Why is the teacher from Batley still in hiding if we do not have a problem with Islamic extremism in this country.

[RespectAndTolerance]

As another poster noted on the recent thread on ‘Islamophobia’, we have a democratic society where no one is exempt from criticism, yet some militant groups are riling up intolerance which is incompatible with British values.

These values and our culture have inspired many people of all religions to chose Britain as their home. AIBU to think we should be protecting these?

This article by Kenan Malik explains it much more eloquently. amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/31/batley-school-what-teacher-in-hiding-can-tell-us-about-our-failure-to-tackle-intolerance

YABVU op for believing what you read in the daily fa... I mean fox ne..

omfg its the guardian. I've got nothing. I'm outta here

There are plenty of non MSM sources that look into the threat to our culture.

Noticing and talking about real issues is essential if we want to maintain our culture. Unfortunately it doesn’t suit the narrative of those who want to portray some groups as victims. Assimilation is key to a cohesive society and we need to be able to have rational and respectful debates.

I strongly recommend giving the below a read. www.restorationbulletin.com/p/western-women-and-islam Hirsi Ali talks here about the the threat to women by unassimilated Islamists.

As an asylum seeker herself (escaping arranged marriage), she’s one to listen to on how real the threat to our democracy is.
Back in 2004 the director of her short film Submission was murdered.

Theo Van Gogh was shot multiple times and had his throat cut. The assassin, a radical Muslim, left a death threat for her pinned to Van Gogh’s chest.

The short film was titled Submission, and about the oppression of women under Islam.

Some notable excerpts from her article I’ve linked to above:

‘…leftist ideologues are not alone in turning a blind eye to the problem: police and establishment media are complicit. “Centrist” media outlets routinely ignore the inconvenient trends I describe in Prey, instead framing migrants as victims of Islamophobic bigotry when the topic arises. In 2016, the BBC produced a gushing documentary about Omar Badreddin, a Syrian refugee who was charged with sexual assault but found not guilty. Badreddin, cast by the BBC as a victim, was recently found guilty of repeatedly raping a 13-year old girl—alongside two other men. All three were members of a grooming gang in Newcastle.’

‘For Western feminists, Islam is the elephant in the room. While many feminists refuse to address the ways in which Muslim women suffer all over the world, they even more anxiously avoid the topic of sexual abuse by migrant men from Muslim countries on their own turf. To point out the data on sexual assault by migrant men in Europe, as I did in Prey, won me the baffling label “absolutist” in the New York Times. Another review in The Standard condemned my book for implying that “sexism” is in the “DNA” of migrant men who mistreat women. Nowhere do I make such an essentialist claim. Cultural norms, uncorrected by assimilation, drive the phenomenon of migrant-perpetrated sexual assault.’

That’s pretty disingenuous, OP. You link to an anti-immigration website, and you appear to think Theo Van Gogh was murdered for his feminism? Maybe do some more reading.

This is the crux of any issue these days.

'You linked to the wrong source'
'You think X [that wasn't ever actually mentioned]'
'Maybe do some research'

I'm not going to comment on the other part of the OP, but I'm very sorry to hear that this teacher is still living in fear. He did nothing to deserve this (or his family)

https://www.restorationbulletin.com/p/western-women-and-islam?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

I do apologise - this is the correct link

I don’t suggest Van Gogh was murdered for his feminism. He was murdered by an Islamic terrorist and Hirsi Ali’s life was threatened.

Another day, another Muslim bashing thread. They seem to be very popular this week. Wonder why? 🧐

And change your username

Oh, and welcome to MN.🙄

Sexual abuse is prevelant in almost every part of society. White, non-Muslim men rape women and children in Britain every day. Grooming gangs should always be sort out and imprisoned regardless of the ethnicity, religion or otherwise of the perpetrators. Looking at cultural norms and how these influence behaviour is really important but it's also important we don't demonise a whole group of people.

Yes, I could see the article. I could also see the other articles on the site, which says it’s about ‘Western Civilisation and its Christian Soul’. Which is apparently ‘under siege’.

I don't know if he really still needs to be in hiding, but I understand that it only takes one nut to kill someone or hurt their wife and children. Some quotes from (Muslim) people in the area say he would be safe and he's missed, but I wouldn't risk it. And if they have established a new life under a new name I wouldn't want another upheaval to go back.

Let's list the crimes of every culture, religion and race, shall we?
You'll find extremism, violence, rape, abuse in every single culture and religion.

This doesn't mean we don't tackle it but the reasons why people do this are complex and unique to the perpetrators.

Quick question.

Is it better to threaten to kill someone or 'bash' the ideology that says that threatening to kill someone for doing something perfectly legal is perhaps a bit extreme?

Sigh. Credible sources are important. The OP has linked to a website concerned with the ‘Christian soul’ of Western civilisation being ‘under siege’. And a cursory amount of reading about Theo Van Gogh would place his appalling murder in its fuller context.

It's more convenient to sweep this under the carpet and let his life be ruined than to confront this. Those threatening him should feel the strength of the law, but sadly the authorities do nothing. Not even the local MP, who needs votes from the community. Awful.

I don’t think anyone has claimed there isn’t an issue with extremists in this country. We have a number of varieties.

We have the hardy perennial sectarian factions in NI and parts of Scotland. Many a person who crossed their path end up in hiding, dead or disappeared.

We have right wing extremism and people have been killed by them, including an MP and people are in hiding from them too.

We have other religions with extremists elements and people go into hiding from them.

Nobody is in denial about it. There is government strategy called Prevent aimed at stopping it and our security forces have teams of people monitoring individuals and taking action.

It’s a travesty that it even got to the point that the teacher and his family had to go hiding.

Completely unacceptable in a Liberal Democracy. I feel very strongly that those who would prefer to live in a society that has blasphemy laws should seek a country that reflects these values. Modern UK is a pluralistic society and tolerance must go both ways.

(and before someone accuses me of Islamophobia I will mention that I am married to a Muslim and any children we have will be brought up Muslim)

I don't know if he really still needs to be in hiding,

Eeesh, as a woman who escaped DV by going 'into hiding', your words make my uncomfortable. trust me no one goes 'into hiding' and definitely doesn't stay there unless they know that they really, really need to. It's a horrible way to live. You don't just do it for shits n giggles, or to get attention, you know?

On the Batley school incident in general, I feel the teacher could have been more circumspect in what he showed the class. We all know by now that images of the Prophet should not be shown as they are deemed offensive, and certainly that fact should be known in an educational environment.

I do also feel that the teacher recieved insufficient support from the school, the board of governors, and his Union all of whom should have spoken up more loudly on his behalf.

I think part of the problem is that we've never really had blasphemy laws in the UK. We did have laws against heresy but they've not been enforced since, I dunno, the time of James I? Plus, we've got used to seeing Christian imagery everywhere, usually divorced from its religious context and often in the context of comedy, satire or pop music. We're more likely to see sexualised crucifixion imagery in a Sam Smith video than we are in its original religious context these days. So, we've perhaps become desensitised to the fact that religious imagery has deep meaning and there are major taboos and sensitivities for many people.

Millions of Muslims in the UK practice their religion peacefully. There is a miniscule percentage who kill or threaten to kill people. Same as in any walk of life in the UK.

Just to add, it is no coincidence IMHO that there are a plethora of anti-muslim threads popping during an election week.

Khan is going to win, regardless.

Have you read the Observer piece? It's not really anti-muslim. I've found Kenan Malik to be pretty reasonable and balanced from what I've read from him.

I think part of the problem is that we've never really had blasphemy laws in the UK. We did have laws against heresy but they've not been enforced since, I dunno, the time of James I?
Mary Whitehouse prosecuted Gay News in 1977 for blasphemous libel. The magazine was fined and the editor received a 9 month suspended prison sentence for publishing a poem Whitehouse felt was blasphemous.

I don’t agree with this at all. I don’t think anyone has the right not to be offended, much less to threaten the life and family of a teacher.

Of course people don't have the right not to be offended. But that isn't the same thing as showing or speaking material that you know is going to offend people very deeply, at a level that strikes at their cultural and spiritual self.

For example if I have a customer at work who is on the large side and I had to use a descriptor (when directing a colleague towards them for example) I would say "the large gentleman" or something similar. I wouldn't say "the guy with the massive pot belly".