26 Sep 2014

Just Don't Mention The Wars: Australian Media's Demonisation Of Muslims

By Michael Brull

Keywords:

What Sheehan, Devine and Bolt lack in knowledge about Australia's Muslim community, they make up for in imagination, writes Michael Brull.

I have previously noted the sheer weakness of the government’s case for the war on Iraq and possibly Syria. I was surprised that no coherent case has been made for sending troops and aircraft to Iraq, and patiently waited for some kind of substantive arguments to be made.

Now, I am starting to think this is no accident. I don’t think we will ever hear a sober, extended argument about why Australia should join the fighting against ISIS. The real case for war is being made through innuendo, fear, and cheap sloganeering.

Think Tony Abbott saying ISIS is worse than the Nazis, or calling them a death cult. Think George Brandis saying the threat we face is worse than the Cold War. Think Defence Minister David Johnston saying “I don’t want to take the risk”. There’s no real argument: ISIS is bad, we’re good. They’re out to get us, you’re not safe.

However, the threat doesn’t seem to actually come from ISIS sending its fighters to Australia. It appears to come from them encouraging or inspiring Australian Muslims to engage in their own acts of violence.

The effect of over 800 police engaging in televised counter-terrorism raids sends the message that this is very serious and alarming, and we should all be concerned about the threat from Australian Muslims.

The fact that only one person was arrested – and later a teenager was shot after allegedly stabbing police – might suggest that this threat has been overstated. If the threat was so serious, why were 800 police required for the raids, but only two police needed when dealing with a teenager who may have been an aspiring terrorist?

The government agenda of highlighting the threat from Australian Muslims has been eagerly followed by the media. Its front pages and endless coverage of the supposedly vast and serious threat from terrorists has presumably delighted ISIS, insofar as it portrays them as a serious threat to our way of life. However, there have also been more overt criticisms of Islam, by those portraying Muslims as terrorists.

The crudest version of attacking Muslims has been Jacqui Lambie. Appearing to know approximately nothing about Islam or Muslims, she claimed that “sharia law” involves terrorism, among a string of other ignorant claims.

As a general rule, anyone who talks about “sharia law” probably doesn’t know what they are talking about. As a phrase, it is akin to saying “ATM machine”.

Sharia is Islamic law. That is, Muslims interpret their religion as guiding their behaviour in most, if not all aspects of their lives. Different Muslims tend to follow different interpretations of what kind of behaviour is prescribed by Islam. It is a very diverse religion, which one would expect, given that it has 1.5 billion adherents.

Sharia is basically analogous to halacha: Judaism also has religious law which theoretically governs how Jews are supposed to live their lives and behave in general. Jews and Muslims do not necessarily adhere to all of the religious teachings of the branches of their religion that they belong to, in the same way that many Christians do not always live up to all of the teachings of Jesus, or not all Catholics follow everything the Pope says.

Yet whilst Lambie has expressed her prejudice towards Muslims in an embarrassingly ignorant manner, this is not the only way to get the public worried about Muslims. The breathless front page covers, and extensive coverage within – devoid of insight, largely devoted to uncritical repetition of the claims of people in authority – send the message that there is a major terrorist threat we should all be concerned about. The subtext is the threat that faces us is Muslim terrorism.

The Fairfax media has not covered itself in glory. The Age and Sydney Morning Herald both plastered across their front pages a picture of a “teenage terrorist”.

He happened to be a completely unrelated man. His father reported: “This morning he was crying… ‘With this now how can I go out and face people?’” On Thursday, it took a team of four Age reporters to write: “concerns of reprisal attacks against the Muslim community were inflamed when Islamic Council of Victoria secretary Ghaith Krayem refused to condemn the actions of the Endeavour Hills teenager until a police investigation had been completed.”

That is: they thought a Muslim organisation waiting for a police investigation before commenting on a teenager being shot to death raised concerns of reprisal attacks. From whom?

Notice how such reporting legitimises as reasonable such “reprisal attacks against the Muslim community” when Muslim organisations are treacherous enough to wait for evidence before expressing opinions on legal matters.

Clearly they have not yet gotten aboard team Australia with their medieval beliefs in quaint and outdated doctrines like the rule of law and empirical evidence.

As for columnists, Paul Sheehan has returned to his usual style. On Thursday, he wrote that “most of the hatred, thuggery and racism at Cronulla in December, 2005, came from Muslims.”

On Monday, his argument for worrying about Muslims was based on arithmetic: “The Muslim world has about 1.5 billion adherents. If just one hundredth of one per cent interpret the Koran as a command to perform unforgiving jihad, then 150,000 people will engage in violent war. That is what we are seeing. One per cent of one per cent. It is a statistic we must not forget.”

Moving on to other Australian deep thinkers, we find Miranda Devine. In September, she came up with the remarkable insight that “Every day another Labor or Greens MP comes out with another kooky pronouncement downplaying the barbarity of Islamic State and pretending that if we’re all just nice to each other, and stop worshipping God, then terrorism will disappear.” I’m sure there’s a factual basis for her claim that they think we should stop worshipping God to abolish the threat of terrorism.

In August, Devine warned that we should not be “intimidated into ignoring the contradictions and extreme violence at the foundation of Islam.” The “extreme violence at the foundation of Islam”. Clearly, the problem is Islam – yet unlike Lambie's, this claim has passed by largely unnoticed.

On another day, Devine also claimed “It is not mythical bigots but leftist troublemakers who try to divide Australians and sow distrust as they downplay the seriousness of the terror threat and imagine grand conspiracies.” Imagine the depravity of those dreaded leftist troublemakers who dare to sow distrust and divide Australians at a time like this.

At such times, we expect the usual sensitivity from Andrew Bolt, whose breach of the Racial Discrimination Act is probably the most famous such breach in the history of the law.

Bolt has preached three major principles in relation to the threat of Islamist terrorists, unconcerned by their apparent inconsistency. Firstly, that Islam is the root cause of such terrorism, with the related thesis that we should stop letting in Muslim immigrants. Secondly, that there are no root causes for terrorism, they’re simply the acts of depraved individuals, and anyone who claims there are root causes is behaving sinisterly, if not treacherously. Thirdly, that those who criticise Western foreign policy threaten to cause jihadi terrorism.

So one day, Bolt asserts that “one of the root causes of this extremism is Islam itself, preaching a hatred of nonbelievers and the legitimacy of killing to defend the faith.”

Another time, Bolt warned about “Mass immigration from the Middle East”, because a dozen Iraqis got into a fight. As is well known, white Australians would know better than to engage in such group violence.

On Thursday, Bolt decided to show his encyclopaedic knowledge of Islam, quoting the Qur’an thusly: “as the Koran puts it: ‘Slay the idolaters wherever you find them’ and ‘fight them until there is no more fitnah (disbelief) and worship is for Allah alone.’”

Strangely, for Muslim leaders “the root cause of Islamic terrorism is never Islam and always the West”. Yet when the Grand Mufti of Australia condemned ISIS, Bolt complained that he didn’t do so in the right languages. We may presume that the point made by Bolt previously still stands: “The time is fast approaching - or here already - when we must conclude it is futile to keep urging Muslim leaders to make a stand against jihadism. The truth may well be that that Islam - or these leaders’ constituents - give them no freedom to condemn what threatens the rest of us.”

That is, Islam is the cause of terrorism – if the problem isn’t the Muslim population (“constituents”) itself. Which presumably means that about 500,000 Muslims who presently live in Australia cannot be trusted, when their religion supposedly causes terrorism, and commands them to slaughter disbelievers. If Bolt were correct, it would be truly strange how few of them have bothered to attack non-Muslims in Australia.

Does Western foreign policy play any role at all in causing Islamist terrorism? In response to such claims, Bolt declared: “But shifting blame on to the police? On to Australia? The ICV has betrayed us, like too many Islamic leaders before.” Clearly, it would be foolish to trust these treacherous Muslim leaders. In early September, Bolt wrote: “Blaming the West for jihadist terrorism is deceitful. Criticising the West more than the terrorists is alarming. And the repeated warnings that we must change our policies in the Middle East or face more terrorism at home are deeply sinister.”

Sinister to suggest that the West should change its foreign policy in order to lessen the risk of Islamist terrorism? Even if we just consider the explicit threat made by ISIS to Australians, it reads: “If you can kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be.”

Clearly, ISIS doesn’t like disbelievers, and hates French people. But any literate person can see that they are targeting those waging war against them. One can and should support the successful crushing of ISIS, but that does not mean that the West should be responsible for doing so. Given the barbaric record of ISIS, it should not be a surprise that they would seek to resist those who attack them using whatever means they have available.

Next, we get to the really incoherent part of Bolt’s case. On Q&A on Monday, one of the panellists was Randa Abdel-Fattah, who spoke terrifically on the various issues under consideration, urging us to pay attention to the role of Western foreign policy in relation to the threat from Islamist terrorists.

Bolt responded:

Muslim extremists watching would feel more justified than ever in their rage at the alleged crimes Australia and Israel commit against Muslims. They would feel that Australia must change to accommodate them ... or else.
The ABC is out of control. And this kind of stuff actually puts us in more danger.

Now try to think about this logically. Either Muslims are angry about Western foreign policy, or they aren’t. If the cause of terrorism is Islam, why would Muslim extremists care if a Muslim went on ABC and criticised Western foreign policy? And if Western foreign policy does anger Muslims, would ISIS really be oblivious to criticisms of that policy until a Muslim made those criticisms on Australian television?

Nevertheless, Bolt was incandescent. Forgetting that Western foreign policy has no connection to Islamist terrorism, he wrote: “How can the ABC board possibly justify this? This is not just biased, but dangerously inflammatory… these incitements to dangerous and ill-founded hatreds, resentments and paranoia”.

He further observed that “peddling inflammatory conspiracy theories favoured by jihadists, is actually putting lives at risk”. Er, I thought the jihadis hated us for our freedom? Or because of Islam. Are jihadis concerned about things like Western foreign policy and how Muslims are treated here?

He later made this into a column, concluding “every jihadist would have thought their anger at this wicked country was righteous. What is the ABC up to? This is no time to vilify Australia. People could die.”

That’s right. Criticising Australian foreign policy could result in dead Australians, so we shouldn’t criticise Australian foreign policy. Which – we should be reminded, is not the root cause of jihadi terrorism, except when Muslims publicly criticise our foreign policy, which could cause jihadi terrorism.

Amazingly, there are Coalition MPs who agree with Bolt. Alex Hawke expressed outrage at the views expressed on Q&A, with the support of that famous advocate for freedom of speech – including for bigots – George Brandis.

Hawke wanted more “balanced” views from the Muslim community. Meanwhile, Craig Kelly claimed that the critical comments made by the two Muslim women on Q&A about the counter-terrorism raids would “encourage the radicalisation of young people”, and be welcomed by a “terrorist recruiter”.

I think all Australians should watch Randa Abdel-Fattah’s outstanding performance on Q&A and judge for themselves.

For those interested in listening to what Muslim leaders actually have to say, this statement was released by the Australian National Imams Council at the start of September. It observes that:

one of the main causative factors for local radicalisation in the west has been the western governments' military involvement in the Middle East. The support of unjust, dictatorial regimes as well as unilateral military aggression based on duplicitous foreign policy positions has only aggravated the state of global fear and violence.

If the Australian government is serious about reducing the terror threat locally, then it must review its foreign policy decisions with regard to this region.

Anyone who knows anything about the Middle East should find this statement unsurprising – even banal. One suspects even Andrew Bolt secretly understands this statement.

For those Australians who are genuinely concerned about the threat of terrorism, it may be worth considering seriously whether or not our foreign policy is as unjust as described. As crazy and sinister as it might sound to some, now might be a good time for Australian foreign policy to start embracing such exotic concepts as human rights.

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Denisfox
Posted Friday, September 26, 2014 - 17:46

Michael is one of an increasing number of reasonable commentators on this problem.

MJoanneS
Posted Friday, September 26, 2014 - 20:04

For some bizarre reason a jewish school in Sydney is building a bomb proof wall as if bombs go off everyday in Australia or in another cynical attempt to take back the focus on them and Israel.

The moron in the ADF should be sacked for inciting violence though and charged with making a false claim, we don't need the protection of morons like him.

BlackIncal
Posted Friday, September 26, 2014 - 20:41

Very true Denisfox.

Just to answer Bolt and co. The prime underlying cause of troubles that face the world today is related to global capitalism. Global capitalism views the entire world including humans as nothing more than commodities. All actions taken by and advocated by global capitalism is to increase their profits. They have no interest in seeing a swift solution to conflict they earn money from. They have no interest in any humanitarian efforts unless there is money in it for them. This is not some conspiracy, it is simply corporations behaving according to the rule book of capitalism. In the USA global capitalism/corporation have effectively taken control of the government through the billions spent on getting the right politician elected and lobbying them afterward. A peaceful world is far less profitable than a world at war.

As long as economics is the primary concern we will continue our slide toward the abyss.

cardinal fang
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 06:15

Pardon my naivity , but , duh! Do we expect any better from the above mentioned columnists ?

they have been writing crap fro years and getting away with it. Bolt was even convicted of making up a story. He has his tv show, so not only does he write crap but it is broadcast.

These clowns constantly harp on about Muslim leaders standing up and criticising extremism etc etc. they do consistently but who pays attention. Does news corp print these conversations? Do they run a mature grown up approach? No . They print crap. Trashy headlines, anything for team Abbott . Now they will only be able to write what they are allowed to by the government. Remember their screams when labor tried to enforce some sort of standards. Noooo, they screamed. This will stifle freedom of the press. Abbott and co led the charge. They would be the paragons of openness and transparency . They lied didn't they.

adamant
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 06:49

Rights - abuse them and lose them ? Bolt is the biggest threat to freedom of speech that has existed in Australia's history. The LNP politicians and the IPA are fighting for the 'right to be a bigot' - it is definitely in their own interests to do that. They are all nothing if not poisonous.

adamant
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 06:50

The Nazi Party is banned in Germany.

adamant
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 06:57

If you demonise and alienate a slightly psychotic Muslim thus making him paranoid,is it even remotely possible it might cause him to become dangerous and turn to terrorism ? I suggest Abbott might be creating more problems than he solves.

fightmumma
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 07:59

agree blackinc - this was cited as an issue with the ebola outbreak, because there's no money in itto produce vaccines for a small amount. Capitalism totally ignores the common good, and any dynamics, processes and intersets that invest in or protect the common good but that do not provide (usually immediate) profits. War is very profitable too, as is stirring up paranoia about Islam, where it sells newspapers and provied justifications for states channeling public monies into its institutions that allow state sanctioned violence - apparently for the protection of our idoloised "private property" doctrine. Such elements within society are still mechanisms of a cultural beliefs system, norms, values etc - doesn't have to be a religion or formal terrorist organisation to display behaviour that is very muhc undesirable on the world stage or macro social level. ie common good.

Rocky
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 08:54

adamant,

"Abbott might be creating more problems than he solves".

That rather depends on what is a problem for Abbott and what is a 'solution'. One obvious problem, is that the sheep have noticed the Coalition's attack on the welfare state, which is the main game, so a distraction is required, Machiavelli would have approved.Two generations ago the conservatives wanted us to believe that the existential threat was international Communism, now it's Islam, or more accurately, Moslems.

O. Puhleez
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 09:28

[Bolt is] right. Criticising Australian foreign policy could result in dead Australians, so we shouldn’t criticise Australian foreign policy. Which – we should be reminded, is not the root cause of jihadi terrorism, except when Muslims publicly criticise our foreign policy, which could cause jihadi terrorism.

Amazingly, there are Coalition MPs who agree with Bolt.

Michael, that’s not a bad piece of writing. Which is fortunate, because the rest of your article is horseshit.

For example::

As for columnists, Paul Sheehan has returned to his usual style. On Thursday, he wrote that “most of the hatred, thuggery and racism at Cronulla in December, 2005, came from Muslims.”

Sheehan was right. If you review the media reports of the time, and maybe read Sheehan’s book on the Muslim misogynist background to the riots, Girls Like You, then you will get a different perspective. The riots themselves were provoked by Muslim attacks on female surfers and on lifeguards. The western suburbs Muslims, in large part, regarded Cronulla as ‘our beach’.

Ask yourself: if intolerance, ‘racism’ and thuggery are so endemic in Australia, then why just at Cronulla? Why not at every beach in Sydney, NSW, and for that matter, Australia? And why just alleged attacks on ‘men of Middle Eastern appearance’? Why not attacks on Chinese, Africans, SE Asians, Pacific Islanders…?

I know SBS-political-correctness dictates that if there is violence between ethnic groups, then the more ethnic lot must be in the right and those less ethnic and more 'traditional' must be in the wrong, but hey, at times it is a bit of a stretch to get that outlook to fit the facts.

Rocky
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 10:28

O Puhleez,

I agree with you in regard to the way in which the pc ideologues usually assign blame for 'incidents' to Anglo-Celtic individuals. However that's quite a separate matter from the Coalition manipulating the anxieties of the voters while adopting a statesman like pose, Howard had Pauline Hanson, Abbott has the usual pack of Murdoch propagandists.

Digdeep
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 10:41

I find the likes of Bolt, Devine, Sheehan confusing. On one hand they tout freedom of speech yet on the other shout down anyone who has an opinion that differs from theirs. I watched QandA on Monday night when the 'theatre' of terrorism was discussed. The shrill of indignation from Devine was amazing, tweeting after the stabbing incident "Hey Q&A, how's that terrorism 'theatre' going now" Really? She chooses to gloat? WTF? It seems the so-called conservative 'right' clearly lack critical thinking. The figurative speech was taken as literal and the shrill ensued. Led by Tony Abbott, the right see the world as black or white; good or bad; in or out. Where is the analysis of the situation, where is the critical thinking? Bolt talks of bias, yet he and his cohort clearly are one-eyed in their view of the world and according to them their view is RIGHT (excuse the pun). So in order for them to be RIGHT everyone else is WRONG a dangerous position to hold and one that is argued against in leadership101. Position vs Interest based bargaining. Those that dig their heels in because their position is right versus those that seek to better understand the interests of their opponents and seek strategies to assist. The latter is a much stronger position but the narrative in the public forum is 'you're in (team australia) or you're out'

Very sad, sad, unsettling times for Australia. We lack leadership and we lack criticality of thinking. Imagine the world without the view of the ABC; when the only perspective that is dished out is that of Bolt, Devine et al... 'god help us all'

zeroxcliche
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 11:29

I was listening to JJJ a few years ago and Dr Karl quoted some studies suggesting that half the population has an IQ below a 100. The bald face manipulation of people was once tempered by an intellectual culture linked to the media... a bit, now its ability to maintain a sane narrative is failing. Things like the way we have treated refugees and involved ourselves in US crimes have eroded whatever decency existed in this country. The wheel of simulacra has turned and now nothing is what it appears - you think ISIS is real? It was quite likely supported with satellite intel when it was fighting in Syria - it has Saudi funding - there is a good case to be made that it became one of the US's preferred groups. They knew what ISIS was doing on the border and they allowed it to happen in Iraq because the Al-Maliki govt wouldn't allow US bases and troops to remain - the US is dealing itself back into Iraq - the objective - permanent military bases and break up of ties between Iraq and Iran that affect US interests.

O. Puhleez
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 11:46

zeroxcliche:

half the population has an IQ below a 100.

Come on! I've seen some pretty wild stuff on this site, but that one has to take the gong.

;-)

thomasee73
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 13:11

OK. I'm ready for something different now.

Of course it's easy to find mainstream discourse that is quite biased in its perspective and easy to ridicule. The likes of Bolt and Devine et al. are a bit extreme, and it is very disappointing that, several centuries after the enlightenment, there is so much popular democratic support for the like of such intellectually unsophisticated analysis and conservative political correctness that they articulate.

Maybe there is some value in calling out some of the more extreme examples of their ignorance, poorly substantiated arguments, and maybe even also their double standards. But these are cheap shots and not that hard (Heck, I can even do a lot of that sort of thing myself, if badly, in my spare time). I'm sure that they ocassionally say SOME things that are genuinely interesting on matters of social significance, or at least some of their hysterical rantings could be translated into concerns that are reasonably worth addressing.

I acknowledge this would be hard work.

Is it reasonable for me to wonder there would also be value in exploring the best arguments that these popular commentators have to offer, rather than (only) expending so much emotional and intellectual energy on their worst?

Or am I being a little bit like someone who goes to a piano concert and complains that it wasn't very funny?

thomasee73
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 13:19

I wonder what percentage of Australians believes that half the population has an IQ less than 100.

That's a genuine question.

Paxviva
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 13:28

Well if one bases that on our populations inability to ascertain the blatant right wing bias in the media and its gullibility to Abbott and LNP lies, then I think its quite easy to believe that half the population has an IQ below 100.
Constant exposure to shock jocks and Murdoch media, especially Bolt, Devine, Jones and Sheehan should be declared a health hazard.

Years ago I worked for a media monitoring company and I had to listen to hours of talk back radio every day. The level of bile, racism, bigotry, sexism and hatred of Labor and the Greens was unbelievable. It made me feel dirty and sick and unfortunately this is what much of our population ingests.
I fear that its changed the country for the worse and unless the Murdoch media weakens or people wise up, then the future looks rather bleak.

O. Puhleez
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 14:25

When current IQ tests are developed, the median raw score of the norming sample is defined as IQ 100 and scores each standard deviation (SD) up or down are defined as 15 IQ points greater or less, although this was not always so historically.] By this definition, approximately 95 percent of the population scores an IQ between 70 and 130, which is within two standard deviations of the mean. (WP)

In other words, the IQ value of 100 is set in such a way that half the population finishes up below it, and half above. I thought everyone knew that, not just us professors of psychology,

;-)

Rocky
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 15:38

So, therefore someone with an IQ of 86, has an average IQ (One semester of Psych at Business School). They're obviously all too busy reading Murdoch publications and watching "Dancing with Celebrity Survivor Renovators" to visit NM.

GraemeF
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 16:33

The right wing howler monkeys are happy that the spotlight has been taken off the lies and incompetence of the current government they worked so hard to install.

The last time that we were told to cower under our beds due to terrorist threats was during the last Coalition government. Then Labor got in a we were told to cower under our beds due to union thugs. Now the Coalition is back in charge and their union witch hunt has failed to slay the beast but at least the shock jocks and trollumnists can just brush off their old columns from the last Coalition scare campaign regarding Muslim terrorists and just change the dates.

Kaye Makovec
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 16:55

Digdeep - “find the likes of Bolt, Devine, Sheehan confusing. On one hand they tout freedom of speech yet on the other shout down anyone who has an opinion that differs from theirs.”

That’s because they consider free speech a one way street. Their way.

Zerocliche - “I was listening to JJJ a few years ago and Dr Karl quoted some studies suggesting that half the population has an IQ below a 100.”

Apparently it’s the right wing extremists who have low intelligence

“Hodson and Busseri (2012) found in a correlational study that lower intelligence in childhood is predictive of greater racism in adulthood, with this effect being mediated (partially explained) through conservative ideology. They also found poor abstract reasoning skills were related to homophobic attitudes which was mediated through authoritarianism and low levels of intergroup contact.”

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/millennial-media/201304/do-racism-conservatism-and-low-iq-go-hand-in-hand

Kaye Makovec
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 17:03

Paxviva- that is why the people who can think for themselves don't listen to the radio in case they are contaminated :)

They also don't buy newspapers (accounting for their low sales and trying to move online) and have moved onto the independent free press online, like here and elsewhere :)

I saw a report recently that even online The Australian subscriptions are about 70,000 :)

But as somebdoy commented back, he didn't realsie there were that many ahem ....wits :)

fightmumma
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 19:02

thomas i think that activity is called "narrative analysis"?? Or even analysing the discourse and use of language for the underlying meanings - Foucault??. I think you might be typing tongue in cheek though!! It might make for hilarious sitcom where a Bolt-like character shoots off his mouth taking himself seriously, a narrator describes the subtext, and then a variety of audience members have a running dialogue in their minds about what the commentator means to them in their life? These particular people are caught up in their own illusions and delusions, so personally I do not believe you will get anything of much worth with treating them seriously except to use as a social barometer. And you would get more out of examining your own illusions because at least you can do something about those!

fightmumma
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 19:13

IQ is only linked to your age, so it only compares one to the various abilities for all others in an age group. And you can improve your IQ, this is apparently one advantage of getting older!! Though it might be interesting to study the IQs of people who listen to and believe these above "journalists"! IQ tests also do not test all different types of intelligences. People also get classified as "intelligent"or "gifted" if they score high on tests for the intellectual areas that a specific culture values, so different abilities would get one the gold star in different cultures. Seriously - something that happens in our culture is thatwe have the balancing act between blending in with the herd and not sticking out so much that we become targets - but the problem with that is that people will not engage in critical thinking, challenge the herd, challenge the charismatic or iconic identities in their herd. This would make us more stupid as a herd surely!!? Recently all my dumb chickens got killed by feral dogs, but the smart one hid and is still alive...true story.

fightmumma
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 19:26

Also (cos I haven't commented enough tonight!!) I wouldn't underestimate the power of how advertising, entertainment, and our consumer/commodity society influences our social interactions and opportunities for harmony or conflict. If you think about it, politicians, tv presenters and a variety of "journalists" and celebrities - they have this extra dimension to their lives that the rest of us do not experience. They actively intentionally construct and manipulate it to sell it to us. They will know their intended audiences due to consumer surveys and create a commodity to suit. If they have enough self-honesty to realise that they are, actually, NOT that presented self, then they might have a chance of freedom to think, analyse etc. However, if they believe...well...their own BS...thy are totally their own product.

Now if those people have their handlers and trainers (yes - think performing dog in a circus if you like) they will get rewarded for desired behaviour as per classical conditioning (where gaining notoriety, publicity, buddy-buddies with the rich and truly famous are methods of reward). So we end up with certain heads on the tv blabbing away mindlessly and stupidly like they do...

So people who really only watch tv because they're half comatised from a hard day at work/kids/traffic jams/bills piling up etc etc etc, or that only want entertainment - this is all they turn to - supply-demand - you don't want things that make people think or request people to challenge their values, beliefs or thinking styles.

So we have more consumers than citizens perhaps? I say this because don't citizens have certain responsibilities in challenging their gov'ts? And media was supposed to be the watch dogs of society - but when that has been replaced by entertainment, what becomes the fill-in social institution to highlight social issues to a country's citizens?

O. Puhleez
Posted Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 21:55

Here's An IQ test item: Subliminal Psychology section.

T.A. stands for TEAM AUSTRALIA.

But what else does T.A. stand for?

Hint: who was it came up with that slogan?

This user is a New Matilda supporter. jules s
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 00:32

Someone who is a total arsehole?

MazelMan
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 00:40

Brull tries to insinuate that he has knowledge while those he disagrees with are ignoramuses.

Let's dismantle this horseshit.

He claims that Sharia Law and Halacha are basically the same thing. The problem with his thinking is that Halacha is designed just for religious practice within Judaism by Jews for Jews. Sharia Law has far wider potential consequences.

Brull fails to appreciate that for Sharia to be properly pursued an Islamized society is required. Consequently in the majority of Muslim nations Sharia has become an integral part of their constitutions and we have heard about the abuses that take place with monotonous regularity in such societies (Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan) .

It is the view of Muslims that they can bring back the old glory days if Islam is 'properly' implemented. Sharia is deemed to be the vehicle for this return to pure Islam. The trouble is that for non-Muslims Sharia implies state-legislated inferiority - relegation of non-Muslims to dhimmi status i.e. a form of religious supremacy where non-Muslims are disdained or subjugated.

Islam is not a religion like any other - it is a political ideology and falsely claiming equivalence between it and other faiths leads this discussion that we are now having totally astray.

Rocky
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 07:55

MazelMan,

Agreed, apart from the description of Sharia as 'law', it's not law by the standards of any Western liberal democratic tradition.

Islam is a totalitarian ideology, respect for the human rights of Muslims doesn't imply that we should respect or accommodate their primitive, misogynistic, and sterile religion. Western liberal democracies are running an uncontrolled social experiment which is obvious to all, except our political elites."Progressives" expect that the magic pixie dust of multiculturalism and the influence of open societies will enable Muslims to accept Islam's status as one religion among many, we can only hope.

DrGideonPolya
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 09:08

Excellent article by Michael Brull.

The war-mongers and war criminals of the genocidally racist, anti-Arab anti-Semitic Coalition and Labor Right (aka the Lib-labs, Liberal-Laborals) are LYING about (a) the terror threat to Australia (the "empirical annual probability of death from terrorism in Australia" is 1 in 109 million, about 5 times lower than the annual probability of an Australian being killed by a shark of 1 in 20 million)) and (b) racist White Australia’s war criminal activities in the Middle East (Australia has been killing Iraqis on and off since 1915, first for the British Empire and thence for the American Empire; Iraqi deaths from US Alliance violence or violently–imposed deprivation total 4.6 million since 1990 but Iraq has not attacked distant Australia ever; see “Iraqi Holocaust Iraqi Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/iraqiholocaustiraqigenocide/ ).

Yet mendacious Mainstream media, politician and academic presstittutes resolutely hide the truth and indeed turn it on its head in slavish support of US state terrorism, UK state terrorism, French state terrorism, Israeli state terrorism and indeed Australian state terrorism.

Thus by way of example, on 26 September 2014 The Guardian had an article about the hypothetical “Inevitability” of “terror attacks” by returning “foreign fighters” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/25/major-terrorist-attack-inevitable-isis-eu . I attemprted to post the following informed comment but it was CENSORED by endlessly and unethically CENSORING The Guardian Australia (see “Censorship by The Guardian Australia": https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammediacensorship/home/censorship-by-the-guardian-a ) presumably for containing things that it does not want its readers to read, know about or think about:

CENSORED COMMENT. “ There is a hypothetical concern about Muslim “foreign fighters” returning home and committing mayhem. However this is extremely unlikely – thus zero (0) Australians have been killed by terrorists in Australia since the US false-flag 9-11 atrocity (Google “Experts: US did 9-11”) and only 6 in the last 36 years, this latter statistic yielding an "empirical annual probability of death from terrorism in Australia" of 1 in 109 million. Sensible, risk-averse people will consider the ACTUALITY of US Alliance “foreign fighters” killing and devastating the Middle East:

1. Zionist Australian “foreign fighters” are continuing to serve a foreign government and commit war crimes against Indigenous Palestinians and against Australians. According to Mainstream reports, Israeli forces (including such Australian foreign fighters) have variously tasered, shot, bombed, kidnapped, falsely imprisoned , tortured, maimed and robbed Australians or their relatives and violated Australian sovereignty and security by large-scale forging of passports and subversion of Australian children, students, politicians, parties and institutions in the interests of a nuclear terrorist , genocidally racist, Apartheid rogue state (for a detailed dossier sent to MPs and the AFP Google “Racist Zionism and Israeli State Terrorism threats to Australia and Humanity”) .

2, Al Jazeera America reports that more than 1,000 Americans and as many as 4,600 other non-Israelis are currently fighting for Apartheid Israel and hence committing war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

3. There are currently thousands of US Alliance “foreign fighters” from the US, UK, France, Australia and 6 Arab dictatorships variously and war criminally bombing Iraq and Syria in the absence of a US Security Council resolution .

4. US Alliance “foreign fighters” in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia and Africa over the last quarter century have been associated with 12 million Muslim deaths (half of the children) from violence or war-imposed deprivation (Google “Muslim Holocaust Muslim Genocide”).

5. Rational risk management that is crucial for societal safety successively involves (a) accurate data, (b) scientific analysis and (c) informed systemic change to minimize risk to society. US Alliance Mainstream media, politician and academic “terror hysteria”, lying, intimidation and censorship endangers science-based rational risk management that is critical for societal safety - state terrorism indeed.
END CENSORED COMMENT.

Of course The Guardian Australia is not alone in pro-Zionist, pro-war, pro-US censorship and lying by omission. For details of media-derived malreportage, censorship and lying by omission by the global Murdoch media empire, Australian Fairfax media, the Australian ABC, the UK BBC, and the Australian universities-backed web magazine The Conversation in Neocon American- and Zionist Imperialist-perverted and subverted Murdochracy, Lobbyocracy and Corporatocracy Australia and elsewhere in the West see “Boycott Murdoch media”: https://sites.google.com/site/boycottmurdochmedia/ ; “Censorship by the BBC”: https://sites.google.com/site/censorshipbythebbc/ ; “Censorship by The Conversation”: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammediacensorship/censorship-by ; “Mainstream media censorship”: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammediacensorship/home ; “Mainstream media lying”: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammedialying/ ; “Censorship by The Age”: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammediacensorship/censorship-by-the-age ; “Censorship by ABC Late Night Live”: https://sites.google.com/site/censorshipbyabclatenightlive/ , "Censorship by ABC Saturday Extra": https://sites.google.com/site/censorshipbyabclatenightlive/censorship-by-abc-sat and “ABC fact-checking unit & incorrect reportage by the ABC (Australia’s BBC)”: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammediacensorship/abc-fact-checking-unit , "Censorship by The Guardian UK": https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammediacensorship/censorship-by-the-guardian-uk , and “Censorship by The Guardian Australia": https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammediacensorship/home/censorship-by-the-guardian-a .

Decent anti-racist Australians who utterly abhor violence, war, racism child abuse and lying will utterly reject the racist, anti-Arab anti-Semitic Lib-Lab liars, war-mongers, child-killers, mass murderers and war criminals, vote 1 Green and put the Coalition last.

Kaye Makovec
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 09:49

Mazelman - "It is the view of Muslims that they can bring back the old glory days if Islam is 'properly' implemented."

Shoud read 'It is the view of a FEW Muslims that they can bring back the old glory days if Islam is 'properly' implemented.'

As I cannot see any Australian born and bred convert wanting the extreme vicious reactions of any Islamic law applied to them, or us.

Unless of course they are sufferning a severe mental illness and then viciousness and wanting to murder can apply to all non muslims too.

Just the same as any beating, torture and murder can be committed by Christians.

The thing that gets me is when a Christian or Atheist commits an atrocious act their religion or lack of never rates a mention.

An example is the man armed with a knife who entered the Islamic shool and terrorised children was not described in the media as a terrorist and was not charged as a terrorist.

In fact there has been very little information about him. Was he a Christian, drunk, mentally ill or just another fool influenced by the Murdoch press and government rhetoric?

Yet the man who was shot while he tried to kill 2 cops may have been mentally ill and/or just angry about having his passport taken yet it is assumed he is a terrorist because he was a Muslim.

It's hypocricy.

Kaye Makovec
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 10:52

Yep.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/26/the-acid-test-australian-journalists-must-ask-what-agenda-they-serve

O. Puhleez
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 11:13

Kaye:

An example is the man armed with a knife who entered the Islamic shool and terrorised children was not described in the media as a terrorist and was not charged as a terrorist....

Yet the man who was shot while he tried to kill 2 cops may have been mentally ill and/or just angry about having his passport taken yet it is assumed he is a terrorist because he was a Muslim.

It's hypocricy. [sic]

But it’s realistic. Islam is a religion in the same sense that Nazism was a religion. Those raised in the Hitler Youth cannot be blamed for the outlook, even though one must be on guard for possible violence on their part. 9/11 was the late bin Laden’s way of following to the letter of Koranic commands.

O. Puhleez
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 11:47

A List of Islamic Terror Attacks For the Past 30 Days (of 2014).

All of these are a testament to the fundamental weakness of Islam, not to its strength:

2014.09.26 Afghanistan Ghazni 100 0 Over one-hundred people are reported killed by an Islamic fundamentalist assault on their villages.

2014.09.26 Somalia Barawe 1 0 A woman who 'married several husbands' is buried up to her neck and stoned to death.

2014.09.25 Pakistan Rawalpindi 1 1 A policeman shoots a Christian pastor to death who was in jail for a false charge of blasphemy.

2014.09.24 Algeria Djurdjura 1 0 Fundamentalists behead a captured French tourist.

2014.09.23 Pakistan Peshawar 5 29 A child is among five people disassembled by a Fedayeen suicide blast.

2014.09.23 Pakistan Mirpurkhas 1 0 An Ahmadi doctor is brutally murdered in his clinic by Sunni extremists.

2014.09.23 Iraq Sadr City 18 41 Sunnis slaughter eighteen Shiites with a car bomb.

2014.09.21 Pakistan Punjab 2 1 The caretaker of a mosque is among two people gunned down by sectarian rivals.

2014.09.21 Egypt Cairo 3 6 Fundamentalist bombers transform three police officers into a puddle of blood.

2014.09.21 Cameroon Tourou 19 0 Boko Haram machine-gun nineteen civilians at a market.

2014.09.19 Iraq Karradah 9 18 Sunnis set off a bomb outside a Shiite mosque, laying out nine of their sectarian rivals.

2014.09.19 Afghanistan Baghlan 6 12 Six people outside a mosque are sent straight to Allah by Religion of Peace rivals.

2014.09.19 Iraq Mahmoudiyah 3 10 Terrorists kill three people with a car bomb at a parking lot.

2014.09.19 Iraq Kirkuk 10 14 Mujahideen bombers murder ten people outside a shop.

2014.09.19 Iraq Tikrit 12 7 Women and children are among a dozen killed when suspected Islamic State militants mortar a residential neighborhood.

2014.09.19 Cameroon Ganse 4 0 Four civilians are riddled with bullets by Boko Haram.

2014.09.19 Libya Benghazi 2 0 A blogger and his friend are shot to death by fundamentalists.

2014.09.19 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A Shiite banker is shot to death in front of his children by Sunni radicals.

2014.09.19 Lebanon Arsal 2 0 IS militants fire an RPG across the border and kill two Lebanese guards.

2014.09.18 Iraq Baghdad 23 50 A suicide bombing is one of three blasts in Shiite districts that lay out two dozen innocents.

2014.09.18 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A university professor is shot to death after being charged with blasphemy for his liberal views on women.

2014.09.18 Mali Kidal 5 3 Five peacekeepers are disassembled by fundamentalist bombers.

2014.09.17 Nigeria Fadan-Karshi 12 4 A dozen villagers are burned to death by Muslim terrorists, including the wife of a pastor.

2014.09.17 Iraq Ramadi 7 5 A Shahid suicide bomber detonates on a bridge, sending seven bystanders on to Allah.

2014.09.17 Libya Benghazi 9 30 Nine others are killed when Ansar al-Sharia attack an airport.

2014.09.17 Nigeria Kano 17 34 Two suicide bombers slaughter seventeen innocents at a teacher-training college.

2014.09.17 Iraq Baghdad 5 20 Five civilians are taken out in a series of Jihadi bombings.

2014.09.17 Iraq Tarmiyah 8 16 Eight Iraqis are exterminated by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.

2014.09.17 Nigeria Ungwar Ganye 2 0 A pastor and one other person are murdered by angry Muslims.

2014.09.17 Iraq Tikrit 7 0 Seven local cops are kidnapped and executed by the Islamic State.

2014.09.17 Pakistan Sarki 1 0 A Shiite is shot to death by Lashker-e-Islam.

2014.09.16 Turkey Bab al-Salam 7 24 Terrorists set off a car bomb at a border crossing.

2014.09.16 Egypt Rafah 6 2 Six local cops bleed to death following a Religion of Peace bomb blast.

2014.09.16 Iraq Fallujah 7 27 Two children are among seven killed in two separate attacks by Mujahid terrorists.

2014.09.16 Nigeria Fadan Karshi Daji 33 4 Funlani terrorists massacre nearly three dozen villagers.

2014.09.16 Iraq Duluiya 7 0 Seven woman and children are exterminated by an ISIS rocket.

2014.09.16 Afghanistan Kabul 7 20 A suicide bomber kills seven people.

2014.09.16 Afghanistan Herat 6 6 The Taliban shoot six local cops to death.

2014.09.15 Pakistan Tal 1 2 One other person is brought down by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.

2014.09.15 Pakistan Dera Ismail Khan 3 0 Two brothers and their father are murdered in their home by Sharia advocates.

2014.09.15 Afghanistan Baghlan 1 7 A Taliban bomb planted along a city square leaves one dead.

2014.09.15 Pakistan Pishan 1 0 One person is killed when fundamentalists open fire on an anti-polio team.

2014.09.15 Iraq Mosul 3 0 Three young people are executed by the Islamic State.

2014.09.15 Pakistan Swat 3 0 Three villagers are shot to death by Islamic terrorists.

2014.09.15 Yemen Jawf 25 0 A clash between Sunni and Shia leaves over two dozen dead.

2014.09.15 India Poonch 1 5 One person is killed by Muslim bombers.

2014.09.15 Iraq Baghdad 3 15 Three residents are obliterated by a Mujahid car bomb.

2014.09.15 Afghanistan Shahid Hasas 1 0 A cleric is beheaded by fundamentalist rivals.

2014.09.15 Iraq Mosul 1 0 A Christian who refused to convert to Islam is beaten by the Islamic State and then executed.

2014.09.14 Nigeria Bokkos 5 0 Two children and two women are among five Christians shot to death by Fulani shouting praises to Allah.

2014.09.14 Nigeria Tunari 20 40 Fulani mercenaries attack a Christian village en masse and slaughter over twenty residents, mostly women and children.

2014.09.14 Pakistan Spinwam 3 0 Three border guards at a remote post are pasted by a Religion of Peace RPG attack.

2014.09.14 Iraq al-Jumasah 8 0 Eight Iraqis are rounded-up and executed by the Islamic State for 'plotting against Allah'.

2014.09.14 Mali Aguelhoc 1 3 A peacekeeper is murdered by Jihadists.

2014.09.14 Iraq Baghdad 5 0 Rivals storm the home of a religious figure and murder five members of his family.

2014.09.14 Pakistan Nasir Bagh 1 0 A prayer leader is shot to death for leading police in worship.

2014.09.14 Iraq Zab 1 0 An engineer is publicly executed by the Islamic State.

2014.09.14 Pakistan Bara 2 0 A married couple are killed just outside their home by Taliban fundamentalists.

2014.09.14 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A Sunni leader is shot to death by Shiite radicals while sitting outside his store.

2014.09.14 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A Shiite cleric is shot to death by Sunni radicals while watering his lawn.

2014.09.14 Thailand Narathiwat 1 1 Muslim 'separatists' kill a 50-year-old man and injure his wife on their way back from market.

2014.09.13 Iraq Ghadeer 3 1 Three members of a Christian family are taken out by Sunni bombers.

2014.09.13 Nigeria Ngom 25 16 Twenty-five people are machine-gunned at a market by Boko Haram.

2014.09.13 Syria Aleppo 1 0 A British aid worker is beheaded by the Islamic State after being forced to read a statement blaming his own country.

2014.09.12 Libya Benghazi 1 0 A mosque preacher is gunned down by suspected rivals.

2014.09.12 Afghanistan Badakhshan 6 3 A half dozen Afghan soldiers are disintegrated by a Taliban bomb blast.

2014.09.12 Iraq Rashid 4 0 Four brothers are beheaded by the Islamic State for crimes against religion.

2014.09.11 Iraq Najaf 5 12 Jihadi bombers strike a restaurant, taking out five patrons in mid-bite.

2014.09.11 Thailand Pattani 1 0 Militant Muslims beat a truck driver to death.

2014.09.11 Pakistan Tank 1 0 Religious extremists murder a peace committee member outside his home.

2014.09.11 Pakistan Orangi 2 0 Two Shiites are brought down by Sunni gunmen. One was a doctor in his clinic.

2014.09.11 Iraq Baghdad 13 41 Two vicious bomb attacks leave thirteen dead.

2014.09.11 Iraq Diwaniyah 6 16 A half-dozen people in a commercial district are laid out by a Mujahideen car bomb.

2014.09.11 Iraq Karbalah 3 12 Sunnis blow up a bus stop in a Shia area, killing three commuters.

2014.09.11 Philippines North Cotabato 2 0 At least two people are riddled with bullets by Bangsamoro Islamic gunmen.

2014.09.11 Thailand Pattani 4 5 Muslim terrorists spray a government building with gunfire, then throw a bomb inside.

2014.09.11 Iraq Mosul 7 0 Seven men are beheaded for speaking out against the Islamic State.

2014.09.10 Egypt Ansar beit al Maqdis 1 0 A person is kidnapped and beheaded by Ansar beit al Maqdis.

2014.09.10 Iraq Baghdad 6 0 Six people are obliterated by a Fedayeen suicide blast.

2014.09.10 Iraq Mosul 31 0 Thirty-one police officers are executed for refusing to cooperate with the Islamic State.

2014.09.10 Iraq Zumar 35 0 Yazidi women and children are comprise most of the thirty-five ISIS victims found in a mass grave.

2014.09.10 Iraq Barzak 14 0 Fourteen dead Yazidis are found executed by caliphate terrorists. The victims include children.

2014.09.10 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A Shiite activist is gunned down by Sunni radicals.

2014.09.10 Pakistan Sharifabad 1 0 A Shiite businessman is shot to death at his shop by sectarian Jihadis.

2014.09.10 Iraq Baghdad 5 9 A Shahid suicide bomber takes out five Iraqis.

2014.09.10 Pakistan Karachi 1 1 A prominent Sunni scholar is shot to death by Religion of Peace rivals.

2014.09.10 Iraq Baghdad 14 35 Mujahid bomber blow up a pet market, killing over a dozen people and several animals.

2014.09.10 Pakistan Damadola 1 0 A guard for a polio team is murdered by fundamentalists.

2014.09.09 Iraq Mosul 5 0 Five women are kidnapped and beheaded by the caliphate for 'acting against the religion of Islam' by telling fortunes.

2014.09.09 Yemen Qattan 4 6 Four people are laid out by a Religion of Peace suicide bomber.

2014.09.09 Syria Damascus 5 22 Sunni militants send mortars into a Shia suburb, killing five people.

2014.09.09 Nigeria Baza 24 14 Two dozen Nigerians die during an attack by Boko Haram.

2014.09.09 Syria Ram Hamdan 45 5 Islamic State suicide bombers blow up a house hosting a meeting of rivals, killing up to forty-five participants.

2014.09.09 Iraq Amerli 6 0 Several Sunnis are beheaded by Shia militia.

2014.09.09 Libya Benghazi 5 7 Five local soldiers are murdered by Majlis al-Shoura.

2014.09.09 Pakistan Karachi 2 0 Sectarian Jihadis shoot a blind man and his nephew to death.

2014.09.09 CAR Ngakobo 13 0 A priest and three members of his congregation are among thirteen massacred by Muslim 'rebels'.

2014.09.08 Iraq Dhuluieh 17 71 Islamic State members pump machine-gun fire and a bomb into a market, killing at least seventeen.

2014.09.08 Somalia Mogadishu 12 27 A dozen people are blown to bits by a Shahid car bomber.

2014.09.08 Afghanistan Kandahar 3 6 Three people are pulled into pieces by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.

2014.09.07 Pakistan Sargodha 3 7 Three people lose their lives when Religion of Peace rivals fire into a Sufi shrine.

2014.09.07 Syria Aleppo 5 30 Five civilians are killed when Islamic State rebels send mortar shells into their neighborhood.

2014.09.07 Yemen al-Baida 2 0 Two traffic cops are sprayed with bullets by al-Qaeda.

2014.09.07 Iraq Miqdadiya 2 2 Two children are extreminated by a Mujahideen mortar round.

2014.09.07 Nigeria Michika 60 0 'Scores' of young people are rounded up and then forced on to the ground to have their throats slit by Islamists. Elderly people are also shot at close range.

2014.09.07 Iraq Mosul 40 0 Children and a female politician are among forty people reportedly executed by the Islamic State.

2014.09.07 Nigeria Mbar 4 0 Four members of a church are murdered in two attacks by Muslim extremists.

2014.09.07 Syria Aleppo 3 9 ISIS gunmen fire point-blank into a bus, killing three passengers.

2014.09.06 Pakistan Peshawar 1 0 A Sikh is shot to death is shot to death outside his grocery store.

2014.09.06 Nigeria Gulak 100 0 More than a hundred innocents are thought to have been slaughtered during a two day binge by Boko Haram near a Bible college.

2014.09.06 Yemen Jawf 20 22 Twenty others are reported killed during a sustained assault by Shiite militia.

2014.09.06 Lebanon Arsal 1 0 Another captive is beheaded by caliphate terrorists.

2014.09.06 Libya Warshefana 12 10 A dozen people are killed when an Islamist alliance sends shells into a residential neighborhood.

2014.09.06 Pakistan Karachi 1 7 The Taliban attack a naval dockyard, killing a sailor.

2014.09.06 Pakistan Azizabad 2 0 A prominent Shia and his bodyguard are murdered by Sunni extremists.

2014.09.05 Nigeria Borno 2 0 Two family members are murdered when they refuse to turn their 13-year-old over to Boko Haram.

2014.09.05 Pakistan Rawalpindi 1 0 A female polio worker is shot to death in her home by suspected fundamentalists.

2014.09.05 Pakistan Karachi 2 0 Two members of the Shia community are gunned down by sectarian Jihadis in separate attacks.

2014.09.05 Iraq Mosul 6 0 Three women are among six executed by the Islamic State, which include several doctors.

2014.09.05 Syria Ashara 1 0 A youth is executed and crucified to punish other residents calling for an end to the caliphate.

2014.09.05 Iraq Ameriya 3 9 A Fedayeen suicide bomber takes out three people.

2014.09.04 Iraq Mosul 14 0 Fourteen young people are abducted and executed by the Islamic State.

2014.09.04 Iraq Tikrit 7 17 A suicide car bomber lays out seven Iraqis.

2014.09.04 Afghanistan Ghazni 18 154 Fundamentalists set off a massive truck bomb outside a government office, killing eighteen.

2014.09.04 Iraq Baghdad 11 32 Sunnis detonate a car bomb amidst a row of shops and restaurants in a Shiite district, killing eleven.

2014.09.04 Iraq Karrada 6 17 A half-dozen innocents are slain when fundamentalists set off a bomb near alcohol shops.

2014.09.04 Nigeria Kawuri 30 0 Pro-Sharia extremists massacre over thirty villagers.

2014.09.04 Iraq Sulaiman Bek 35 0 The bodies of thirty-five truck drivers, kidnapped months earlier by Sunni militants are discovered in a mass grave.

2014.09.03 Egypt al-Arish 1 0 A 32-year-old policeman is brutally shot to death by Islamic fundamentalists.

2014.09.03 Pakistan Mardan 1 0 A Sikh is stabbed to death in a suspected sectarian attack.

2014.09.03 Iraq Ramadi 16 0 Sixteen people near a university are kidnapped by the Islamic State and executed.

2014.09.03 Iraq Fallujah 5 13 Mujahideen kill five civilians with a rocket barrage.

2014.09.03 Afghanistan Kunar 7 0 Seven local soldiers are ambushed and killed by religious radicals.

2014.09.02 Syria Taftanaz 1 0 A second American journalist is beheaded by the Islamic State.

2014.09.02 Nigeria Eggon 55 100 Muslim 'mercenaries' attack three villages and murder over fifty residents as they also torch a brewery.

2014.09.02 Libya Banghazi 20 36 At least twenty others are killed by Ansar al-Sharia.

2014.09.02 Pakistan Waziristan 1 0 An off-duty soldier is murdered by al-Qaeda.

2014.09.02 Egypt al-Wefaq 11 2 Eleven police officers are blown to bits by a fundamentalist bomb blast.

2014.09.02 Daghestan Makhachkala 5 0 Muslim militants shoot five people to death and stuff them in a car.

2014.09.02 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A 40-year-old Shiite is assassinated in his store by Sunni gunmen.

2014.09.02 CAR Nana Bakassa 5 5 Muslim rebels shoot five villagers to death.

2014.09.02 Nigeria Bama 2 0 A targeted Islamist attack on a family home leaves two members dead.

2014.09.02 Nigeria Bama 120 35 Over one-hundred more victims are reported killed during a second Boko Haram attempt to overrun a town.

2014.09.02 Iraq Fallujah 3 17 The caliphate sends artillary shells into a neighborhood, killing three residents.

2014.09.01 Iraq Bartala 1 0 A Christian is tortured and killed by the Islamic State after refusing to convert to Islam.

2014.09.01 Egypt Sinai 4 0 Ansar beit al Maqdis behead four more captives.

2014.09.01 Iraq Bayaa 13 45 A pair of Jihad car bombs produce thirteen dead Iraqis.

2014.09.01 Yemen Shibam 3 0 Three men are tortured and killed by al-Qaeda.

2014.09.01 Nigeria Madagali 350 0 Over three hundred Christians are reported killed when Boko Haram invade a series of villages.

2014.09.01 Syria Aleppo 31 0 A university professor is among thirty-one people executed over a 10-day stretch by IS Jihadists.

2014.09.01 Nigeria Bama 59 0 Nearly sixty are reported dead following a Boko Haram attack on a large town.

2014.09.01 Sudan Kalma 2 4 Two women are killed and four children injured during an armed attack on a refugee camp by the Islamic Republic.

2014.09.01 Iraq Hawija 6 0 Six Iraqi policemen are executed in cold blood by caliphate terrorists.

2014.08.31 Syria Aleppo 1 0 A Dutch national is beheaded by ISIS.

2014.08.31 Yemen Shabwa 6 2 Two Shahid suicide bombers take out a half-dozen human beings.

2014.08.31 Iraq Jalula 4 24 Four Kurds are left dead following a suicide bombing.

2014.08.31 Pakistan Sialkot 3 0 A man 'honor kills' his wife and two daughters after consulting with other family members.

2014.08.31 Libya Benghazi 10 25 Ten people are killed when an Islamist militia showers a civilian airport with rockets.

2014.08.31 Somalia Mogadishu 5 12 Five others are killed during a sustained al-Shabaab attack on a prison.

2014.08.31 Thailand Pattani 1 1 Militant Muslims shoot a man twice in the head.

2014.08.31 Iraq Ramadi 37 38 Thirty-seven Iraqis are reduced to pulp by a Shahid suicide bomber.

2014.08.31 Iraq Fallujah 3 13 Three civilians are laid out by Islamic State mortars.

2014.08.30 Iraq Yousifiya 11 24 Eleven Iraqis at a checkpoint are exterminated by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.

2014.08.30 Nigeria Gamboru Ngala 40 0 At least forty more Christians are found hacked to death 'like chickens' by Boko Haram.

2014.08.30 Nigeria Borno 14 215 Boko Haram militants spray machine-gun fire into villages while yelling praises to Allah. At least fourteen are killed.

2014.08.30 Afghanistan Robaat 12 5 The Taliban stop a bus carrying workers, force them out into a line and machine-gun them in cold blood.

2014.08.30 Lebanon Arsal 1 0 Another captured Lebanese soldier is beheaded on video.

2014.08.30 Afghanistan Jalalabad 6 33 A Shahid suicide bomber disassembles six other people.

2014.08.29 Iraq Mosul 2 0 A Shiite and a Kurd are beheaded by the Islamic State.

2014.08.29 Yemen Lahj 2 0 al-Qaeda gunmen murder two local officials.

2014.08.29 Iraq Tuz Khurmatu 8 30 A brutal terror attack by the Islamic State leaves eight dead.

2014.08.29 Iraq Wahda 6 0 Six headless victims are found following the liberation of a town from Islamic State.

2014.08.28 Iraq Hillah 4 0 Four guards at a hospital are shot to death by Muslim terrorists.

2014.08.28 Iraq Mosul 7 0 Seven people are executed on orders of a Sharia court.

2014.08.28 Lebanon Arsal 1 0 A captured Lebanese soldier is beheaded by the Islamic State.

2014.08.28 Syria Raqqa 7 0 Video emerges of caliphate militants shooting seven kneeling hostages.

2014.08.28 Nigeria Bauchi 2 1 A suspected Boko Haram attack leaves two dead.

2014.08.28 Syria Raqqa 250 0 Video emerges of two-hundred and fifty captives marched into the desert and machine-gunned by the Islamic State.

2014.08.28 Thailand Pattani 1 2 Muslim terrorists murder a teacher with a bomb.

2014.08.28 Pakistan Awaran 6 7 Six members of a minority religious community are shot to death in their place of worship by suspected Sunni fundamentalists.

O. Puhleez
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 11:49

The above gives one a bit of an idea of what modern Europe would be like today if Nazi Germany had emerged victorious in 1944.

fightmumma
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 12:05

mazelman - not to take away from the validity that some states have more extreme and limiting control over their citizens than others, but many if not all societies impose restrictions on their members. The variety in application of democracy if you consider Indonesia and Russian for eg or the communism of China and Cube, or how neoliberalism is imposing itself upon the liberal democratic societies - it does not only have to be a religious faith or interpretation of a holy text, that can have negative effects on liberty and justice. Liberal democracies are growing in the degree of social and economic inequalities within their societies. So it depends upon the measures and indicators for justice, liberty and fairness that you are using. I find it personally quite ironic for eg that the ALP send me emails to raise funds for a campaign, when their own policies mean that I am too poor to donate anything except my time and expertise to community groups...although I would never want to be a muslim i do not have much respect at all for the current interpretations of all neoliberals - and I view them as not any less restrictive and unfair to some sectors of our society - than what you are viewing when you look at countries influenced by Islam in their institutions. Our institution and legislation are influenced heavily by 'free'market ideology - which has multiple criticisms too...and is not free from the influence of christianity, nor of any of th religious values of any of the members of parliament - and i'm directly thinking abbott and gay marraige there...

fightmumma
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 12:07

OP this is not a very helpful list - you are ignoring all other variables involved in those situations and telling us that Islam is the only variable affecting the entire situation. That is not at all plausible.

fightmumma
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 12:09

and p.s. you could start lists about the number of people the IRA have killed, tortured and blown up too...or list every criminal in an australian prison who identifies as a certain religion...

MazelMan
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 12:17

Kaye rises to the defence of moderate Islam but does she know what she is talking about? She reckons that extreme sharia is only practised by a few Muslims but I fear that her remarks are based more on wishful thinking than in-depth analysis or understanding.

Sharia Law is fundamental to the ideology of Islam and even though most Muslims don't practise it in its extreme form, they do follow its principles. If we look at countries like Great Britain we can see what will eventually happen if we keep going down this track of appeasing Muslims.

Sharia is intrinsically undemocratic. Our laws are man-made, albeit with a religious stem. They can be changed by elected parliaments. There is no way to change laws “made by God” that, among other things, enforce gender apartheid, dress codes, and standards of morality, discriminately on women; and which persecute homosexuals and people of other faiths.

Kaye suggests that Christians and atheists can also carry out heinous acts in the name of their belief system and although that may be theoretically true in practical terms the comparison is meaningless. It is a diversionary tactic by the deluded keen to defend those who threaten the essential harmony which has existed in our multicultural society until now.

O. Puhleez
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 12:51

fm:

...you are ignoring all other variables involved in those situations and telling us that Islam is the only variable affecting the entire situation.

No I am not. That is why I said it "gives one a bit of an idea of what modern Europe would be like today if Nazi Germany had emerged victorious in 1944.

But I tell you what: your operating system is fairly common. It proclaims that the Islamists are really no worse than the rest of us. Your example (eg IRA ~ Islamism) shows what can happen to people raised in the Christian and post-Christian ethos. But it would be really help, (and I mean that) if you could figure out why you think and feel that uncommon but not unique way, and let us all know. Because I for one, and I suspect many other NM readers, have no idea.

But I repeat: the similarities and parallels in history and ideology between the religions of Islam and Nazism are glaringly obvious. (And of course they have their differences, and of course they are not identical.) But that list I supplied above was for just one month of this year.)

fightmumma
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 14:26

OP - I don't really see what you are getting at? You make assumptions about my views. In other posts I have outlined some parallels between the social conditions we see now, and the social conditions that existed when nazism became dominant. But that was more at the herd behaviour and circling the wagons around perceived threats - communism for the fatherland (with racial themes towards non-nationals because german nationalism was rising) and islam for australia - where undemocratic acts and abuses of state power are allowed to proceed by the majority of the population in protection of their interests ("defence"). Everyone gets on the nationalism bandwagon and all the herd animals copy each other's fears, aggressions etc.

Your analogy fits for an extremist mentality. But it does not fit the direction of power flow. Nazi Germany had the idealism and themes within the dominant societal worldview - Australia does not have Islam as anything remotely related to dominant seeing as other stories say the Muslim population is a tiny % of our population. So your theory does not stand up under scrutiny for its consistency. To follow your reasoning, Islam would have to be viewed as the solution to threats to naitonalistic themes and adopted as the course of action for the nation's survival (or more accurately the survival of the nation's ruling class and elite). This has not, and is unlikely to, occur in Oz.

Following your theme/analysis, this means that neoliberalism and the 'free' market is the fitting analogy to Nazism.

fightmumma
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 14:35

and for what its worth - that is a fitting explanation for the Cronulla riots where Muslims were perceived to not be fitting everything "australian" as per our beach culture, how women are viewed and how idolised (white) surf life savers are in this country. Nationalistic thinking requires icons and heroes, and the beach culture ties aussies to our literal ground and to our heritage (of getting here by sail boats as convicts (now there's a few extra ironies!!). Our cultural embodiment, youth, feminism and of course surf life savers epitomise nationalistic thinking, imagery, symbols, values, and meanings to life itself. A tiny goup of "middle eastern appearance people" could be colectively perceived to attack or threaten that nationalism. Hence they were attacked and framed as the enemy.

This is exactly what happened in nazi germany - which makes australian nationalism the true commonality with naziem - not Islam. We could also trace how all the social, economic and political actors were utilised in nazi germany and find contemporaries in neoliberal australia - both in attacks on muslims and with the neoliberal theme...but i have exams to study for...

fightmumma
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 15:06

and you can add the state's attacks to education and science to the commonalities too - all to serve particular segments of society to exclude others and to control who and what? All these people who areso up in arms about Islam - if you dedicated the same amount of vigour to analysing exactly what our alleged "representative" gov't is doing to our own social fabric = maybe we could make our own country better rather than about hissy fits over pretend crises and take-overs....

d_n_e
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 15:43

oh ....please, no thanks!

How many were killed in WW1 & 2? How many were killed in the wars between England and France, England and Spain? How many died in the Greek civil war? What about the Spanish civil war? Maybe between the Spanish/Dutch/Portuguese wars? People have been killing each other for centuries, what is happening in that region is no different. Got nothing to do with beliefs.

Here's good reading on why the RW are dumbies

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/feeling-beats-thinking-when-fear-is-on-the-brain-20140926-10lvgz.html

O. Puhleez
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 18:51

fm:

This is exactly what happened in nazi germany - which makes australian nationalism the true commonality with naziem - not Islam.

Yeah, right.

dne:

People have been killing each other for centuries, what is happening in that region is no different.

Yeah, right. Ditto repeato.

pdpjones
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 21:56

All research demonstrates an ignorance of Islam leads to all this demonisation of Muslims in Australian plus lack of acquaintance with them. As a teacher of Comparative Religion with a degree in Islamic Studies I can vouch for this. It's important to affirm minorities in Australia as it always has been in the past, regardless of faith, ethnicity or gender preference, but too easy for the media and politicians to pick on them, the scapegoat factor.

Rashid.M
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 22:02

@MazelMan

Brull fails to appreciate that for Sharia to be properly pursued an Islamized society is required. Consequently in the majority of Muslim nations Sharia has become an integral part of their constitutions and we have heard about the abuses that take place with monotonous regularity in such societies (Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan)

The most relevant characteristic of all of these societies is that they are essentially authoritarian and/or corrupt. To claim that a society is required to be "Islamized" (whatever that might mean), before sharia is pursued, is nonsensical and demonstrably untrue.

As an Australian Muslim I follow sharia regularly. It's my (interpretation of) sharia, untainted by considerations of maintaining politico-religious power and/or appeasing a ruling/dominant class of religious elites. I neither require nor desire any change to Australian society to follow my religion, since section 116 of the Australian Constitution both protects my right to follow my faith as I see fit, and protects everyone's right to be free of the compulsion proscribed by the Quran.

And I reject outright your interpretations of my religion, interpretations I consider inferior to mine, selective and unsound. Imposing any version of sharia on a society, be they non accepting Muslims or non Muslims, contradicts the primary Quranic teaching affording freedom of faith (or no faith) - i.e. the essence of secularism.

"As far as the question of whether Islamic law, or any other religious law, can be imposed perforce. I say NO. Because it is against the spirit of religions themselves" -- 'Sharia - Relationship Between Religion and Politics', speech by Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, fourth Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam.

http://www.alislam.org/books/shariah/index.html

raismail
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 22:22

Not all stupid people are bigots. But all bigots are stupid.

This user is a New Matilda supporter. bobbeeart
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2014 - 23:04

My view is of all this terrorism etc is Stalin murdered millions of his own people , Hitler did the same , Pol POT and the Kmer Rouge killed millions the Turks let a whole population starve to death by encircling them , Who wiped out the Tasmanian Aboriginals??? ,What happened to the native Americans ? Mostly dead ! Japan did a lovely job on the Chinese in the beginning of the 2nd WWar, thousands upon thousands slaughtered, Then we have the Hutus versus the Tutsis , thousands dead , and still going on in the basket case of Africa ,Also we have the Dictators of Mexico and South America who murdered thousands , the secret police came in the night ,people disappeared , never seen again , still happening there! Then we have the wonderful US of A, they dropped the Atom Bombs on Japan , few dead there , Bombed the shit out of Vietnam , agent Orange , killed millions , bombed Laos and Cambodia killed a lot there too , They kill each other by the thousands at home in schools etc because they have a gun as a PET! I nearly forgot Bosnia Versus Serbs versus Croatians that war nearly wiped them all out , and here in our cities we ONE PUNCH innocent strangers and kill them as they hit their skull on the concrete kerbs , Ukrainians are murdering each other in droves ,what about the Great WAR?? 1914-18, I might call that terror! So don't you all think there might be something wrong with the human Race? The way we love to kill each other ??? HEY! Maybe God makes us DO IT ????

d_n_e
Posted Monday, September 29, 2014 - 00:17

oh...please,

Is that your best response? I guess so, so sad!