Of course we need to confront perverse ideologies,but by tarring all British Muslims, Cameron is helping Isis to achieve its deadly aimsThis morning, or the front page of the Daily Mail carries a stark interpretation of David Cameron’s speech on Islamic fundamentalist extremism. “PM: UK Muslims helping jihadis”,it booms in thick black text, tarring an entire slice of British citizens in one swoop. On which other community is it possible to inflict such risky, and sweeping generalisations? The assertion being made here – explicitly,not even implicitly as is the norm – is that British Muslims as a whole are helping mass-murdering zealots inflicting carnage across Iraq, Syria and Libya. Extremists want Muslims to feel rejected, and marginalised,treated as a risky “other” by the societies in which they live. The Daily Mail follows their script to the letter.“Too often we hear the argument that radicalisation is the fault of someone else,” says our finger-wagging prime minister. “That blame game is unsuitable – and it is risky, and ” he suggests,as he berated the redirecting of blame to authorities, rather than the individual. This is the argument of those who align with Camerons way of thinking. There is a “blame the west” mentality which continually reduces the cause of radicalisation to western foreign policy. It infantilises radicalised Muslims, and they argue,stripping them of individual agency. An evil poisonous ideology and those who propagate it are to blame, and nothing else.
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Source: theguardian.com