Unreasonable
From my fellow Golden Strawberry comrade, in his post yesterday:
The big dividing line (and there are always dividing lines to be found) in this coming century, it seems to me, is between those who believe in a secular, reason-based way of life, and those who choose instead to prostrate themselves before an illusion. With terrible results.
Indeed. An article in the Sunday Telegraph today illustrates another one, about a chap called Trevor Brooks (Abu Izzadeen to his mates). Speaking to John Humphrys on the Today programme:
Mr Humphrys is used to exposing the equivocations and evasions of politicians. But Mr Izzadeen did not equivocate: he called John Reid "a murderer", said Tony Blair was "a terrorist" and "an enemy to Muslims and an enemy of Allah". Mr Izzadeen insisted that he couldn't care less about free speech, and that he would only observe "the Islamic process, not the democratic process". Allah "created the UK: it doesn't belong to you, or to the Queen, or to the Government, but to Allah. He has put us on earth to implement Sharia law."
At that point, you could almost hear John Humphrys's jaw drop.
You could hardly blame him. Most of those listening were in a state of shock too. Mr Izzadeen's bigoted religious intolerance was breathtaking. It was a salutary reminder of what the ideologues of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism actually believe. This is not a movement, as some claim, precipitated by British foreign policy. It is not a stand against "oppression" or a cry for "greater respect". Its goals are far more extensive: dismantling our secular, pluralist and tolerant democracy and replacing it with Sharia law and an Islamic state.
From this standpoint it is also difficult to disagree with the main premise of Alisdair Palmer's interview - that phone tapping evidence should be made admissable in court.
Cory
