Friday 30 May 2014

Shouldn't Louise Bours apologise too?

I am no fan of Joey Barton, he is a complete fool and he plays for QPR (which I'm still fuming about considering I was at Wembley last weekend supporting the Rams). Last night he featured on Question Time for the first time as a panellist along with Piers Morgan, Margaret Curran (Scottish Labour), David Willets (Conservatives) and Louise Bours (UKIP) to debate the new Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport.

Barton has been made to apologise for comments he made to newly elected MEP, Louise Bours on UKIP's success in the recent election. He said: 'If I'm somewhere and there was four really ugly girls, I'm thinking... well, she's not the worst - that's all you [UKIP] are.' which of course is not the best metaphor to be making to a female politician about her beloved party. Of course as the comment comes across as extremely sexist and was clearly offensive to Ms Bours, Barton should apologise for what he said but is Louise Bours getting away with her retaliation free of charge? To Barton's comment, Bours replied 'The ignorance here -it basically fulfils the mission that footballers' brains are in their feet.'. To me that is by far a more ignorant comment to be making as it plays on a horrible stereotype (UKIP's favourite thing) in order to demoralise and humiliate their rivals. 

My younger brother is 14, he started playing football at 6, was signed to a development academy at 7 and then was signed by his first professional academy at 10. I have grown up surrounded by the football industry and by the people in it and I can tell you now, footballers are not stupid. My brother has just finished his year 9 SATs and got top grades in all of them. He is way more academic than I was at my age and is set to do very well in his GCSEs, which he starts in September. He does all of this despite having to train 3 times a week and play a match on Sundays (one of his training sessions causes him to have to leave school at lunch and doesn't finish until 7pm). His grades are assessed by the academy and poor school performance does affect whether or not he is kept on in the academy the following year, fact. The academy run sessions where 'day-release' players (meaning they are out of school to train) have to do homework and my brother is expected to catch-up on the work he misses at school in his own time. Next year, he will be expected to miss a whole day of school and remain on top of his studies which he will do. Does that sound like someone who is stupid? The coaches, many of them being former academy players themselves, are mainly university educated or the equivalent and have a massive influence on the boy's attitude towards school. If my brother does not get a scholarship at 16 he will take A-Levels and will go to university. Footballers are not stupid. 

How come Barton is accused of ignorance yet Bours gross use of stereotypes is ignored?

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What did you think of Joey Barton's comments? Leave a comment!

Monday 26 May 2014

Gove's attack on American Literature.

He has done it again and this time he is attacking literature. This man cannot help but annoy the hell out of me. Gove has announced that 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and 'Of Mice and Men' will be taken off of the GCSE syllabus in favour of "fiction or drama written in the British Isles".

The new syllabus is set to feature:

  • A Shakespeare play.
  • A 19th Century novel.
  • And a 20th Century novel.
All to be written by British writers.

Does American literature not matter? My GCSE English class were given 'Of Mice and Men' as an easy end to our course after we were told to compare Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' with Shakespeare's 'Othello' (near impossible) but we all absolutely loved it. From my knowledge of my school's way of teaching GCSE English is that the 'lower' ability groups will usually study 'Of Mice and Men', 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' or 'The Crucible' (also being booted off) because of it's apparent themes and easy to follow narrative. The stories in Steinbeck and Lee's books are very warming and are able to teach children about race and class and dreaming even though it is unlikely the dream will succeed. 'Of Mice and Men' introduced us to the cruelty of capitalism and in particular America. As a class we almost fell in love with Lennie, who is mentally disabled, and were heart broken when we read over his demise and the cruelty and injustice of it.

Although I have not read Harper Lee's classic, it is on my bookshelf and I'm set to read it soon now that my exams are out of the way. I know it centres round Atticus (a lawyer) and his two children, Scout and Jem and the troubles they get into when Atticus decides to represent a black man in a rape trial. Also the novel is written by a woman which is something that is already rare in the GCSE (and A-Level) syllabus that it is almost saddening. 

Each book/ play teaches us something as well as being able to capture the imaginations of those who read it. To me it seems more than suspicious that the Tory government want to get rid of books that teach us about prejudice and injustice in favour of British, 'stiff upper lip' literature. Children will be bored, teachers will be exhausted (because teachers cannot just pull resources for every text ever written out of their backside), less will take English onto A-Level. Big mistake.

What is your opinion on Mr Gove? Leave me a comment!

Sunday 25 May 2014

So, the EU elections... let's talk UKIP!

Well after a few days of reflection, I can say that I am pretty happy with the result. (Ignoring UKIP for now) Labour gained 338 seats and the Greens 16 where as the coalition lost a total of 538 seats between them. Labour managed to take over what is usually easy Tory stomping ground and managed to claim 6 more councils than they did in the previous election. To me, that is a huge step forward for the left and something lefties should be proud of all over the country.

So onto "the UKIPs". UKIP did very very well for a protest party, obtaining 161 more EU seats. But let us not forget that before UKIP had 2 little seats and so although they did make HUGE gains in the election (second highest overall) they still only have 2/5 of the power the Lib Dems have and still came 4th overall. I can't help but wonder if the Green Party would get this kind of publicity if they did the same.

Since then, there has been all sorts of talking about what this means for next year's general election. We have been told that the result of Thursday's voting means that UKIP are now a strong contender next year and will probably do well; we have been told that the Lib Dems should 'prepare for the 2020 elections' and we have been told that the Tories are quaking in their boots. I read somewhere that many want Cameron out and Theresa May in (please no) and that Yvette Cooper could take Miliband's role if he fails to bring victory to the Labour Party. A lot have said Labour should have done a lot better and that they got cocky meaning UKIP were able to nab more than they should have and that Labour needs to up its game. The Daily Mail called Labour's victory a "savaging" for Labour (despite them having over 100 more seats than the Tories) because UKIP managed to get some bored Tories to vote for them.

UKIP are only successful because of the media. They have been given their platform and they have used it to their advantage. I was talking to a friend over Easter and he brought to my attention that actually, UKIP have no right to be where they are. If you look at the Green Party, they had 2 seats in EU parliament before Thursday compared to UKIP's 13 yet UKIP has been on our screens weekly whether it is the news, Question Time or The Sunday Politics yet the Greens haven't. Although there were 11 more seats in UKIP's favour they had nowhere near the same amount as 'the big three'. The public need to realise we are fuelling UKIP's success by retaliating to them. They are only as powerful as they are because the media make them so and because they know it will boost sales and ratings by having them there.

UKIP's success was not that much of an achievement. They have taken the place of the Green Party (who, from experience, UKIP see as a bit of a joke) in 4th place. That is good but U.K politics is mainly a two horse race with the occasional pawn shoved in to help gain power (cough, cough... Lib Dems) and those two horses will always be Labour and the Tories.

What did you think of the elections? Leave a comment!

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Friday 23 May 2014

What percentage of MPs like a bit of tit?

The No More Page 3 campaign released information last night about the number of MPs in certain parties supported their campaign. The results are interesting.

Green Party
Labour Party

Lib Dems
Tories
Hmmmm... most of them were lower than I thought. Isn't it funny how UKIP aren't there? Here is the NMP3 campaign's website: http://nomorepage3.org/

What do you think? Leave a comment!

Thursday 22 May 2014

#backfire...

My day has been lightened (although there is currently a storm brewing outside). Yesterday UKIP Harrowgate started up the #whyimvotingukip campaign again as a final push in morale before today's European elections. Over the course of Wednesday, UKIP supporters came out in their thousands raving about their lovely, immigrant-free, 100% British utopia which obviously got the hashtag trending and into the public eye. I don't think anyone really expected the retaliation.

When my friend on Facebook added a link to the hashtag's feed on his wall, I was sceptical as I thought it would be exactly what I've described above but no. There has been one of the biggest backfire I think I've ever seen on Twitter. There isn't even a piece of praise there any more... the whole hashtag has become a complete joke. Here are a few of my favourites:






I sent this to my UKIP supporting friend and he responded trying to back it with "It was planned" "It gives them headlines" etc... but no, it wasn't. The campaign was restarted again by UKIP Harrogate's twitter feed which since then has mysteriously gone private. The whole thing is a massive backfire for UKIP. Although they are supposed to do really well in today's election, the British public do not want UKIP in power and on top of that the majority of us see UKIP as nothing more than a massive joke. As I say to people when I'm talking about the party and their many blunders: yes, UKIP want to be treated as seriously as the rest of the parties but with that they need to behave like the other parties. All politicians have things in their heads that would upset the public but most have the restraint to keep it there. Over the past year so many UKIP representatives have been suspended because the public (not the party) have been outraged by their comments - including Mr Farage earlier this week with his comment of Romanians which he put down to being him being tired. We don't get that from other parties because they know what is right and wrong to say in public.

Do everyone a favour. Take control of your country, vote for anyone but UKIP.

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Who have/are you voting for? Leave me a comment.

Tuesday 20 May 2014

The Grand Eagle Ball - best gig ever?

19:30 Posted by Unknown , No comments
Those familiar with Laura Marling probably know that she did a gig in "The Grand Eagle Hotel" last year. This is a video that is on her website which shows the kind of things she was up to and I wish, wish, wish I had been there!

Five women I am in awe of.


As a teenager who has been brought up on the internet, I've been surrounded by millions of voices trying to be heard and some of them have rubbed off on me. I'm at that radical phase in my life where I have something to say about anything and want to know everything and I don't think that will change. As two years ago I was introduced to the idea of Marxism, I have been plunged into the world of Feminism this year (in particular campaigns such as No More Page 3). With my growing love of women's rights, I have found myself becoming more and more influenced by the actions of women and their stories. Although I have a very long list of women who I find absolutely amazing this is my top 5:



Lauren Mayberry

Lauren Mayberry - The Chvrches singer is like me, a Glaswegian. Not only is she an amazing musician and "Mother We Share" never fails to send shivers down my spine but she is an amazing example of women fighting misogyny within social media. In September 2013 Mayberry wrote a feature for the Guardian on how she is treated on social networking sights. Along with the article she released a photo on the bands Facebook page of an example of what she is sent on a regular basis. She is showing the world that just because a woman is "cute" looking doesn't mean that anyone has the write to request "superior love".
    Piper Kerman
Piper Kerman - Have you seen 'Orange Is The New Black'? No? Silly. The Netflix original is set in a  women's minimum security prison in New York state and follows the life of Piper Chapman, a middle class blonde after she is convicted of drug trafficking she did for her then girlfriend, Alex, after she is grassed up by said girlfriend who is also in the prison at the same time. The series is based on the true story of Piper Kerman who wrote about her experiences in her memoir of the same name. The story has been incredibly successful and has been highly praised for its inclusion of various women's issues such as: sex, transgender women, religion as well as others. Along with Jenji Kohan (the producer and creator of the show, also a woman), Kerman has been able to create a genuine feeling portrayal of what women go through when they are in prison with the message that we could all end up in prison some of us just choose the quicker route. The second season is due out on June 6th and they have recently got the go ahead for season 3.
Karen Gillan

Karen Gillan - Again, she is a fellow Scot, but oh my God... she is awesome. Never has there been a Doctor's companion as feisty and scary as Amelia Pond. I loved Amy, when she died - I cried like she was my best friend and maybe that makes me a sad little Whovian but I did and that is it. Last year she shaved her head for a role and kept it, only now is she beginning to let it grow back. She has been able to join the long list of Doctor Who companions and not become sexualised and keep her identity outside of it. Although I think there is a lot of Karen in Amy, Karen Gillan has been able to walk away from Doctor Who, like many before her, but then go on to much bigger things.

Laura Marling
Laura Marling - At the tender age of 24, Laura Marling already has four albums to her name (all of which have been nominated for the Mercury Prize) as well as a fifth on the way. As someone who loves sombre lyrics and beautiful guitar playing, Marling is like a Goddess to me. She writes what should be in poetry books and plays like it is the last time she'll ever do so. When I listen to Laura Marling, I get lost for hours at a time. As sombre in tone as her music is, it never fails to make me smile as it is so easy to relate to. She was heartbroken by Marcus Mumford and carried on making more and more beauty every time she plays. One of my favourite things to do of a warm evening is to just stare into the distance and reflect on "the life that I have led" and who I am and really clear my head. She is one of the finest treasures of modern music. 

Laurie Penny

Laurie Penny - If you're aware of female politics you probably know her very well and either love her or hate her. Penny is a journalist and editor of the New Statesman as well as being an avid socialist and feminist. In my exploration into feminism Penny is the person who stands out to me the most because she stands for so much of what I believe in. She is constantly hounded by trolls who terrorise her for her appearance and views yet she comes across as unphased. Having being hospitalised with anorexia in her teenage years as well as being a victim of rape and sexual abuse through out her career as a journalist, I find it truely amazing that she is still the powerful figure she is. Here is a video of her discussing feminism at Oxford University (also take note of the misogyny in the comments "because she is a woman"):


Of course, there are so many more amazing women who I could have written about and maybe this time next week it will be different. Over the past year I have realised that women are amazing and that we live in a society where misogyny is accepted - which needs to change. These women have liberated me in such ways that I am looking forward to womanhood and fighting for the rights of women across the world because it is what we deserve.

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Monday 19 May 2014

If childhood gender roles were carried on into adulthood.

We all know it, children's advertising is a haven for misrepresentation of both sexes. As a child Barbie was shoved down my throat as the "toy I am supposed to like" although I always wanted an Action Man; pink was "my favourite colour" because I was a girl although I very much preferred green (because it was the colour of my favourite football team. Most recently, my friends (all female) and I were talking about the Kinder Easter eggs and how one was marketed at girls (with a Polly Pocket inside) and the other at boys (with a Batman figure) and all six of us said we'd take the Batman if we had the choice. This is a video highlighting the ridiculous nature of children's advertising by projecting them onto situations adults face in their everyday lives:

 

What do you think of gender-roles? Are they accurate? Leave a comment!

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Socialism is human nature?

So I was on Reddit the other day and came across this image. As you can probably see it is promoting the ideology of Socialism by saying that it is human nature. Although I am a socialist, I don't agree with this picture, in fact, I completely disagree with it as I believe that Capitalism is human nature.

In case you're not familiar, here is a very simple explanation of both socialism and capitalism:

  • Socialism is the philosophy that everyone is equal and should be treated equally thus equal rights, equal pay etc. The idea is that everyone works together to make a collective achievement.
  • Capitalism is essentially 'survival of the fittest'. The idea is that we all earn our way through our own individual achievements which build up into power. If someone decides not to work (or cannot) they do not achieve.
Darwin came up with the 'Theory of Evolution' in 1838 which taught us that all organisms on Earth stemmed from the same species 'once upon a time'. The idea is that rather than God creating everything for its individual purposes (ie: Humans at the top because they're are in God's image) we evolved as a result of certain circumstances that forced us to adapt to our surroundings thus suggesting that we humans descended from the apes (ie: we were designed in the image of Rafiki from 'The Lion King'). Along with this came the idea of survival of the fittest which to a certain degree explained the extremely capitalist world of Darwin's time as us humans had gotten to the top of the food chain because we were the smartest and therefore the best of all the other animals. As time passed, we saw that we had dominated the animal kingdom and so we decided to exploit our own through feudalism, slavery, dictatorships and so the Western World and capitalism were born. Despite this some right-wing people still believe that we are "made in God's image" even though Darwinism sums up their ideologies perfectly.

So, if we evolved from the animals then we still have the same instincts as animals. After all, we eat when we're hungry, clean when we're dirty, sleep when we're sleepy etc and it is obvious that we have succeeded in the "survival of the fittest" game almost automatically. As the first point on the poster says: "HUMANS COULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED WITHOUT COOPERATION" which is true, we have helped eachother much like pack animals do (eg: wolves). We have proven that we are individually weak but collectively strong (which, after all, is essentially socialism) but also shown "survival of the fittest" in doing so. We have constantly been in conflict with each other since our species left Africa - fighting for land, resources, POWER because it is "instinctive" to do so in order to survive.

The second point, about charity, doesn't settle well with me at all as charity is not something that we as humans do lightly. Over the past few months Stephen Sutton raised £3 million for cancer charities as part of his bucket list after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2012. This was through the help of the British public backed up by various celebrities such as: Jason Manford, Jonathan Ross and Jimmy Carr. In months previous, there was the "No make-up selfie" in which women were urged to pay £3 to Cancer Research and take a selfie with no make up on and post it to social media and in return they receive praise. Although both of these campaigns are both incredibly good and have raised a lot for cancer charities, people still walk by people with money pots looking for the same reasons. In general we only give to charity if we're going to get something out of it. I'll let this video do the talking:


We are capitalist. Capitalism is human nature but despite this I don't think that this always has to be the case. As I said earlier, we have the capability to adapt and change and I do really hope that one day we become less greedy and help each other more. Maybe one day we will change but until then we are capitalist by design.

What do you think? Please leave me a comment.

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Not knowing.

I like you.
Or at least I like who I am when I'm with you. 
When I look into your eyes, 
I'm on a different planet.
I've always liked you...
Even before everyone else did. 
I still do... 
And I don't know if its worse if you know,
Or worse if you don't.

I find this so beautiful. It reminds me of myself this time last year and to a certain degree of myself now. I don't know who wrote it (if you do, can you please leave a comment?) but I found it via StumbleUpon and it is from a website called: http://hellopoetry.com/poem/243739/not-knowing/. Hope you enjoy it.

I want to start putting more poetry on here, doing Literature this year has really made me fall in love with it! Thanks for visiting, don't forget to follow me on Twitter.

Sunday 18 May 2014

Why is Media Studies a subject worth keeping?

Rumour has it that the government aren't sure whether or not they will be keeping Media Studies as a qualification as of 2016 as a GCE qualification. As a student who has taken the GCSE and is currently studying A-Level Media (as well as it being my favourite subject), I am outraged that in the near future children won't be able to learn about the world via the media.

Firstly, lets get some misconceptions out of the way about GCE Media Studies:

  • It is an easy subject - Nope, It is ridiculously academic. Although the subject is heavily coursework based, it is also heavily based on knowledge that you have obtained elsewhere about the outside world. "Good Media students", as one of my teachers would say, are having to constantly be looking out for things that could be used within the subject. What I have noticed about doing AS Media is that I can no longer just watch an advert and that be that, I have to analyse it as I watch it looking out for "mise-en-scene" and "representations" and whether or not "the advert is a cliché of every other advert ever". A couple of weeks ago we were given the "revision guide" for our Media exam this Friday and it was a sheet of A4 paper. Although we have less exams than other A-Levels (because we do coursework through out the year), we cannot revise because the exam specification is so broad, the questions could be on anything as well as the exam being 2h30 long making it (I think) the longest exam apart from Art. As I say to my friends, "the Media exam is hard because it isn't a memory test.". In subjects such as the sciences, the answers are determined from the guides the exam board release where as (like I said before) the Media exam can be on anything.
  • It is a girl's subject - The same as the sciences are a boy's subject? Let us not forget that as close as 40 years ago, journalism was a form of MEDIA almost exclusively run by men. It has only been it the past few decades that we have seen strong and truly amazing women come into the profession. Yes, in my Media class there is probably one boy to every three girls but journalism is still predominantly a male profession and many of them are there out of privilege rather than the quality of what they are saying. Look at current journalists such as Owen Jones who is from a working class background standing up for the mis-representation of the working class in the media, he came from state funded education and now regularly writes for the Independent as well as being a successful author as a result of his books on the working class. He is one of the most intelligent people I can think of in today's media and he is a "normal bloke".
So with these two misconceptions straightened out why does our male-dominated, academic government feel that Media Studies isn't worth our time? Well, this is my theory: I believe that the media run the world. They can take a reasonably good politician and make him look bad as well as taking a reasonably bad politician look good. We do not listen to the government directly, we listen to the media's (already altered) view on what the government have told us and so (depending on what paper/channel we hear it from) we are going to take that view rather than the government's direct view. It isn't just politics, it is everything... two-step flow theory: the mass media (ie: everything that is going on in the world at present) is picked up by the media - called "the gatekeeper" (ie: newspapers, news channels, blogs etc) and give it to you. It could be a kind of soap or a film, anything! Media tycoons are some of the richest and most powerful in the world. Rupert Murdoch has more money than sense and has political influences not only in the U.K but in America also. Simon Cowell has dictated what kind of music the world listens to for about 20 years now. The media has tremendous power over the world we live in today.

To me, I think that politicians are seeing a form of aid for themselves (in order to increase voters or boost popularity etc) slowly begin to become more powerful and more influential than government itself. Social media, for example, has given everyone with internet access a voice to be heard by people across the world (even me, a 17-year old school girl) and with that people are able to see what is actually going on in the world without the aid of two-step flow and it has become much easier for people to question what the government are actually doing. Also, an increasing amount of young people from working backgrounds are coming into the media with left-wing views (many of which are women) threatens the Etonian, right-wing government that are currently in power. They want to decrease the power of left media before people actually begin to question the greedy policies that the "selfservatives" puke out upon the British public.

Of course, I am not saying that this is a feminist attack or that the sciences are any less important than the arts as Media Studies tends the reflect both and you can look at the media via both routes. I just cannot stand people bringing it down because it is a subject that they haven't bothered their time to partake in and won't because women do it. If there is such a push to get more women into sciences such as engineering and physics then surely shouldn't we also be trying to encourage more men into media? 

As someone who hopes to study Media at university, I, naturally, would say it is the best subject in the world but let me tell you one thing. When I chose Media as an opinion in year 9, I thought it would be the most boring piece of crap I'd ever experienced yet I now it is something that my life revolves around. 

I couldn't embed an extract lecture by Owen Jones on the working-class that we watched this year in Media into post so here is a link to it.

What do you think about Media Studies as a qualification? Please leave a comment!


Saturday 17 May 2014

An update on Halal meat.

12:06 Posted by Unknown , , , No comments
This week, I have visited both a Subway and a Pizza Express (not intentionally) and in the process was not converted to Islam and the food, as a whole - my calzone had courgettes in it, we very nice as it always it... don't worry racists of the world, it is safe!

Here is my original post about the 'Halal Scandal': http://theelectricmangoclub.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/islamophobia.html

Friday 16 May 2014

Morrissey has Twitter!?

Here is Morrissey with a cat.
Who is the maniac that has allowed one of the most outspoken, controversial people in the world a twitter account? Do they realise what they have done? They have given someone who pisses at least one person off per week a means of accessing just about every person in the world in a matter of seconds. Welcome to World War 3...

Of course I am very excited about this announcement as Morrissey is my king and I treat everything he says as if it were in a religious text but oh my... we are all going to die!!

Obviously, the account is to accompany his new single (below) and forthcoming album and to be quite honest, I do think twitter will suit him well as God knows there are so many loud mouth arseholes that must be silenced by his wrath, *cough cough* Katie Hopkins. 

We'll see...




Thursday 15 May 2014

My thoughts on Gary Barlow.

17:36 Posted by Unknown No comments
Oh I'm conflicted. It is almost three years since I saw Take That at the Etihad on their 'Progress Tour' and I loved it. Little 14 year old me and my Mum dancing along to Robbie Williams (and the rest of them). At the time I was very much a fan of Gary Barlow, not in terms of his appearance but in terms of his "musicianship" as I was naive to the likes of miming and copying other peoples music. As I grew older, I realised that he wasn't actually playing that piano and that "Love, Love" song sounds a lot like "Uprising" by Muse and that really the highlight of my night in Manchester was definitely seeing the Pet Shop Boys as the support act.

I also became politically motivated and came to realise that although Mr Barlow was a very charitable man, doing a lot of work for Children In Need, he was still a greedy capitalist who took any chance to exploit the thousands of adoring fans he had grinned at so smugly  when he announced the split of Take That in the 90s. He then reminded us of how much of a money grabbing prick he was by replacing Simon Cowell's role on The XFactor.

As of this week it has come to light that he and fellow band mates Mark Owen and Howard Donald had held back £63 million from the tax man. Greedy bastard. Imagine what that money could be going toward... he could have given it away to charities, given it back to the government to improve the lives of millions of British people yet he kept it for himself!

My hatred for this man is growing day by day and with it I am hating a group that I was so fond of growing up more and more.

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Wednesday 14 May 2014

Islamophobia...

Over the past month we have seen all of the country's leading political parties display their plea for the public's vote in the European elections due to take place on the 22nd. This has led to fairly 'interesting' representations coming out that not only are derogatory to Muslims but to anyone who is not a British worker. Not only was there the UKIP campaign urging us to 'TAKE BACK CONTROL OF OUR COUNTRY' but there was the BNP's hideous display of 'patriotism' in their banned T.V advert:


which at best was laughable. The video talks of "All the spongers of the Earth" coming and selling the Big Issue by day and murdering people at night whilst also having time to drive around molesting children in gangs etc. Of course, as if always the way, these "spongers" were all portrayed as Muslims.

Front page of The Sun on 7/5/14
Around a week and a half later 'The Sun' released a headline about Pizza Express using Halal meat in their pizzas although the chain had been using it for a number of years and wasn't a secret. This was a follow up to the outrage caused by Subway's announcement to introduce Halal meat to some of their restaurants in which thousands upon thousands of "Christian believing" Brits decided to take to Twitter in anger.

This was also accompanied by the kidnapping of over 300 Nigerian school girls by the Islamist group Boko Haram (which funnily enough isn't on the BBC's front page of their website today) where again thousands have started the online plea to "#BRINGBACKOURGIRLS".

So for the past few weeks, Islam has been at the front of everyone's mind in some way or another - at least a lot more than it has been in recent years. Whether we are outraged or petrified, or both we cannot stop thinking about the 'Islamification' of our country.

Before we go onto full blown hatred, let us remember that also in the news this week was the story of an MoD investigation into 'trophy photographs' taken of a British soldier in 2012 crouching down over a dead Taliban fighter with his thumb up at Camp Bastion. And let us not forget, put in the words of Russell Brand, "... Michelle Obama posed with a 'free our girls' hashtag thing, someone pointed out that many more girls from neighbouring nations are being killed by drone-strikes authorised by Barack Obama.".

A question I ask myself whenever topics like this come up in the news is 'Are we any better?'. How is a photo over a dead Taliban fighter justified or morally correct? Treating the death of someone as a game, it almost mimics the attitudes expressed in video games such as Battlefield or Call of Duty. Why have these men that took those photos been able to get away with it for two years yet Lee Rigby's killers were captured within hours? In this country we are so quick to point the blame at other nations and accuse them of terrorising us when we have been terrorising them over resources for 20 years now. Where they may kill many innocent people, we do the same and we constantly attack these groups threatening them more and more and so get a bigger retaliation.

The situation reminds me of an anthem at my favourite football team Celtic FC, which was set up by Catholics and so as a team, being of Catholic and Irish decent we have a huge link with what happened in Ireland. The song is called 'The Ballad of John McDonnell' and there lyrics read:
"And you dare to call me a terrorist
Whilst you look your gun
When think of all the deeds that you have done-
You have plundered many nations
Divided many lands
You have terrorised their people
You ruled with an iron hand
And you brought this reign of terror to our land"
I believe the lyrics are intended to be addressed to the English but don't hold me on it. But still the sentiment is the same, we seem to subconsciously attack other nations and beliefs. 

We tell ourselves that we are protecting our Christian morals but are we. Take the Halal meat "scandal", we say that the problem is that Halal isn't humane and goes against Christianity yet the majority of the Christian population don't go to church and more and more people are become Atheist. Also, as Christians, we have no problem eating a battery farmed chicken for our Sunday roast and who says that cutting an animal's throat is cruel, 50 years ago that was the norm, why is it suddenly an outrage now? I have no difficulty believing that these people are not horrified for their religious beliefs, they are horrified because they are Islamophobic and far too sentimental about British culture. 

We live in a society where "Arabs" are portrayed as the ultimate villain and we lap it up. In films, T.V shows, in the controlled media. Recently, I watched a documentary in my Media class called "Reel Bad Arabs" which covered this topic very well. It was based on the book by Jack Shaheen. 


People seem to be unaware that the majority of Muslims who migrate here just want to have a life in another country like the "British" do if they want to move to Spain. And yes, of course terrorism is an awful thing and it kills many innocent people and terrorists should be punished but is fighting terrorism with equal amounts of prejudice and hatred really how we should solve this?


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Here is the whole episode of Russell Brand's 'Trews' series on YouTube where I got his quote from:


(17/05/14) Here is a little update on the Halal situation.