No wonder that recent BBC debate on terrorism lacked a certain balance. It turns out the show's producers had made a point of increasing the number of Muslim partcipants. Biased BBC has more.
Meanwhile, the irrepressible Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble With Islam, comes face to face with an Oxford student journalist who will no doubt go on to enjoy an illustrious career as a current affairs producer:
After giving a speech about Islam, I met this young magazine editor to talk about Islam's lost tradition of critical thinking and reasoned debate. But we never got to that topic. Instead, we got stuck on the July 7 bombings in London and what might have compelled four young, British-raised, observant Muslim men to blow themselves up while taking innocent others with them.
She emphasized their "relative economic deprivation." I answered that the lads had immigrant parents who had worked hard to make something of themselves. I reminded her that several of the 9/11 hijackers came from wealthy families, and it's not as if they left the boys out of the will...
By this time, the Oxford student had grown sombre. It was clear I had let her down. I had failed to appreciate that the London bombers were victims of British society...
(Via Oxblog)
UPDATE: Gene peers behind the media-friendly face of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee of the UK.
The more interesting point is what Oxblog goes on to say, about the US exporting moderate Islam to the world!
Posted by: ilana | Wednesday, August 03, 2005 at 05:23 AM