Are They Right Not To Trust Them?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2432880/More-quarter-young-adults-Britain-trust-Muslims.html

This survey was carried out among the young, I would think that the figures would have been much higher among the more elderly.

We all know that it is only a small minority of Muslims who commit such horrendous attacks such as 'The Twin Towers' 'The London Bus and Tube Attacks', 'The Murder of Lee Rigby' and more recently 'The Kenyan Shopping Mall Terror Attack', and 'The attack carried out on the Christian church in Pakistan'.

But are these not sufficient to instil fear and mistrust?

[naomi24]

There are enough ‘rank and file’ Muslims to make it absolutely clear to the world that these people do not represent them ….. but they don’t. Where are they when madmen take to the streets in their thousands ranting for the blood of authors and cartoonists? Nowhere to be seen! If push came to shove, where would their loyalties lie? Not with the west, that's for sure!

[Eve]

I would hope most people would be able to understand the different between radical fundamentalists and your day to day peaceful law abiding citizens.

I live in a very diverse area where, just five minutes down the down, I would be an ethnic minority, I have Muslim neighbours and colleagues, I don't distrust "them". It is a very small minority.

Ok, there were potential terrorists arrested very nearby and there are some issues with Somali gangs and guns round Moss Side but then cross over to Salford and it's predominantly white gangs causing issues. More likely just mini ghettos of gang culture rather than brewing terrorist cells.

Ignorance just makes matters worse and scaremongering doesn't help. I think it can make things more difficult where there is less integration and you end up with pockets of areas which are predominantly more ethnic and it can create more of a picture of a markedly different culture and lead to more ignorance and less need to integrate, less need to learn English etc...

[Prudie]

It'a all very well to be politically correct and say that the vast majority of muslims are friends, colleagues and decent people - of course they are. But the fact remains that virtually all the current terror attacks going on the world in the news constantly are attributed to Muslim extremists. Furthermore they are mostly in the true context of terror attacks in that their targets are the innocent bystanders. It's hardly surprising that people feel that way, I'm sure a lot more do if they were honest.

[naomi24]

And I would hope most people would be able to understand the difference between a philosophy that is open to criticism and one that is not – but unfortunately they don’t.

[youngmafbog]

Thank you Prudie. That's the first time I have been referred to as Politically correct!

BTW, they are not friends/colleagues because they are Muslim, I like them and they so happen to have that religion. I have no religion and they do respect that too.

[emmie]

just a few zealots that is all it takes, people can be very sheep like i am afraid, and if push comes to shove where would moderate Muslims living in Britain throw their caps. I have had Muslim friends, and business associates, some who were very into their faith, and others who were on the fringes.
But we have long looked the other way, or perhaps that is the perception on the zealots in our midst, they don't seem to come in for nearly enough criticism than the like of EDL or BNP. When EDL have a march the police are out in large numbers, when the Muslim fanatics march, even if they are small in number, where are the police, certainly not out in their thousands. I think there is a political correctness that has got us into this mess, same about colour issues or any other issue that needs debating if we are to get some understanding between peoples, you can't just brush it under the carpet and pretend it doesn't happen.

[Sqad]

I agree with bednobs and Prudie........I am surprised that the figures of Islamophobia wasn't much higher and I would bet that more people distrust Islam than they are prepared to admit.

However, fear not, as referring to many previous threads on AB over many years, the consensous of opinion is that whe have nothing to fear from the threat of Islamisation of the West.

Mmm!

[emmie]

as a journalist friend said to me over 30 years ago, the west will have cause to fear Islam, he was no slouch, Mid East correspondent and man of many letters....

[sp1814]

That's actually good news. It proves that young people aren't sheep and have the capacity to analyze news and work out statistical probabilities.

Perhaps the figures are low for the young because they are more in contact with Muslims?

It's easy to fear what we don't know...

[razza]

The people who carried out the Boston bombings,the Lee Rigby murderers were all portrayed as very nice people by their neighbours,I for one and I bet there is a lot more amongst us do not trust them.Perfectly good neighbours,nice people,how can you trust them when they carry out these atrocities,you just dont know who the bad ones are.

[sp1814]

"the majorty are like the rest of us, and want a normal life, but there are a lot who dont want peaceful coexistence and integration"

Yes - I totally agree.

On both sides.

[sp1814]

razza

What a way to live!

Balance of probability suggests that Imran who runs the local greengrocer isn't a terrorist.

Neither is Dr Khan, your dentist.

Nor is Mrs Amer, the deputy head of your son's primary school.

It must be awful to live life on mathematical improbabilities.

I mean - sure, you can go ahead mistrusting every Muslim you meet because if you meet enough, you're bound to find someone who wants to decapitate you...but you would have to meet an awful lot of Muslims before that happens.

...or perhaps I'm being naive?

Maybe.

I dunno.

[LazyGun]

Not quite sure how a survey on peoples attitudes towards the Muslim population equates to a genuine prospect of "Islamisation of the West", Sqad :)

It is not difficult to understand peoples concerns- most of the blood being spilt around the globe right now can be linked to either internecine quarrels between zealots and fanatics of differing interpretations of "the religion of peace", or due to zealots and fanatics wishing to punish or take revenge upon the West over a whole host of slights, both real and imagined.

And there are undoubtedly cultural differences and clashes , ranging from how animals are slaughtered, to alcohol consumption, to standards of behaviour and dress, to the treatment of women - all issues that can create tension or distrust.

It would still be wrong though to judge individuals by these stereotypes, to pre-judge someone as a terrorist or fanatic when they are almost certainly going to be normal people just wanting to live their own life by their own tenets, in peace, doing the best for their family.

And of course that is the sadness about all of this.Because this is, ultimately, what the terrorists and fanatics and zealots want - to drive a wedge between communities, to create fear and distrust and disharmony, in an effort to recruit more people to their own cause and to terrorise others into compliance.

I just hope that the cultural and sociological conditioning underpinned by their religion fades with each new generation as they gradually assimilate into a wider and more diverse society, and that their religion itself becomes more tolerant of and more open - both to criticism/ridicule and indeed other beliefs, or none at all.

[emmie]

you are assuming we don't know... you are also assuming that the young will not follow their parents, which does not seem to be the case, not going on the young i see all around me, and on the various hops i have to take to get to friends, appointments etc. Young girls wearing headscarf and burqua, young boys wearing dish-dash and cap, sorry forgotten the name, one local junior school all the little girls wearing a headscarf, many covered head to toe, it is not a Muslim school either, it was fairly mixed once, if this is what you meant.

sp both sides, really, when did you last march down the street to the strains of death to Islam....

[Sqad]

sp.......you are absolutely correct and completely logical in your reasoning, but quite often, the human mind doesn't see it that way.........logic is not necessarily a human trait and has to be taken into account.

[emmie]

i doubt the many killed and those injured in London had any thoughts on that day except getting to work, appointments, loved ones. They were from every walk of life, nationality, religion, the killing was indiscriminate. How do or anyone explain it away, not every Muslim is a terrorist, fine, but some are, and there will be more... and not just in these hotspots like Pakistan, but home grown,

[sandyRoe]

If we could only graft on to our society the Islamic views on alcohol and suitable modes of modesty in dress, without the concomitant vulgarity of beheadings and amputations, we would all see the benefits.

[razza]

sp1814 You just dont know,going off islam,years ago I used to work with a person,well liked he was amongst his workmates,turned out he was a bloody paedophile,we didnt know.Just an example of why we dont know.I dont live in fear of them,as far as I know there are very few if any where I live,but I just dont know

[emmie]

sandy, no, this is a modern country, with ideals, laws and democracy, fought for, in long bloody wars, in many dead, in many lives shattered,
if you think that we want what Islam has to offer then you are sadly deluded.