Anorak

Anorak News | Daily Express and Daily Mail twist Prince Charles words into an attack on British Muslims

Daily Express and Daily Mail twist Prince Charles words into an attack on British Muslims

by | 9th, February 2015

The media heard Prince Charles’ words on race relations. Discussing the radicalisation of young Britons, Prince Charles told BBC radio:

“Well, of course, this is one of the greatest worries, I think, and the extent to which this is happening is the alarming part. And particularly in a country like ours where you know the values we hold dear. You think that the people who have come here, [are] born here, go to school here, would imbibe those values and outlooks…

“Christianity was founded in the Middle East which we often forget. From a morale point I hope it showed they were not forgotten. I wish I could do more. Many of us do wish we could do more. I think what doesn’t bear thinking about is people of one faith, a believer, could kill another believer. That’s the totally bewildering aspect in our day and age.”

The Daily Mail heard that, too, and told its readers:

Prince Charles risked provoking a new political and religious storm yesterday when he said Muslims living in the UK should follow British values.

Not quite. The Mail adds:
Prince Charles last night called for a halt to the persecution of Christians by Islamic State and other militant Islamic groups, telling them bluntly: ‘We were in the Middle East before you.’
And that is pretty much the views of the Jews and the Kurds, to name but two peoples, whose claim to land is that they were there first.
The Prince is speaking in terms of unity and understanding. He is for both. He is not atacking Muslims. But the tabloids are. Just as the Mail makes all British Muslims part of the problem, so too does the Daily Express in a phone poll vote more loaded than George Bush at a frast house party:
20150209_091334
So. Should UK Muslims ‘abide by British values’ – values we took to be about tolerance, understanding, the right to free speech and presumed innocence.
Yes or no? Calls cost 36p.
It’s worth recalling what Prince Charles also said:
“No, I didn’t describe myself as a defender: I said I would rather be seen as ‘Defender of Faith’, all those years ago, because, as I tried to describe, I mind about the inclusion of other people’s faiths and their freedom to worship in this country. And it’s always seemed to me that, while at the same time being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of faiths. It was very interesting that 20 years or more after I mentioned this – which has been frequently misinterpreted – the Queen, in her Jubilee address to the faith leaders, said that as far as the role of the Church of England is concerned, it is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country. I think in that sense she was confirming what I was really trying to say – perhaps not very well – all those years ago. And so I think you have to see it as both. You have to come from your own Christian standpoint – in the case I have as Defender of the Faith – and ensuring that other people’s faiths can also be practised.”
Well said. Those are this country’s values. The Daily Express and Daily Mail should repeat them as mantra.
The good news is, of course, that there are no anti-Muslims race riots in the UK; Muslims are not treated as Jews were before and during World War 2 – in 2006, Birmingham City councillor Salma Yaqoob told Guardian readers: ‘[Muslims in Britain] are subject to attacks reminiscent of the gathering storm of anti-Semitism in the first decades of the last century”; Islamophobia remains hyped; not every al-Qaeda inspired atroicity is followed by an “Islamophobic backlash”, and only a relative few gurning loons and wannabe jihadis poison British Islam.
And that’s not going to change any time soon beause Charles – for all this faults – gets it…



Posted: 9th, February 2015 | In: Reviews, Royal Family Comment | TrackBack | Permalink

Contact Us Writers