March 12, 2015
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“What I do, however, do very well. Is English wit. This is a part of me that I cannot remove. It is purely instinctive and an aspect of my character which has led me to a great deal of trouble, particularly where a sardonic remark was completely unneeded, and yet the words evaporate from my tongue without any control as soon as I open my mouth. For me, it is in humour, that I find one of the ways in which I find my inescapable Englishness. Well that, and the fact that when I arrive in Lahore airport, I”m inevitably the last person to reach passport control as I”m too busy being courteous.”
One hopes that English wit will sustain this veritable saint during the difficult times which will ensue now that two of CAGE’s chief supporters have withdrawn financial support. But then this was to be expected, because the Charity Commission is politically motivated, enlisted in the “Cold War against British Islam.” Or was this just another “sardonic remark”?
It is more difficult to argue against the Bethnal Green parents, doubtless decent people who perhaps really could not have foreseen or done anything to prevent their daughters” departure into danger. It is very human for parents to blame external factors when their offspring do stupid things. The reasons for the girls” flight are deeply rooted in their private and family lives, and disentangling them would be difficult and painful. Far easier for the families to project responsibility onto an admittedly mistaken procedure “ and far easier for the police to apologise than defend themselves.
One can also understand a sincere Muslim like Dal Babu being irritated and hurt by white British officers” cool indifference to his own personal Prophet. Memories of real or perceived slights have clearly also colored his career “ successful though it was. His criticism of Prevent is a veiled criticism of a country which has never taken him to its heart, and which he has never taken to his. He cannot be blamed for being unable to view Islam with equanimity “it is we who should be blamed for giving him and many like him credence.
The core cause of British jihadism is of course the mass immigration mainstream politicians continue to promote, even though it was always obvious that when you import people you also import their pathologies “ and when you assimilate no-one you alienate everyone. But again this is too difficult a target for politicians, many of whom are complicit in the cause and are in any case chronically uninterested in culture. This is a fast-moving situation, but it seems certain that for the foreseeable future we will keep fending off horror with soft hands, while looking concernedly at the crumbling consensus behind.
