For more than three years now, there has been constant lamentation on some British “news” channels.
It’s like this: they wouldn’t say something like that if they were talking about a Muslim. they wouldn’t do that if he was a muslim. this would not have happened if he was a Muslim.
The conspiratorial claim that British Muslims get special treatment that white Britons do not is just one element in a feast of Islamophobia regularly played out in the British media. A collective of politicians, journalists, ideologues and would-be comedians, they all make a living from it.
The supposed privilege afforded to Islam and Muslims has, according to these professional whingers, come at the expense of white Britons and their Christian heritage. Thus, churches become mosques, halal meat served in schools, sayings of the Prophet Muhammad displayed on railway station notice boards, and Islamic festivals held in public spaces are part of the long list of complaints sparking anger on Britain’s streets.
If all else is quiet, then the incident at Batley Grammar Schoolwhere Muslim children were subjected to caricatures of their prophet and the controversy over the so-called “grooming gangs“they are two beloved obsessions that regularly cross paths.
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The cumulative effect of this on the public is measurable. A hate speech detection tool I establish that there is an “almost statistical correlation between GB News viewers and hate crime”.
The study found that Muslims were mentioned 1,137 times in the comment sections under videos posted on her YouTube channel. The next most mentioned group was Jews, with 68 mentions.
Indeed, Muslims in Britain receive special treatment from a media bent on spreading hatred against them.
Hatred
Following the recent far-right riots in Southport, following the stabbing of three girls at a dance class, GB News ran a poll asking whether “left elite” was to blame for public disorder.
Excuses for racists come thick and fast. THE same chant about Allah – now used by far-right thugs as they burn down hotels, loot shops and attack police and non-white people – was claimed as “irreverent British humour” in GB News just two months ago.
And GB News isn’t the only one peddling hate. Has fixed, Talk TV, has presenters and guests who refuse to believe the evidence before their eyes, continuing to ask: Who is to blame? about the riots?
Note that this privilege of exploring the larger context behind events is not afforded to minorities.
Far-right riots: UK media and politicians almost entirely to blame
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In Leeds, for example, where the removal of Roma children from a family home sparked a night of unrest, there was no dispute in these channels about who was responsible.
When a Muslim family was rescued by police in Hartlepool as far-right thugs rampaged, a former Metropolitan Police officer toured between the two channels. talking about the “Islamization” of Britain.
Britain’s road rage can, at times, also be found in TV studios, where visitors are sometimes locked out physically neat because they refuse to agree with the presenter’s narrative.
This is not journalism as we know it. They are a collection of talking heads who nod and enthusiastically confirm the opinions of anyone who wants to say that Muslims are bad people. Those who disagree with this framework are called an “absolute disgrace”.
Moreover, those who draw bile do not do so with clenched teeth, but with a dose of humor.
Two months ago, it was the same mosques that are now being attacked in British towns and cities mocked that it has a culture of “sitting on carpets”, with one presenter saying that if he went to a mosque in Afghanistan, he would be “beheaded with a sword”.
Casual racism as comedy
Amid the xenophobic rants, one panelist told another that Muslims are currently worried about Jews and will come for him, responding to the panelist who said he was fine with a mosque being built near where he lived. This, by the way, came in a story describing Pope Francis anointing a teenager to be a millennium saint, which had nothing to do with Muslims.
Even when a story isn’t about Muslims, they find ways to malign them – occasional racism disguised as comedy.
More traditional media have also played their part.
Even when the mosques were attacked and the worshipers barricade domestically, as was the case in Southport, there was a conspicuous omission of entrenched Islamophobia that incites hatred.
On July 26, for example, when three pig heads were left with Islamophobic graffiti outside a primary school in London, not a single national newspaper covered the story.
Several months ago, a study found that British Muslims gave four times more for charity than any other group in Britain. A positive story where Muslims were legally singled out was not presented in any mainstream newspaper or news channel.
Beyond that, mainstream news channels have equated the rise of racists with anti-racists, conflating and comparing those who protect their communities with those who attack them. Along the side language by portraying rioters and thugs as ‘protesters’ and ‘pro-British’, this gives pure racism the veneer of legitimate patriotism.
The ‘Foxification’ of British TV… means conspiracy theories, tropes and racism masquerading as commentary or powerful interviews get an easy pass
There is much for Muslims in Britain to be grateful for and significant achievements have been made in various communities across the UK.
However, almost everyone would agree that they live in an atmosphere of heightened Islamophobia.
The blame for this is laid at the door of the media. The “Foxification” of British television, with a regulatory stance by Ofcom on hate directed at Muslims, their identity and beliefs, means that conspiracy theories, tropes and racism masquerading as commentary or powerful interviews get easy passage.
When a barrage of anti-Arab and, by extension, anti-Muslim tropes were directed at a Palestinian commentator for questioning why he was constantly being interrupted, Ofcom deemed it acceptable in the appropriate context.
Emboldened, no doubt, the same presenter is now framing the riots in Britain around his idea western liberal supremacy.
The killing of three little girls in Southport is said to have sparked the fury of those who are now rioting.
But the beliefs held by many and the sentiments they now openly echo have been handed down for many years on their heads.
Theirs is a two-tiered worldview where white British people are seen as good and wholesome and Muslims as evil and evil.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
