Satire or Bigotry?

Jules Crittenden has an odious little piece today, which he claims is satire, in which he takes the latest EU report on racism against Muslims and unilaterally decides what it should say. His attempt at satire leaves his own prejudices out on display. He hates Islam, sure - but he also seems to hate Europeans with a passion and wants them to fail.

Blame may be lain on the fact that Europe's economy, stunted by archaic socialism, suffers rampant unemployment, affecting both native Europeans and Muslim immigrants, for whom the economic basketcase that is Europe is actually an improvement. But that simplistic explanation would overlook the hatred of the West that is taught in mosques throughout Europe, as well as in European schools.

"Many Europeans, particularly young people, face barriers to their social advancement, because Europe is lost in a multi-cultural Leftie hallucination," said the report. "This could give rise to a feeling of hopelessness and social exclusion."

For contrast, here's the BBC's take on the same report:

Muslims' sense of belonging could be eroded by European nations not tackling discrimination, a watchdog has warned.
A report by a European Union-backed anti-racism body says the number of Islamophobic incidents in the 25 member states is probably under-reported.

The report calls on governments to speed up Muslim integration - but says Muslims must also do more to counter stereotypes and fears of extremism.

At least 13 million Muslims are thought to live in European states.

In the report, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) says it has documented a wide range of anti-Muslim or Islamophobic abuse across the EU's 25 member states.

It says that Muslims are confronting a rise in racism ranging from violence through to discrimination in housing and employment.

The EUMC's report lists hundreds of reported cases of violence or threats against Muslims from across the continent. These incidents include attacks on mosques, verbal abuse of women wearing veils or headscarves and other forms of discrimination.

However it says it is difficult to fully understand what may be happening because so few countries collect data on religiously-motivated hate crimes.

The report says the UK is the only member state currently publishing crime statistics on hate crimes against Muslims.

Beate Winkler, director of the body, said the 117-page report underlined the vulnerability of Muslims to discrimination across the EU amid an intensifying debate over Islam's place in the West.

"The report makes it clear that Muslims, along with other migrant and minority groups, frequently suffer different forms of discrimination which reduce their employment opportunities and affect their educational achievement," she said.

"This can give rise to hopelessness and could undermine Muslims' sense of belonging in the EU.

"Integration is a two-way process. Many European Muslims acknowledge that they need to do more to engage with wider society.

"At the same time, Europe's political leaders must make a stronger effort to promote meaningful intercultural dialogue and tackle racism, discrimination and marginalisation more effectively."

Surely to deny the facts of the report in favor of what you wish it said to reinforce your own prejudices passes beyond satire into outright bigotry.

I'm a Brit who was on the first "Rock against Racism" marches (the ones where the neo-nazis tried to start riots), not an American - so I'm not fooled by the rightwings double-talk.

The European Right has always leavened its "nationalism" with a healthy dose of racism and xenophobia. LePen, the BNP and others are simply the most visible tip of that rightwing iceberg. Others like Thatcher and Chirac may not actively promote white supremacist thought but it is implicit in their "Little England" and "France for the French" rhetoric.

Meanwhile, the American Right like Crittenden (as exemplified by the quote from today's "satire") tries its best to not acknowledge that the "dhimmicrats" of France are actually the conservative racists who have been in charge there the last decade and that the troubles in Paris have more to do with their racist policies than with any form of euroweenie socialist appeasement. Indeed, between Thatcher, Chirac and other leaders, the core nations of Europe have been governed by rightwing, rather than socialist, politicians for the last decade and more. Where does that leave Crittenden and the like? Engaged in an outright lie to bolster their little egos by creating a myth of their own superiority, that's where. Europhobia as well as Islamophobia.

People like Crittenden and Steyn should be ashamed of themselves for their deliberate subterfuge on their American readers - and the european right should be ashamed of their xenophobic duplicity - it is simple bigotry in full knowledge of the lie.

Oh...and the BBC has a PDF of the full report if you're interested.

Meanwhile, Michael Van Der Gallen, a European conservative blogger at The Moderate Voice, didn't realise at first that Crittenden's post was a perversion of the original and reported it as fact. Well, that's what happens when you rely on Crittenden - a man who would nuke Iran to halt global warming. (But I'm sure, if asked, Crittenden would claim that to be satire too. It's such an easy out.)