Kilroy wasn't here...

I've been reading the BBC's reports on the fall-out from the BBC's very own, Mr. Robert Kilroy-Silk.

Short version via Aussie paper The Age

Anti-Arab slurs cost BBC host
January 11, 2004

The BBC yesterday suspended a popular British talkshow after its presenter branded Arabs "suicide bombers, limb amputators and women repressors" in an article in a London newspaper.

Presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk, a former British Labour MP, later expressed "very deep regret" over the column, which questioned whether Arab nations had contributed anything to civilisation.

The BBC said it would suspend the daily talkshow Kilroy, which records audience ratings of 1.2 million, while it conducted a probe.

Kilroy-Silk said the column was written in April last year in response to opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq. "It is not what I would have said today," he said in a statement.

The article, headlined "We owe the Arabs nothing", asked: "What do (Arabs) think we feel about them? That we admire them for being suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors?"

The Commission for Racial Equality said it would refer the article to police.

- Reuters

I think what Mr. Kilroy-Silk allegedly wrote was in very poor taste. Mr. Kilroy-Silk appears a racist.

Balancing his statements are some facts. There is the fact that a tiny fraction of Arabs do turn to suicide bombing missions, and under Sharia Law, which is maintained alongside secular courts in many predominantly Muslim countries¹ amputation is a penalty for some offenses.²

The overt or covert repression of women has been a part of most societies and continues today. It must be noted that in countries that practice Sharia Law, this repression is often overt, and very pronounced.

So, what to do? Mr. Kilroy-Silk was stating facts. Sometimes facts are ugly things. The things of which he wrote are not the exclusive domain of Muslims under Sharia law. All of these practices - or their analogues - have pretty much been with us since the dawn of civilization. They have ebbed and flowed in societies and religions worldwide. What gets people like Mr. Kilroy-Silk into trouble is not what they say is factually in error, it is because it is said of a distinguishedly different group.

Kilroy-Silk's words loosely fit the definition of racism as, 'discrimination or prejudice based on race.'

I am a Caucasian male. I have never been exposed to what I perceive as racism. The internet is awash in Causcasian racism as defined by the above definition. Every Red-neck joke, trailer park epithet, and in my particular case, atheism crack is an affront to my 'race' or lack of religious belief. Yes, Me personally! It is only because, by and large these slurs are made by white Americans for white Americans(jokes about each other are just about the only thing we make these days) are they not only tolerated, but encouraged.

The closest that I came to feeling discriminated against was when George H.W. Bush uttered this:

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God."

He uttered that pearl of wisdom to American Atheists' reporter Robert Sherman in 1987 while serving as Vice President.

At the time I thought this guy believes in an invisible sky-guy, and gets his moral guidance from a book that talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all this other stuff not only for which there is no evidence, but pretty convincing evidence that it's ALL a load of pure bs(I added the 'pure bs' thing as a plug for the site ;)), and I am the one whose citizenship should be questioned?

I'll share this with you. I wasn't going to touch this issue. I only decided to if I could frame it sans emotion. I hope that I have succeeded.

Although Kilroy-Silk's words were printed in an unaffilated newspaper, I would 'sack him.' He has, as is said, "a history."

Full text of "We Owe Arabs Nothing"

Much more Kilroy-Silk here

1. Most countries of the Middle East and north Africa maintain a dual system of secular courts and religious courts, in which the religious courts mainly regulate marriage and inheritance. Saudi Arabia and Iran maintain only religious courts for all aspects of jurisprudence. Sharia is also used in Sudan, Libya and for a time in modern Afghanistan. Some states in northern Nigeria have reintroduced Sharia courts.


2. I searched for a source that is neutral on the issue of Sharia Law. This Wikipedia page, while short on facts, appears to be neutral.