What People Think of Islam Readers' Comments LEFT, RIGHT & CENTRE Researched & Published By Islam Surveyed December 2016 2 Contents Page 1.0 Summary 3 2.0 Typical Comments 5 3.0 The Guardian 17 4.0 The Independent & similar 86 5.0 Daily Mail, The Telegraph, & similar 95 6.0 Times, Regional & International Press, Other 111 3 1.0 Summary This is a survey of readers' comments on articles about Islam and Muslims published by leading quality and popular British newspapers over the 12 months to November 2016. It updates a similar survey covering 2015 and earlier [See Note 1] It concentrates on social, cultural, religious and political topics and mostly ignores terrorism and armed conflict in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The Islamic State is sometimes covered because it has such a strong Islamic dimension. 1.1 The Main Findings Across the political spectrum, from the Guardian to the Daily Mail , an overwhelmingly large number of readers are critical of Islam, severely so in many cases. The criticism covers a wide range of subjects including freedom of speech, sharia, family law, how to handle extremism, extremist beliefs, treatment of women, integration, multiculturalism, and segregated communities. At least 90 percent of the comments and the votes on the comments are negative about Islam. The only difference between the Guardian on the left and the Daily Mail on the right is Guardian readers write far longer comments!! [2] Section 2.0, a selection of TYPICAL COMMENTS, gives a quick overview of what readers have to say. Outstanding comments are highlighted . 1.2 What's Covered The survey is divided into sections, covering the Left, Right and Centre of British politics. Articles Surveyed The Guardian 59 The Independent & similar 9 Daily Mail, The Telegraph, & similar 19 The Times, Regional and International Press, & Other 13 For each article you are given: (1) Title and date. (2) A short extract from the article to illustrate its content. (3) The most popular readers' comments - those with the highest number of votes, or recommendations, or likes, from other readers. This is a huge sample The 59 Guardian articles in this survey have an average 1018 comments per article and top rated comments typically get 300 to 400 readers' votes. We estimate that some 5,000 readers are involved in commenting and voting on just one article. Allowance has been made for the fact that readers can make more than one 4 comment and vote on more than one comment. Altogether the section of this survey covering the Guardian could represent the views of some 50,000 to 100,000 people In the case of the Daily Mail , a single top rated comment attracts 10,000 to 20,000 readers' votes! 1.3 This is Why Another survey, This is Why – 2016 , just published by Islam Surveyed casts more light on why there is such widespread criticism of Islam. A copy can be downloaded from: https://islamsurveyed.com/view-download-summary-reports/ NOTES [1] Readers’ Comments – What People Think of Islam , February 2015, 124pp. http://readerscommentsonislam.com/view-download-reports/ [2] On the subject of Islam the Guardian is totally out of step with its readers. Most of its articles take the line there is nothing wrong with Islam or the way it’s practiced; if there are problems it’s everyone else’s fault. Racism lies behind any criticism of Islam. It provides a platform for Muslims to complain about how they are treated or viewed - e.g. Muslims are victims, not all Muslims are the same - but it is happy to publish Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) party pieces, to rubbish modernising Muslims, and to ignore its readers’ concerns. The irony is the Guardian could do more to help Muslims by being sensibly critical some of the time and by supporting Muslim reformers, instead of being so-wilfully one sided. For further information about "Islam Surveyed" see: http://islamsurveyed.com/ 5 2.0 Typical Comments The Guardian Louis Smith’s ban is just a distraction from Britain’s real race issues [TOP COMMENT 346 votes] “Yes, the gymnast’s drunken antics were Islamophobic.” Nonsense. In fact, the ban itself is Islamophobic, in the literal sense: fear of Islam. He wouldn’t have been banned for mocking Christian prayers. [2ND 283] Let’s stop for a second here. A person, in the UK and in 2016, has been suspended for mocking a religion. It is horrible and incredibly dire. [4TH 235] No its not. It’s what’s wrong with our Politically correct culture and bowing down to uncomfortable truths. The only question you need to ask .... if he ridiculed say Christianity, would he have been punished in the same way if at all? [5TH 233] You need to stop conflating race and religion. Race no one can help. Religion is a set of ideas, some making pseudo scientific claims and some making moral and ethical directions. They are up for challenge and mockery accordingly. Prevent is failing. Any effective strategy must include Muslim communities [TOP COMMENT 236 votes] “Rather than mosques and madrasas being targeted as potential hotbeds of terrorism, a claim that has no basis in fact” ????????? Channel 4 filmed preachers and obtained DVDs and books inside mosques which were filled with hate-filled invective against Christians and Jews. They condemned democracy and called for jihad. They presented women as intellectually congenitally deficient and in need of beating when they transgressed Islamic dress codes. They said that children over the age of 10 should be hit if they did not pray. [ANOTHER 108] So what are the alternatives? Apparently, woolly inclusive flammery which ignores political extremism entirely, even though violent terrorism is always the result of political extremism, and the problem is the community which condones the political attitudes that can be used to justify violent action. Nicolas Sarkozy’s bigotry cannot define our worth as children of immigrants [TOP COMMENT 397 votes] “If you want to become French, you speak French, you live like the French. We will no longer settle for integration that does not work, we will require assimilation.” What exactly is wrong with this sentiment? [5TH 166] Someone from an ethnic background came past with a big family in tow. The head of the family took an interest in a motorcycle I had. We talked at length. I shook his hand in the standard British greeting, then wishing to be friendly, extended the same greeting to his wife (what else could I do?). She put her hands behind her back and said that her culture forbid her to make such a greeting. I stood there, hand extended, more than miffed as you can imagine, indeed shocked. If this is your “multiculturalism” .... I want nothing to do with it. 6 After the New York bomb, Muslim Americans are braced for a backlash [2ND 191] “… remember our common humanity” Kind of hard to do that when followers of a certain religion are taught by their holy book that non-believers are less than human and are to be converted or killed. European Muslims are not new. Nor are they all the same [TOP COMMENT 615 votes] “How European societies embrace growing diversity will in many ways determine the fate of our democracies.” Keep pushing, keep raising the temperature with your elitist tone-deafness and you’re going to see the reaction of all reactions. Europeans do not want this ‘diversity’ yet you continue to tell us that we do. [3RD 468] Just look at the Pew poll data. The vast majority of Muslims surveyed across the world hold what would be considered conservative beliefs regarding marriage, homosexuality, equality of the sexes, freedom of speech and law amongst others. If the question was levelled at me “do you want a group primarily comprised of people like that coming into your country in significant numbers?” My answer would be, emphatically, “no”. The politics of fear: how Britain’s anti-extremism strategy has failed [TOP COMMENT 331 votes] “At present, those organisations – the “good Muslims”– which the government collaborates with or finances, frequently enjoy no street credibility: how could they, if they never criticise the domestic or foreign policies of their government sponsor?” The whole problem is the politicising of Islam – and you suggest we pander to it? Religion is just about ok if it consists of private prayer, observance of rituals, festivals and so on. The moment it’s used as a prism to view political events, it’s already too ‘radical’. Expressing political views is a right – so is holding religious views. But combining the two things results in a third column of people born in Bradford or Marseilles who think that the war in Palestine is an attack on them personally – they’re part of the problem, not part of the solution. Angela Merkel and Marine Le Pen: one of them will shape Europe’s future [TOP COMMENT 569 votes] .... the Left has helped drive the debate to extreme positions by its seeming inability to differentiate between white supremacist nutjob racists and the “Mrs Duffy’s” of this world and treating them as if they equalled the same thing? [4TH 443] One of them has helped destroy Europe’s social fabric and caused divisions that will never be heeled. The other one is Marine Le Pen I was escorted off a flight due to racist profiling. Britain must banish this bigotry [TOP COMMENT 883 votes] “The only way for society to progress is for the public to be aware that Muslims are exactly the same as everyone else.” 7 .... What would you have the security services do by the way? Just ignore concerns? Yes, whilst Islamic terrorism is a huge threat all over the world, you will suffer some inconvenience.