Media lies on Islamic terrorism

An international group of experts has condemned the portrayal of Islamic terrorism in the media, demanding a more accurate and less biased approach. Dr Richard Jackson from the University of Manchester said:

“There's a real concern that the study of terrorism is locked into myths which result in poor policies from Governments. For example, the assumption from many Government and media commentators that Islamic extremism is a cause of terrorism is extremely damaging….It colours people's attitudes towards the Moslem community, even though there is no empirical evidence for any such direct link at all….We want to bring differing perspectives on the study of terrorism to the public so they can be more questioning of what they might hear and see in the media….A full and in-depth public debate about how to respond to the threat of terrorism is desperately needed but extremely difficult in a climate dominated by so many myths and misunderstandings”.

The Pape study from the University of Chicago looked at all suicide bombings from 1980 to 2003. Less than half of the bombers were found to be religious. Many were Tamil Marxists. Of the 41 Hezbollah bombers, only eight were muslims. The biggest group were socialists (27) [that is not a condemnation of socialism on my part, simply a stated fact]. The Sageman study from the FRPI, Philadelphia, showed that jihadists initial involvement had nothing to do with religion.

If truth be told, even academic experts in the field are reluctant to acknowledge the role of the government in promoting Islamaphobia and put it solely down to the media distortion. In actuality, the government ministers pander to and feed the articles published by the media. Pronouncement upon announcement from government ministers as to how the muslim community should behave and police itself, is ample evidence of that. The constant stream of bile from the right wing rags is not surprising but government involvement to promote this bigotry is outrageous. It is scandalous that some of the Muslim ‘business community’ continues to back labour candidates for official labour seats. The war in Iraq caused carnage and is now followed by a campaign of bigotry. Apparently even this is still insufficient criminality, for these parasites who would sell won their mother for a seat or peerage.