"Enough is enough" she reports one of them as saying. According to Bunting, that remark attracted audience applause. As did this: "we will react without the shackles of rationality, regardless of the consequences", to which Bunting appends the generalization: "Such anger is common currency in Muslim circles."
Seemingly, in Bunting's view, large numbers of British Muslims are on the verge of committing desperate and irrational acts in defense of Islam without regard to the consequences. Hmm, not really the kind of thing you expect to read in the Guardian. Never mind, let's see if Jasmin Alibhai-Brown over at the Independent can do any better.
Unfortunately, she seems to be saying much the same thing:
This week, I have been at three events where the majority of people in the audience were educated, sharp Muslims, some exceedingly rich and good friends with key politicians and Prince Charles. Guantanamo Bay and Iraq are topics that now madden even these establishmentarians.So, according to Alibhai-Brown, even moderate Muslims close to the establishment readily identify with Bin Laden's violent extremism.
One gentleman took my elbow, shuffled me to a discreet corner and whispered 'I have been here for 40 years, dined with royalty. Today, if I was young, I would go straight to Bin Laden. Mr Blair is a war criminal. Don't put my name down, but tell him we detest him'.
Is this really the message the Guardian and the Independent want to put out?
Laban Tal notes the implications:
Yazza is making a point about how we need to change our foreign policy and how many people it's upsetting. Seemingly unconsciously, she's also saying that unless we do, people who have been here for years, who have grown wealthy and lead a lifestyle more privileged than any most Brits have known - that those people will support those who would like to kill us by the thousands, the tens of thousands, if possible by the millions.That's what it sounds like.
