Muslims Against Jihad: Banned by PBS
 

On the same note, CNN has been running a very good documentary on extremism in the UK. It is called The War Within. Same vein of subject matter, quite telling. Here is the link:

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/siu/shows/war.within/

I read the first article, 'What I uncovered'. I would say I recognise the cultural setting it describes. I'll be honest, I was expecting something more anti-Islamic and tabloid (the comments on how this issue has been dealt with by the media is spot on) and was quite surprised to find a pretty balanced picture. I think the article identifies many of the current trends and probems and does so without demonizing the moslem communities.

What gets missed a little, is the counter trend within some white extremist groups towards low level, quiet, fear inducing violence. Because of the growing sense of division and islamophobia, those groups have found a way of communicating themselves to a wider audience and behaviour that was once generally considered socially unacceptable, has regained an air of heroism for some.

The journalist who wrote that, Christiane Amanpour, is half British half Persian, and a Commander of the British Empire, so she may be the ideal person to anchor such a report.

I would agree with this to some extent. I mean to say that the "low level, quiet, fear inducing" but non-violent, IMHO, attempt by the press for nothing more than ratings and shock effect which charaterizes todays broadcast and print news sources, which also equates on-line sources. People want to make this out to be some grand "white", read non-Muslim, extremists or in the more fringed cased thinkers, some grand conspiracy by Governmental interests. When in fact it is the news media's lust for ratings and headlines. The public at large needs to develop the ability to hear, see, and read this news and filter out the BS in the context of self-education on the issues, while at the same time processing the information being fed to them by numerous special interests.

Hence, why I posted the links for Pierce and others to read and judge for themselves.

In related news from today's headlines:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/wo...8pakistan.html

Most telling to me from that article was the following:
"Characters like the two Lal Masjid brothers are to be found all over the country,” it wrote. “They have money and arms and brainwashed followers willing to do their bidding.”

This to me is the real problem - many of these groups have been teaching their children to hate for so long that they know nothing else.