To be shocked and frustrated with the Islamophobia that's bursting out all over Facebook today?

[Seekingsense]

Following the awful tragedy in Woolwich today.

I have seen everything from "We want our England back" to "Kick out all the foreigners" to "Islamic infiltration of the UK" etc. I have paraphrased as some of the stuff is so horrible I do not want to repeat it.

This is from normal everyday people and lots of them. Is this really what people think?

I, like most people am horrified by what has happened to this young soldier in Woolwich, but why is everyone so quick to blame an entire religion for it and to jump on the 'kick out all immigrants' bandwagon.

What can we do about it? Ignore, delete, post, report?

ChocolateCake - it may interest you (or not) to know that the majority of people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland identify as Christian, according to the 2011 census.

i think that the uk is still predominantly white british (christian) although at a guess i would say many are not practising. dh is although he says he isn't but he is :D even though he doesn't practise. i'm a jew who knows little about judaism and thus doesn't practise at all but i am still a jew, it is in my blood and as my mother says, i am jewish enough for hitler. i agree with chocolate that religion & culture shouldn't matter. i think it makes life more fulfilling to know people from other denominations, it makes life richer. we should all look after each other (without meanign to sound like an old hippie)

Thank you for your response hoppin, I think I understand a little better now.

Just to say, I really really don't agree with the way you and other moderate muslims are suffering for the actions of the extremists. I see it as being the same as someone going in and attacking random people in a church because of the completely bonkers cults that kidnap people and do horrific things in 'the name of God'... It makes the same amount of sense to me!

Could i ask one more question? I saw the beginning of the video of the protest in Luton (I didn't watch the whole thing as I didn't think it was particularly helpful at the moment), and am quite confused. I can understand anger towards the police, but why we're they chanting against the uk itself? I don't understand that attitude towards somewhere they want to live? The main response to that video on this thread has been 'well look at what the EDL has done'. I completely understand that the EDL have done some horrific things and are just as bad as the Islamic extremists IMO, but that doesn't answer the question as to why the protesters in Luton had such a hateful attitude towards the uk? Just wondered if you could shed a little light on that one?

Chipstick10 Fri 24-May-13 09:59:29
I agree Masai you certainly can read between the lines and spot the real racists under the guise of being liberal and understanding

I was about to report Chipsticks previous posts and then I saw this ^

Now I might just go and bang my head against a wall instead.

flippinada - purhaps i mean not practising then. It is widely know Christianity is in decline either way.

Winter "Jewish enough for Hitler" just brilliant

" EDL have done some horrific things and are just as bad as the Islamic extremists IMO"

No apologist for the knuckle draggers at the EDL, but this is just wrong. Dont think it was a bunch of EDL idiots who got caught on the way to try and plant nail bombs at an Islamic event........

Apart from being rude,uneducated and misinformed, exactly what have they done which would classify as "horrific"?

"why the protesters in Luton had such a hateful attitude towards the uk?"

Would also love to hear the answer to this one...........not really expecting one though...

Winter sorr, but that made me laugh.

Just seen this on sky news. 2 men have been arrested for updating alleged racist material on social media, regarding the tragic recent events.

news.sky.com/story/1095026/woolwich-murder-offensive-tweets-arrests

amaz i know :D she's bloody right though. when i was younger i always hated being jewish, always wanted to be christian. tbh i guess it stayed with me and thus i married the most 'aryan' looking man i have ever known :-D although i love him to pieces (never felt attracted to jewish men..) if i see someone being picked on because they are not white british i always feel protective of them, scary to be singled out :(

*towards them (sorry, too many typos as haven't eaten yet)

Thingsthatmake
Which Nailbomb would that be, David Copeland, the IRA?

Broadly speaking yes ChocolateCake but there's not actually much difference between the figures for 2001 and 2011.

Thingsthat, you may notice the use of IMO, this means that that is my opinion, so thank you for saying its wrong, but again, it's my opinion. I feel that they are just as bad because both the Islamist extremists and the EDL try to turn people against each other, and spread hatred for others. In both cases this results in violence. Neither promote an attitude of accepting one anothers beliefs and cultures, and both have proven that they will use violence to make their points.

Your attitude is a bit off to be honest... Once again just my opinion.

I have so much sympathy for all of you on this thread feeling threatened.

I'm Irish and lived in London during the late 80's and most of the 90's.

Everytime there was an IRA incident in Northern Ireland or London I would get "What are your lot up to this time eh?"

I would also get it if the Loyalists carried out an attack. "Oh look, your lot are at it again!". So I was supporting both sides apparently.

It really is a horrible feeling, walking into work the day after an incident such as this one if you share the nationality and/or religion of the perpitrator.

Do you want to know the maddest part though? What I get now is "Well at least the IRA weren't on suicide missions/didn't behead people etc. You knew were you were with those guys, I mean at least they went after Thatcher directly."

I'm like, "I'm STILL not affiliated people!"

But yeah, the good old days, when terrorists were more reasonable...

Last night i trying to point out that some people were trying, or appeared to be trying, to justify those mens actions with a notion of "well look at all these white men have murdered too....."

To me that isn't helpful and the link provided about the old man who was stabbed wasn't relevant in this case. Had the black muslim men stabbed an old white Christian man walking down the street then fled the scene and the police were putting the country to standstill to find the killer then i would see the point and relevance and i would agree.

But in this case a point of how the police and public don't care about a black muslim man killed but will give exstensive coverage about 2 black muslim killers killing a white soldier is not a fair comparison. For obvious reasons the latter case is very different and will be covered more due to the nature of the case and the fact it is seen as a terrorist attack.

I am sure when the April Jones or Ian Huntley murder exploded on the news there were cases somewhere in the UK where a black man had murdered a white man either that day or around that time yet it would never occur to anyone to post a link to the latter murder on a thread about April Jones to prove somehow that black/religious people murder too. Things like this only explode so widely if it involves terrorists or children, not just because a white man is the victim and to try and stir otherwise is not helpful eitherway.

"Never accepting one anothers beliefs and cultures."

That is something that will never be achieved though because surely one's strong belief means they think anothers belief is wrong.

"why the protesters in Luton had such a hateful attitude towards the uk?"

The only response anyone ever gives to this is "well Christians are free to protest too."

Yet when Christians do protest or speak out it is always shot down with people saying they should be educated and should accept anothers beliefs and cultures.

It appears to be one rule for one and not the other. Muslims and other religions are never preached at to accept beliefs and cultures when they are express hatred outside their own religion - only Christians get this said to them. Why?

Chocolatecakeplease : Please quote me correctly if you are going to use something I said. I said 'Neither promote an attitude of accepting one anothers beliefs and cultures'.

I have made it clear that IMO both religions should be accepting each other. I don't think anyone just accepts hatred from either side, and I feel that mutual acceptance is surely what we should be working towards rather than saying it will never happen.

"Which Nailbomb would that be, David Copeland, the IRA?"

Struggling to see the link to the EDL? Whose rally was targetted for a nailbombing by Islamic extremists?

Hefflump I did note the IMO, and of course respect your opinion. Clearly both groups promote, and revel in, racial hatred / conflict,which is to be abhorred. Only one lot, however, at the moment, is going around killing people. And the tendency amongst the more " right on" both here, and in RL, seems to be to ascribe equal weight to them. Because it suits their agenda. Not saying that that is your viewpoint at all.

As to my attitude, meh. I find a situation where a young soldier is run over, butchered with knives and an axe,whilst defenceless, and is then subjected to an attempted beheading " a bit off ".

Particularly when the most vigorous debate on MN seems to then be about the nasty things people are saying on Facebook.

Tell you what.

I'll accept the actions of these two men are the default mode of thinking of all Muslims when everyone accepts that the Westboro Baptist Church is representative of all Christianity, ok?

I wasn't quoting you per se, i read that line and it made me think people will never fully accept anothers cultures and beliefs because they will always think the other is wrong.

I think peoples gripe is Christians have to be educated, accepting and tolorant but any other relgion is free to say what they like about Christians and you are racist of you say anything.

Geniune question - if being white is not a race does that mean being black is not a race either? Just been thinking overnight about someone on the thread telling me you can't be racist towards a white person because it is not a race but why if someone displays racism towards a black person it is deamed to be racist? I don't understand?

I delete them!

Heffalump

Sorry which protest is it, I will have to google as I cant say i have seen it.
But I understand what you are asking, as the case is similar that in many protests in other countries, we see angry people burning union jack flags and American flags and chanting anti western slogans. I really dont know myself why that happens here, why a handful of Muslim folk (al Muhajiroon) display such hatred for the country they reside in/were born in. I find it as puzzling as the anger and hatred displayed by EDL towards all Muslims and Islam. I think again its the 'us' and 'them' mentality that these extremist group leaders feed their followers.

I think many muslims do not feel accepted and 'at home' in this country despite being born and bred here. If you ask some Muslim family who lives in the deprived areas of the UK, their life is a world apart from the average middle class white person's. No job opportunities, lack of quality education,discrimination
etc etc definitely does not help this frustration festering inside.
I personally dont think many actually truly hate the UK and its residents but by saying 'UK' they mean the UK foreign policies. Its the (mainly foreign) policies our leaders make which feeds this terrible anger they feel towards what's happening in Muslim lands.

Sorry if this post doesnt make much sense, on phone with two dc trying to grab it every two minutes.

thingsthatgo why wouldnt anybody reply? [Confused]

By the way dawn, thank you for posting about the old man who was murdered in Birmingham I hope they find the person/people who did it.