The Elephant in the Room

The ABC's Q&A program gets roundly criticised for being too left wing. It is left leaning, there's no doubt about it. But there are very good reasons for that. Conservatives tend to be conservative, ie, boring. No one would watch the program if it was stacked with the likes of Gerard Henderson. Q&A is entertaining because it features people like Joan Baez, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Paul Kelly, David Suzuki etc.

I watch Q&A every week but I keep my brain alert for obvious left wing bias. Last Monday (12th October) was one step too far for me. It was the first time in it's long history that I switched off after just ten or so minutes. It was stacked to the gunwhales with pro Islamic do-gooders. I understand the reasons for that. The ABC dare not invite anyone onto the panel critical of Islam or it would put its staff at risk. It'd be Charlie Hebdo all over again. But here's the problem with that - you can keep on appeasing and appeasing and appeasing but in the long run you have to face the fact that you have been tyrannised and terrified and yet the threat remains. You can't win by grovelling to oppressors.

When British MPs were appeasing Adolf Hitler - pretending that he wasn't such a bad bloke after-all - here's what Winston Churchill said:

"The government had to choose between war or shame. It chose shame and got war anyway."

Some observers dispute that quote and claim it is an updating of an earlier quote -

"Owing to the neglect of our defences and the mishandling of the German problem in the last five years, we seem to be very near the bleak choice between War and Shame. My feeling is that we shall choose Shame, and then have War thrown in a little later, on even more adverse terms than at present."

Winston Churchill in a letter to Lord Moyne, 1938 [Gilbert 1991]

Whichever is the correct version, it perfectly describes the situation Europe and the entire free world faces today. We can keep on capitulating and grovelling and sucking Muslim arse but the day will come when we wake up and things will be much harder to remedy then. Our cowardice guarantees massive problems for future generations.

On Q&A one week ago we were told by a nice young sheikh that anti-Muslim fear was all due to a "misunderstanding". Oh really? Then please help me out here. Tell me what it is I misunderstand about the following -

The destruction of two US East African embassies with the deaths of more than 200 people and the wounding of more than a thousand.

The bombing of Pan-Am Flight 203 which exploded over Lockerbie Scotland killing 243 passengers plus crew.

The destruction of the World Trade Center in New York and the deaths of almost three thousand people.

An attack on the Pentagon with the deaths of 179 people including passengers.

The train bombing on Madrid station with the deaths of 191 people and the wounding of 1,800.

The Bali nightclub bombings with the deaths of 202 people.

The Luxor Temple attack with the deaths of 58 mostly Swiss tourists.

The London train and bus attacks with the deaths of 52 people and more than 400 wounded.

The Mumbai massacre and the murder of 164 people.

The Beslan Russian school bombing resulting in more than 300 deaths, 186 of them children (see photo).

The kidnapping in Nigeria by Boco Haram of more then 200 schoolgirls who have never been found.

The Kenyan shopping mall massacre that resulted in 67 deaths.

The Kenyan university massacre that killed 147 students.

The Baga massacre in Nigeria where more than 2,000 were either killed or captured.

The Tunisia beach massacre with the deaths of 38 mostly British tourists.

The Turkish market bombing with the deaths of 97 people.

Plus hundreds, maybe thousands, of smaller incidents that barely rate a mention.

But I'll mention them anyway:

The throat slitting of Danish artist Kurt Westergaard.

The hate rapes of several Sydney girls, some as young as fourteen, by Bilal Skaf and gang.

The murder of twelve Charlie Hebdo staff in France.

The murder of two innocent civilians in the Martin Place, Sydney seige.

The murder of Lee Rigby, an off-duty soldier in London.

The murder by a fifteen year old youth of a police employee in Parramatta, Sydney.

The multiple throat slittings and beheadings we see on our televisions.The riots and the demonstratons and the riots and the riots and still more riots.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I suspect that is why people loathe, detest and fear Islam, nothing to do with a "misunderstanding".

Everyone's looking for someone to blame. Is it Christianity? Is it atheism? Is it democracy? Is it Sunnis? Or is it Shiites? Is it the media? Just who could it be?

Here's my suggestion. I call it the Elephant in the Room. It's a book allegedly written by an illiterate camel-driver. The book is called The Holy Qur'an. In it, the author - whoever it was - says the following -

1. We will cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers... their lodging shall be the fire. (3.144)

2. Surely those who disbelieve in our signs – we shall certainly roast them at a fire...(4.59)

3. Do the people of the cities feel secure our might shall not come upon them at night while they are sleeping? Do the people of the cities feel secure our might shall not come upon them in the daylight while they are playing? (7.95)

4. Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them, capture and besiege them and prepare for them every kind of ambush. (9.5)

5. O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you a harshness. (9.125)

6. We shall let the unbelievers taste a terrible chastisement, and will recompense them with the worst of what they were working. When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks. (47.5)

7. The Jews, the Christians and the pagans will burn forever in the Fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures. (98.6)

Could that possibly be the reason why some Muslims take pride in murdering non Muslims? Could it be because they are under orders to do exactly that.

Until our leaders have the courage to notice and acknowledge the Elephant in the Room, we are fucked.