Using Nidal Hasan’s Duane To Comfirm Your Own Prejudices

MUSLIMS: what’s your prejudice? The BBC’s Gavin Lee visits mass murdered Major Nidal Hasan’s mosque and meets someone called “Duane”. Duane has no pity for the murdered and sympathises with Nidal. Anyone who wants to know why Nidal did it, can find out here.

Here’s the transcript of a chat with Duane, who might be the chatty Duane Reasoner Jnr (more nominative determinism, folks) who opined:

“He said he should quit the Army,” Mr. Reasoner said. “In the Koran, you’re not supposed to have alliances with Jews or Christian or others, and if you are killed in the military fighting against Muslims, you will go to hell.”

Duane: I’m not going to condemn him for what he did. I don’t know why he did it. I will not, absolutely not, condemn him for what he had done though. If he had done it for selfish reasons I still will not condemn him. He’s my brother in the end. I will never condemn him.

Gavin Lee: There might be a lot of people shocked to hear you say that.
Duane: Well, that’s the way it is. I don’t speak for the community here but me personally I will not condemn him.

Gavin Lee: What are your thoughts towards those that were victims in this?

Duane: They were, in the end, they were troops who were going to Afghanistan and Iraq to kill Muslims. I honestly have no pity for them. It’s just like the majority of the people that will hear this, after five or six minutes they’ll be shocked, after that they’ll forget about them and go on their day.

Duane is not every Muslim. He is a Muslim. He is also a cocky fool who overlooks the basics of life – murder is wrong – and adapts it to comply with his own prejudices. He also likes talking to the media, which makes him vain.

But the media is doing itself no favours is censoring its copy. Get his from the BBC:

Police in the southern Philippines say the severed head of a kidnapped schoolteacher has been found in a bag at a petrol station. Gabriel Canizares was abducted by Abu Sayyaf militants three weeks ago. His body is still missing.

Who are they then?

..The militants had demanded a ransom equivalent to $42,000 (£25,000; 28,000 euros) for Mr Canizares, which his family refused to pay.
Militants.

Only that? As Time puts it:

In the early 1990s, Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law funneled money into Abu Sayyaf through a fake Islamic charity in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf, which means “barrier of the sword”

The Australian Telegraph says:

Western intelligence agencies have linked the Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines, with the al-Qaeda movement and of having ties with Jemaah Islamiyah militants responsible for the deadly 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia.

Still, at the BBC, no mention of them being Islamists:

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus expressed shock at the teacher’s killing, saying six other teachers who had been kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf earlier this year had all been released despite threats to behead them.

He said his department was at a loss as to how to ensure security for public schoolteachers in high-risk areas, and feared that the kidnappings would discourage others from teaching underprivileged youths in Muslim areas.

Muslims suffer when Muslims kill in the name of their religion. That is certain. But the religion of the man has lost his head is not mentioned by the BBC. Also, the religion of his murderers is not identified. Only potential victims are identified as being  Muslim. Abu Sayyaf are Islamists. Is their religion not relevant to the story?

Does the BBC no longer feel able to trust readers to read the facts and make up their own minds?

Anorak

Posted: 9th, November 2009 | In: Media Comments (3) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink