Deconstructing BBC Stories

Somali mosque in 'UK racist attack'

Is the link headline on the BBC web page.  So, plain enough, there has been a racist attack on a mosque.

What Does This Link Tell You About The Story?

Wrong, there hasn't been an attack on a mosque. There was no attack on a mosque, in fact the story turns out to be the burning down of an Islamic 'cultural centre' (whatever that means by the way)  - the report states that the 'centre' was not used for prayers, but as a community centre which was mainly used by children after school.

So that headline is flame fanning, and wrong, it isn't a mosque at all as the story later makes clear, but the BBC can't stop their PC nonsense, and report the story under the more inflammatory headline.

You have to ask if there is an agenda, as the main story isn't any better.

Al-Rahma Islamic Centre destroyed in 'hate crime' fire

Where's the Mosque Gone? What Evidence of Hate Crime?

..... is the main story headline - but reading on, its a fire that's actually "an apparent hate crime attack."

So not a proven hate crime at all?

In fact the police say only that its being "is being treated as suspicious". In fact the only reason is that Chief Superintendent Adrian Usher said there was 'EDL graffiti' found on the outside of the building. A fact which may simply be coincidental to the fire - many people were offended by the Islamic reaction to the attack on the soldier and in that case a bit of graffiti is a pretty mild reaction.

The police go on to add that "the Counter Terrorism Command Unit was investigating the incident because of their expertise, rather than it being terrorism related." ... in other words its not been proved to be a terrorist attack.

But that inconvenient fact does that stop the local MP (The Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet) spouting on - nope. Driven on by her fear of a Muslim 'problem', she witters on "This kind of hate crime is absolutely despicable. This is not just an attack on the Muslim community it is an attack on all of us and our values. We are a highly diverse multi-ethnic borough with excellent community cohesion in Barnet. We should under no circumstances allow violent extremists to divide us with this kind of outrage."

This even though there is no evidence of any outrage being committed so far .... but now the BBC reporter has been unleashed, and is looking for quotes about this so far unproven 'outrage'

He or she interviews 'Abu Bakar Ali' (official status unknown), from the centre, who said: "The Somali community is in fear. We are all shocked about what has happened and we strongly condemn the attack on the centre. As you can see, the situation is a very serious one indeed. We are appalled and deeply saddened by the horrific and foolish act against a peaceful community. While no-one was thankfully physically hurt in the attack, the effects of this crime will be felt very deeply."

No mention of the decapitated soldier any more ... suddenly Muslims are the 'victims' so now we get the full PC nonsense about Muslims being under attack ... Zakariya Mohamed, 22, whose only qualification for a quote is that he has been attending the centre for 13 years, said: "I'm heartbroken. I can only speak for myself but I feel this is an act of terrorism. The dictionary defines a terrorist as anybody that causes terror or intimidation with a racial agenda. I think our community will recover though. We don't want to seem like we are defeated. I dream of being able to rebuild the centre even bigger and stronger."

Laughable - the main instigators of world terrorism are quoting a dictionary to the rest of us, but skewed to "a terrorist as anybody that causes terror or intimidation with a racial agenda." .... not a religious one or political one, just "with a racial agenda." ..

OK, so what does the Oxford dictionaries define it as:

[mass noun]: the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims:

The free dictionary says that two other definitions are:

Collins:

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) systematic use of violence and intimidation to achieve some goal.
2. the act of terrorizing.
3. the state of being terrorized.

Kearney:

1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.
2. the state of fear so produced.
3. government or resistance to government by means of terror.

Nothing much about "with a racial agenda" ....

Anyway, what else does this exemplar of 'new' BBC reporting state?

And finally, it wouldn't be a BBC Muslim stony without one of the unelected 'Muslim groups' having a quote .... this time its the The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) - an oxymoron if ever there was one - said that Muslims were now living in fear of a "wave of attacks". Massoud Shadjareh, chair of IHRC, said:

"Muslims feel scared right now and it is completely understandable. Muslims have been physically attacked, mosques burnt down, cemeteries vandalised and social media is full of anti-Muslim hatred and violent threats towards Muslims. More needs to be done to protect the Muslim community."

This 'factual' statement is not backed up by any corroboration - what mosques? what cemeteries ? - which social media? in other words this is just propaganda disguised as comment.

In other words, the whole story has been whipped up by the BBC and media, there is little if any evidence to back it up so far, and the report is littered in unsubstantiated content, which is unchallenged, and in fact is little more than propaganda justification for Muslim attitudes and  serves only to inflame the story and current febrile atmosphere.

This ladies and gentlemen is what now passes for a news story at the BBC.