, Salah Abdeslam, and it is seen as IS's response to the arrest.

As if by magic, the Guardian produces a terrible opinion editorial on the tragedy, this time written by Simon Jenkins, whom I don't associate with the usual useful idiot left. A couple of his points come to attention

"There is no way any community can make itself immune to terror attacks. Since they are random, no protection can defend that community from them. No amount of police work or surveillance, no deployment of armies or navies, let alone of missiles or nuclear weapons, can guard against them. Intelligence and surveillance can go so far, but the bombers and killers will get through any net."

Of course, ultimately no amount of surveillance can prevent this but one way to do this would be properly control your borders and regulate who can come in.  Again this is all down to border control and how you react to people of different cultures in your community.  If you let fear of racism inhibit your policing then this is the result.

"What is not stupid is seeking to alleviate, or not aggravate, the rage that gives rise to acts of terror, and then to diminish the potency of the incident itself. The first requires a wiser foreign policy than most western nations have shown towards the Muslim world over the past decade. The second is even harder to achieve. It demands patience and restraint in publicising terrorist incidents and in responding to them."

Again, like all those on the left, Jenkins blames the attack on western foreign policy, even though Belgium has little to do with the war on terror.  By blaming western foreign policy Jenkins is using the racism of low expectations.  That is muslims have no moral agency, instead they are influenced completely by events in foreign lands.  People become terrorists because they have made a moral decision to become one, foreign policy or not.

"The blanket media coverage assured for any act of violence is reckless."

The media coverage is not reckless, it is merely reflecting the seriousness of the event.  Unfortunately it appears the left is stuck in its own religious blind faith.
 

Racism of low expectations

When I was in my final year of my Media and Sociology degree course at what is now Leeds Trinity University, I did a module on contemporary media representation.  It was part debating chamber and part cultural Marxist propaganda.  At the time one of the most contentious issues was Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. I remember that time really well and the tutor (Dr John Short, rest  in peace) was putting forward the idea that the book should not be published because Muslims in Bradford would and did protest violently against it.  Hence the 'rightwing' media would portray the protesting muslims as knuckle dragging fascists, who called for the violent death of Rushdie.  The materials we were given all put the muslim side of the story and the tutor gave many reasons why it should not be published.

Even back then I had my doubts about this module and indeed, left ideology as a whole.  First, the media only portrays what is actually happening.  If the muslim protesters, which included the future head of the muslim council of Britain Iqbal Sacranie, did not incite Rushdie's murder then the media would not portray them as savages.

The course's tutors believed that the publishers should have self-censored because of the way muslims would react and the media would portray muslims badly and hence lead them to be stereotyped by society as a whole.  However, not once did the tutors mention that it was up to the protesters and muslims in general on how they should behave.  It is a fact that incitement to violence is a crime but the police did nothing about it.

This leads me to a fascinating term by conservative commentator, Michael Gerson, known as the 'racism of low expectations'. This form of racism is found purely in the cultural Marxist left.  It is the idea that certain groups need to be held to a lower moral standard, which is pure racism.  In the Rushdie case, it was the muslim community or to the precise, the muslim anti-Rushdie protesters.  By holding them to a lower standard, it implies that society in general gives in to their demands, no matter how regressive or reprehensible they are.  Further, it makes those communities act on it, for example, muslim leaders have warned that if the UK government did not change parts of its foreign or domestic policy then there would be 'reprisals' or 'repercussions'.  We also saw this after the Ferguson shooting whereby black community leaders warned the police there would be more riots unless the police reformed its 'racist' actions.

Paris 2015

Last Saturday morning(14th November HK time), I heard the horrible news about the events in Paris. This is a city that's very close to my heart. I have been there many times, including a 3 month stint in 1998. During that time I have been to Saint Denis, on one occasion but did not go into the stadium.

The rest of the attacks took place in the 11th arrondisment, which I am not very familiar with, I do recollect visiting the Place de la Nation, where the Boulevard Voltaire suicide bombing took place.

And I haven't previously heard of the theatre Bataclan and the Eagles of Death Metal who were performing that dreadful night.  It's a sad thing that I heard about the theatre and the band due to this horrible event.

I later found that Eagles of Death Metal recorded a death metal cover of one of my favourite songs - 'Save a prayer' by Duran Duran.  Here is a live recorded clip of this cover with the Duran Duran boys.  Its difficult to believe that a few weeks after appearing on Chris Evan's show, they would witness death and destruction, where one of their entourage was a victim.

To all the victims, rest in peace.