The European Union is trying to crack down on the British press and force them to stop describing terrorists as Muslims when Islamic terror attacks occur, reports the UK paper Express. It's an effort meant to stifle speech in the name of political correctness.
The aptly titled European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) issued an 83-page report that includes 23 recommendations for changes to criminal law, freedom of the press, crime reporting and equality law, according to the report. ECRI chair Christian Ahlund blames conservative UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Britain’s desire to leave the EU for increasing racist thought and is urging her to comply with the commission’s report.
“The Brexit referendum seems to have led to a further rise in ‘anti-foreigner’ sentiment, making it even more important that the British authorities take the steps outlined in our report as a matter of priority,” Ahlund said.
The ECRI believes the British government should give “more rigorous training” to the press, saying, “It is no coincidence that racist violence is on the rise in the UK at the same time as we see worrying examples of intolerance and hate speech in the newspapers, online and even among politicians.”
Facts are problematic to Ahlund, who believes that it's not pertinent to mention a Muslim carried out an attack because it furthers nothing but prejudice against the religious group:
“ECRI considers that, in light of the fact that Muslims are increasingly under the spotlight as a result of recent ISIS-related terrorist acts around the world, fuelling prejudice against Muslims shows a reckless disregard, not only for the dignity of the great majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom, but also for their safety.
“In this context, it draws attention to a recent study by Teeside University suggesting that where the media stress the Muslim background of perpetrators of terrorist acts, and devote significant coverage to it, the violent backlash against Muslims is likely to be greater than in cases where the perpetrators’ motivation is downplayed or rejected in favour of alternative explanations.”
In other words, instead of protecting the safety of innocent citizens by warning them that Islamic ideology is behind an attack, Ahlund and his ECRI are more concerned about Muslim’s feelings.
The ECRI also “strongly recommends” that May’s government “establish an independent press regulator” to train “journalists to ensure better compliance with ethical standards.” This would be on top of the creation of the Independent Press Standards Organisation in 2014 which already regulates newspapers and magazines.
In response, the British government resisted, stating:
“The Government is committed to a free and open press and does not interfere with what the press does and does not publish, as long as the press abides by the law.”
So, here we have, once again, a meddling body of elites dictating the safety of an entire country of people for the sake of hurting a few feelings. Instead of condemning Muslim terrorists, they coddle them so as not to appear anti-Muslim and demand everyone else to do the same. It’s not hard to imagine a day when the radical Islamist threat is right in front of them and they will still deflect the blame away from Muslims and on to the far-right.
This is suicidal lunacy.
