Britain’s Conservative Party Members See Islam As A Threat
One headline on the BBC, Sky and a number of other media outlets stated the above. They did so after a poll was held of Conservative party members regarding Islam. Apparently 56% polled believed Islam to be a threat to the British way of life.
In fairness, about 800 people were polled, as far as I can tell, against 124,000 members so, for balance, the headlines were not quite the true picture.
What this poll does suggest, however, is that Conservative supporters may well have something of an issue with Islam.
The polling results, released last month, found that almost half of Conservative members would not accept a Muslim as the country’s Prime Minister according to the BBC and the rest.
Excuse me? 800 polled out of 124,000? Where does almost half come from then? They are clearly making this up as they go along.
The poll results were released as Tory members vote on whether Boris Johnson, or Jeremy Hunt should be their next leader and Prime Minister.
Opposition Labour Shadow Equalities minister, Dawn Butler said: “This poll shows that Islamophobia and racism are ingrained among some Conservative Party members. It is worrying that the people choosing our next Prime Minister hold these views.”
The rampant anti-Semitism among Labour’s ranks clearly not a worry for their Shadow Equalities minister then?
I myself have grave concerns regarding Islam in the UK. (Really? Get away! Nobody would have ever realized!)
However, it is amazing – well it is to me anyway – how such a small and relatively insignificant comment can make such a difference to me.
The other day, I stopped to light a cigarette. I inadvertently drifted to the left, noticing in my peripheral vision that I had stepped in front of somebody.
I turned and said “Sorry sweetheart”.
The lady in question was of Somalian origin. She was a Muslim wearing traditional Muslim attire.
“That’s all right darlin'” she replied, smiled, and walked on.
I stood there with my mouth open, looking not unlike I had been newly lobotomized.
A Muslim woman, of Somalian origin (you can often tell by the facial appearance), wearing traditional Muslim attire – although, thankfully, not one of those awful ‘peek-a-boo’ veil things – actually smiled at me and said, “That’s all right darlin'”
That is all it took you know.
All it took to make me think differently.
After months, nay, years, of being regularly chastised by some as being somewhat Islamophobic. After years of thinking ‘I can’t handle all these alien creatures around here’. After years of genuinely believing that Islam is a very real threat to us.
I haven’t changed much I readily admit. But I have changed a bit. Just because of that one small insignificant sentence. “That’s all right darlin'”.
That one small sentence, along with the smile, made all the difference in the world to me. I genuinely believe it would have made all the difference in the world to many – had they heard and seen it.
One small sentence. One lovely smile. One mind beginning to open and think again.
Could Islam adapt to the west eventually? I doubt it but – just maybe?
From small acorns do mighty oak trees grow?
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It’s more the rule in the US, I think. It’s the Christians that wear their affiliation on their sleeves and try to change the culture for their own benefit and power. Maybe the melting pot has chunks in it, but we do assimilate people into our culture, for better or worse, much of the time.
Hey, I remember when Jews used to be looked at as strange and very different. Not so much now although there’s a movement to categorize us as “people of color” whatever the hell that means. So I’ll bet there are other ‘little darlins’ in England who are pretty much like anyone else there.
Your mind is open right now. Imma wait to see how long it lasts, before I start getting together the bands for the parade we’ll throw you for seeing sense.
It is rare the words ‘me’ and ‘sense’ appear so close together! 🙂
Well,,that’s ‘you’ but it meant ‘me’….;-)
LOL! Me too, not to be confused with #metoo 🙂