I'm desperately trying to stop this blog page becoming some kind of soapbox for anti-fascist political rants, but something has recently started circulating that worries me. Because it is ill-informed and dangerous.
Here's the offending piece currently doing the rounds:
In May 2010 Tohseef Shah spray painted a British War Memorial with "islam will dominate osama is coming" he was fined £50 & walked free from court. In November 2010, Emdadur Choudhury burned a Poppy during the. 2mins silence. He too was given a fine, £500 and walked free from court. Today, 2 men have been sentenced to 12 months in prison for spray painting a Poppy on a mosque. Pass this on if you think its a disgrace.
It's a two-tier system! One law for them and one for us! You already know my view on individuals who burn the poppy (to save you looking and as a synopsis "I don't think it's nice") but let's look at the facts properly here.
Hateful as burning the poppy is, the law doesn't have an immense problem with you burning something that you've purchased. Likewise, the British War Memorial isn't classed as a place of worship, for which defacement has its own legal precedent. Still, 12 months is a little harsh for painting a poppy on a mosque isn't it?
Let's use the magical power of the internet - remember that one I told you about a while back? That if you see a dodgy link on Facebook that simply typing the name of the link and the word 'scam' into google will tell you whether it's actually dodgy or not? This magical power is a little bit like that. "Fascistis Expeliarmis".
The internet is referring to the two gentleman responsible as the Durham Two. They're a bit like the Tamworth Two, only slightly more halal.
Anthony Smith, 24 and Steven Vasey, 32 (both old enough to know better) are EDL members. The spray paint on the Nasir mosque was the last of three pieces of delicious vandalism they'd carried out in what the media commonly refer to as a "spree". What the Facebook post doing the rounds conveniently fails to mention is that they also vandalised a Miko store and a local Guest House, both Asian-run businesses.
And pleaded guilty of all charges.
12 months seems really quite reasonable now, doesn't it? Of course it won't stop the ignorant and hard-of-thinking bleating that the law is unfair and unfairly favoured against white working class idiotic racists.
Messages that the circulate like the one above, despite invariably being incredibly poorly spelled (and grammatically weak) are dangerous. These people want you to hate the muslims - and after that, they want you to hate everybody who isn't like them. By only providing you with part of the facts they're inciting hatred via the simplest of acts - a little bit like the burning of the poppy that they found so abhorrent. If you're the sort of person who still thinks that 12 months is a little harsh for three counts of vandalism then you're an idiot. No argument. An idiot.
As a closing note on this top, the Imam of the mosque was quoted as saying, "I wouldn't have minded them spraying the poppy on the mosque but the issue I have is that they did such a sloppy job. The perspective was all wrong for a start, and there are 3 'p's in Poppy" *
And finally rumours are doing the rounds that the Daily Mail is ringing around Primary Schools asking which of them are doing Nativity Plays this year. This is undoubtedly the basis of a headline they'll be running around December in which they'll make up some statistics complaining that this country is becoming less Christian and more Muslim. That's what the Daily Mail do. I'm only warning you of this as a friend, because if I find myself having to write a blog piece complaining about you passing this one around, I won't be happy.
* Quote may be fictional for humorous purposes of comical closure to blog post.
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