The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

Link: Harry’s Place: Let them eat guinea fowl.

Watching the odious Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on 18 Doughty Street last night reminded me of this article. This nasty, intolerant woman, who dismisses all of right-wing views with the words “…there will always be idiots…,” has made a career out of trashing the nation which took her family in when it was expelled from Uganda.

She is very fond of finding “racism” in our attitudes, but this story reveals the reality. Those who cry “racist” often do so cynically as part of a conscious or unconscious demand for privileged treatment. Muslims who demand the “right” to ignore the customs and courtesies of the majority population are, in effect, demanding privileges. Such is the fear of being tagged “racist,” it is usually easier to submit.

This has long been a successful strategy. But such people engender racism where there was none. The backlash against Muslim special pleading which is currently underway is – in most cases – carefully modulated by a desire to avoid racism. There is a danger however, that the resentments engendered by the tactics of people like Yasmin Alibhai-Brown will boil over into the real thing.