I am one of many people to say that I am proud to be British. I love the United Kingdom as it is a country I was raised in. Its surroundings, scenery, atmosphere and people I've been raised around through my life have pleasured me to be the person I am today. Despite the weather and the government, I am pleased to call the UK home. However, there is one underlining issue which overshadows this wonderful democratic nation - the intolerance of some people towards other's views.
This lack of respect has given me that unwelcoming urge to rant. This has come about because a soldier was brutally murdered by two heartless criminals who used a machete as their weapon at a busy Woolwich street in London. The two suspects were quickly caught by police officers who shot the pair. They are both still alive but are being treated in separate hospitals. Once they recover from any wounds, they would be questioned by detectives and are expected to be locked behind bars for a considerable amount of time.
I always condemn any crime and especially offences such as going out of your way to murder a complete stranger stone cold, it sickens me. However, my rant isn't aimed towards the culprits - although, whoever criticises them have every right to. My rant is aimed towards those who blame an incident like this on billions of other innocent people who are being target to abuse, because of their faith.
The criminals in this case knew exactly what they were doing. Their target was a member of the military and claim that because of the recent atrocities in the Middle East, the army is to blame. Their reasoning matches those of the suspects who bombed a busy part of Boston a couple of months ago, during its popular marathon. However, the culprits in London proclaim they did this offence for Allah - the God in which Muslims praise and pray to. This is the baffling point. My main complaint on the culprits' behalf is that God will never accept such violence in any country. He also never wanted people to take revenge on others - in fact, any religion would agree that we must "love thy neighbour". Some people believe the death penalty should return because of what happened this week but I don't believe in this life-for-a-life issue. However, it isn't the death penalty debate which has bewildered me. It is the issue that because these criminals openly described themselves as the followers of Islam, everyone who follows this religion must also receive abuse.
Here is one example of such abuse found from a Facebook status I saw moments after the attack in Woolwich. It reads, "Two Islamic men have beheaded a British soldier with a machete today... its an Islamist terror attack.... 'Allah Akbar' was shouted when the man was beheaded. The young soldier, wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt, was attacked "like a piece of meat" and dumped in the street, according to witness reports. I am anxious over the role of Islam in our society, it's time to ban the burqa, and deport radical preachers and end immigration from Muslim countries. Before this happens again!"
Now, I don't know about you but I find this incredibly offensive. As a person who champions multiculturalism and the inclusion of all races in any given situation, I was pulling my hair out asking to myself why on earth does two people's heartless crime reflect on an entire religion? I am all for deporting radical preachers, if they are deemed a genuine danger to a country, but a call to ban all from Muslim countries to enter another is absolutely uncalled for. What astonished me was that some of the responses from this post echoed the poster.
I am surprised that people from the Middle East would want to come to the UK and the US in the first place. The British government under Tony Blair invested billions on hiring the military to place bombs on the heads of innocent Iraqi citizens ten years ago simply because Blair et al believed Iraqi government were in possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Many of the immigrants from this region come to the UK for a better life, a life away from home which is deemed unsafe because of the unrest caused by others.
The people who write such social media statuses may not have taken notice of the British interventions to Iraq and Afghanistan but instead call soldiers hired to place these bombs "brave" and therefore invest millions of their money to charities like Help the Heroes through sympathy and media hype. There is nothing wrong with supporting such charities, however, due to such media hype we are spending money on something we didn't want. None of us wanted to invade Iraq in 2003. Neither did we want to intervene in Afghanistan. But since we are involved in these wars, we have to respect the army. They deserve respect as it isn't their fault if they are asked to go to places like Afghanistan, although it is their choice to go and risk their life. However, there are invasions such as that in Iraq which provoke such attacks by criminals closer to home. That being said, there will never be a justification towards heartless crimes like that witnessed in Woolwich this week, however, people have no right in slamming a religion that hasn't any association to crimes.
I don't blame the people who write such offensive messages on social media - I actually feel sorry for them. If only they were educated the positive aspects of Islam and not get sucked into the negative the media inject them on a daily basis. People would then see countries in the Middle East and people originated from that part of the world at a different light. The people in Syria, Iran, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Bahrain and so on, protest against the same radicalism the British despise. Although the approach by some of these rebels can appear graphic at times, they are campaigning for the same notions as those in the UK who want to get rid of people associated with al-Qaeda or any other evil affiliation. However, with the media injecting poor coverage of the Middle East, radical political parties such as UKIP and BNP and movements such as the English Defence League take advantage of this and therefore have gained more support and respect in recent years.
UKIP in particular have been popular this year. The recent local election has proven this, after the party received an average of 25% of the votes, sending a clear message to the Coalition government that they may be the next big thing. The party, which is led by Euro-sceptic Nigel Farage, follow similar ideologies to those who write such Facebook messages. They want immigration clamped after seeing the previous Labour government and David Cameron's government today not do as they wish. It is parties like UKIP which revel in the media misrepresentation of the Middle East and inject even more myths about a region, which boasts many positives some choose to ignore. I will always condemn the actions by the heartless criminals in Woolwich this week - however, they do not represent an entire religion.
This lack of respect has given me that unwelcoming urge to rant. This has come about because a soldier was brutally murdered by two heartless criminals who used a machete as their weapon at a busy Woolwich street in London. The two suspects were quickly caught by police officers who shot the pair. They are both still alive but are being treated in separate hospitals. Once they recover from any wounds, they would be questioned by detectives and are expected to be locked behind bars for a considerable amount of time.
I always condemn any crime and especially offences such as going out of your way to murder a complete stranger stone cold, it sickens me. However, my rant isn't aimed towards the culprits - although, whoever criticises them have every right to. My rant is aimed towards those who blame an incident like this on billions of other innocent people who are being target to abuse, because of their faith.
The criminals in this case knew exactly what they were doing. Their target was a member of the military and claim that because of the recent atrocities in the Middle East, the army is to blame. Their reasoning matches those of the suspects who bombed a busy part of Boston a couple of months ago, during its popular marathon. However, the culprits in London proclaim they did this offence for Allah - the God in which Muslims praise and pray to. This is the baffling point. My main complaint on the culprits' behalf is that God will never accept such violence in any country. He also never wanted people to take revenge on others - in fact, any religion would agree that we must "love thy neighbour". Some people believe the death penalty should return because of what happened this week but I don't believe in this life-for-a-life issue. However, it isn't the death penalty debate which has bewildered me. It is the issue that because these criminals openly described themselves as the followers of Islam, everyone who follows this religion must also receive abuse.
Here is one example of such abuse found from a Facebook status I saw moments after the attack in Woolwich. It reads, "Two Islamic men have beheaded a British soldier with a machete today... its an Islamist terror attack.... 'Allah Akbar' was shouted when the man was beheaded. The young soldier, wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt, was attacked "like a piece of meat" and dumped in the street, according to witness reports. I am anxious over the role of Islam in our society, it's time to ban the burqa, and deport radical preachers and end immigration from Muslim countries. Before this happens again!"
Now, I don't know about you but I find this incredibly offensive. As a person who champions multiculturalism and the inclusion of all races in any given situation, I was pulling my hair out asking to myself why on earth does two people's heartless crime reflect on an entire religion? I am all for deporting radical preachers, if they are deemed a genuine danger to a country, but a call to ban all from Muslim countries to enter another is absolutely uncalled for. What astonished me was that some of the responses from this post echoed the poster.
I am surprised that people from the Middle East would want to come to the UK and the US in the first place. The British government under Tony Blair invested billions on hiring the military to place bombs on the heads of innocent Iraqi citizens ten years ago simply because Blair et al believed Iraqi government were in possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Many of the immigrants from this region come to the UK for a better life, a life away from home which is deemed unsafe because of the unrest caused by others.
The people who write such social media statuses may not have taken notice of the British interventions to Iraq and Afghanistan but instead call soldiers hired to place these bombs "brave" and therefore invest millions of their money to charities like Help the Heroes through sympathy and media hype. There is nothing wrong with supporting such charities, however, due to such media hype we are spending money on something we didn't want. None of us wanted to invade Iraq in 2003. Neither did we want to intervene in Afghanistan. But since we are involved in these wars, we have to respect the army. They deserve respect as it isn't their fault if they are asked to go to places like Afghanistan, although it is their choice to go and risk their life. However, there are invasions such as that in Iraq which provoke such attacks by criminals closer to home. That being said, there will never be a justification towards heartless crimes like that witnessed in Woolwich this week, however, people have no right in slamming a religion that hasn't any association to crimes.
I don't blame the people who write such offensive messages on social media - I actually feel sorry for them. If only they were educated the positive aspects of Islam and not get sucked into the negative the media inject them on a daily basis. People would then see countries in the Middle East and people originated from that part of the world at a different light. The people in Syria, Iran, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Bahrain and so on, protest against the same radicalism the British despise. Although the approach by some of these rebels can appear graphic at times, they are campaigning for the same notions as those in the UK who want to get rid of people associated with al-Qaeda or any other evil affiliation. However, with the media injecting poor coverage of the Middle East, radical political parties such as UKIP and BNP and movements such as the English Defence League take advantage of this and therefore have gained more support and respect in recent years.
UKIP in particular have been popular this year. The recent local election has proven this, after the party received an average of 25% of the votes, sending a clear message to the Coalition government that they may be the next big thing. The party, which is led by Euro-sceptic Nigel Farage, follow similar ideologies to those who write such Facebook messages. They want immigration clamped after seeing the previous Labour government and David Cameron's government today not do as they wish. It is parties like UKIP which revel in the media misrepresentation of the Middle East and inject even more myths about a region, which boasts many positives some choose to ignore. I will always condemn the actions by the heartless criminals in Woolwich this week - however, they do not represent an entire religion.
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