Every so often there is a reason to write a blog beyond saying something for the delight of one’s own ego. That occasion is now. Having just read an article on how English university campuses are being radicalized by extremist versions of Islam it has struck me how different this is to where I live now in Oman. I live in a Muslim society and I have yet to meet anyone who has appeared hostile.
Most people in Oman are friendly. Some show this stopping to give lifts to Englishmen they do not know. Some may know their history which will document the good relations Britain and Oman have shared over the years. In 1982 Oman supported Britain in a UN resolution on the Falklands conflict. British troops had helped Oman rid itself of communist insurgents from the 1950’s onwards. Evidence of this fact can be seen in the Sultan’s Armed Forces museum in Muscat. On display are a plethora of captured Chinese and Soviet weapons. Although I felt more at home viewing the British, Enfield rifle. I digress.
Where were we? Ah yes, Islamic extremism in England. What is going on? Why is extremism flourishing in my own country and not in a Muslim country where I now live and work?
I have heard some say that Islamic extremism most appeals to young men who have grown up without a father to guide them in life. This sounds apologist to me – I know someone whose childhood was fatherless and a less extreme person I have yet to meet – although I do not discount it as a factor. One of many factors.
Some say that immigration to the UK has been without due care and attention taking in people without concern for qualifications and education. Gordon Brown and Tony Blair certainly cared very little about the effects of their own lack of immigration policy. About 7,000,000 immigrants have arrived in the UK since Labour took power in 1997. Another explanation. But still not the whole picture.
There appears to be a contrast with the generally peaceful Muslim people I meet in Oman and the Muslim people who are drawn to extremism in my own country. Why?
British authorities have over the past few decades become more and more left liberal. More and more politically correct. More and more bending over backwards to avoid offending anyone. I recall how an Islamic extremist protest in London displaying hatred and death threats was largely ignored by the Police. The Police now appear symbolic of left liberal thinking in uniform.
Hardly surprising when one considers the issues involved arresting anyone today. We all have our rights, of course, but if you are Gay or from an ethnic minority the perception is amongst those who are not that those rights are now largely weighted in that direction. Was not a student in Oxford threatened with arrest for calling a horse gay? Are not newspapers such as the Guardian likely to scream from the rooftops as soon as they sense that ethnic rights have not been met? Who would want to be a Policeman in multicultural fractured Britain today?
It could be good. It certainly could be better. What is wrong?
People today are afraid of the answers. The Left have a stranglehold on the moral high ground. Any comment made is vetted for racism or any possible offence caused to anyone. This is not freedom. This is left liberal fascism.
Those in authority in Britain think they are doing the right thing. They are not. Not so long ago I read a book by an Indian man aged ninety nine. It was a lament for an England he knew from the 1950’s. He was an immigrant but came to love his England, his new home. An immigrant who was intelligent and hard working. He had something to offer. He was not an economic refugee looking for a free lunch or someone with a chip on his shoulder. The English have been brainwashed by decades of left liberal dogma. This is the result. A country which is powerless to do anything about the extremism in its midst because it ties itself up in knots arguing about who is most likely to be offended. If it was not so tragic it would be pathetic.
England, get a grip.
