Political Correctness – Again…

Go away for three days and then look what happens; there’s a full scale row brewing in my absence. Last week Big John posted a piece about PC Police Chiefs and I left a comment:

Until these people overcome their political correctness, we will never deal adequately with the problem. Islamic and terrorist do go together. These people are jihadists; killing infidels in the name of Allah. That makes them Islamic terrorists. The British Moslem Council and the Association of British Moslems might not like it, they might be "offended" by it, but as Stephen Fry once said: ‘It’s now very common to hear people say, "I’m rather offended by that", as if that gives them certain rights. It’s no more than a whine. It has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I’m offended by that." Well, so fucking what?’

My comrade Redbaron was mightily disturbed by these comments, or as he put it; really f’kin angry now. Unlike the Baron, I’m not boiling my blood. Indeed, much of what he says has me nodding in agreement, particularly in respect of Palestine. However, I do want to make my position clear about my comment on John’s blog – so this is my response.

There are two issues going on here. One is the use of language when describing the London bombers and the other is the thorny one about root causes. I’ll start with the matter of language because that is what Big John’s piece was about and it was to that, I responded. The London bombers are Moslems. They live among their Moslem neighbours and worship at their local Mosque – doubtless this is where they met the people who recruited them to carry out suicide missions. These are simple matters of fact. They carried out terrorist activities, this too, is a matter of fact. To try and use euphemistic language avoids stating the obvious truth; these people are engaging in Jihad; holy war against the infidel. They are using terror to do so. They are not, by any stretch of the imagination, freedom fighters. This makes them Islamic terrorists. Saying that is not bigoted, it does not tar all Moslems with the same bloody brush, it simply recognises what is. I’ll also make another brief point at this stage; using a term such as Islamic Terrorists is not as seems to be implied, racist. Race is about ethnicity, religion is about ideas. The day we cannot criticize ideas will be a sorry day indeed. I’ll also make the following point clear: I despise religion in whatever form it takes, yet I defend absolutely the right of anyone to practice freely their faith of choice.

I’ve discussed the underlying drivers before. However, I’ll touch on it again. While Noam Chomsky makes an interesting rebuttal of the concept of a clash of civilisations, the fact remains that Christianity and Islam are both vigorous proselytizing religions determined to push their "truth" at the expense of others. Whether by swordpoint during the 11th Century or by mission work during the rise of the western empires, the same suppression of local culture and religion is common to both. And both are abhorrent because of it. The clash is there in our history books – we cannot deny that it has existed for a millennium, because it has. Nor can we ignore the rise in fundamentalism in both faiths. So while I can accept that Iraq, Afghanistan and the White House’s links with the house of Saud all have a bearing in that they will be used to fuel the anger of young acolytes, it’s been going on an awful lot longer than the past hundred years or so. Nor can we take just one side and offer sympathy and understanding – both are culpable and both worthy of censure. Remember it is not only the west that talks of a clash of civilisations. Hizb Ut Tahrir, a radical Islamic group (the same one that disrupted George Galloway’s election rally) publishes a magazine, Khilafah. Its mission statement contains the following:

"We maintain that the ‘Clash of Civilisations’ is not only inevitable but imperative."

This is the same organisation that calls for a worldwide caliphate. These people will use whatever excuse or justification to persuade young Moslems to blow themselves to smithereens in the name of Allah.

So, yes, I am perfectly comfortable with a descriptive label. The Moslem moderates might not like it, those reading this blog might not like it, but for the moment, Britain is a free speech country and I’m standing by my right to express myself freely.