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7/7, Alexander Armstrong, BBC, BBC Iplayer, Bomb scare underground, Etiquette, HIGNFY, Ian Hislop, iplayer, Islam, Justin Bieber, Muslims sitting next you on the tube, Notting Hill Gate, Paul Merton, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Underground
Last week on the popular satirical news quiz ‘Have I got news for you”, the guest host Alexander Armstrong quipped that to have ‘quiet crisis of liberal conscience’ was the ‘standard procedure’ for when a Muslim sits next to you on the tube. The joke received what it deserved; a pattering of knowing, nervous giggles.
What do you do when this happens? If you’re a Londoner – or, for that matter, New Yorker, Muscovite, Parisian, Roman or Berliner – this situation and your reaction to it is really no laughing matter. Choose wrongly and you may lose the use of your legs or even perish altogether.
Where I live (in Putney) I have the luxury of using the District Line, a relatively Muslim-light part of the capital’s network. I’m aware of the crisis Armstrong alludes to, but whenever I’ve used the Islamised lines of East-London, mine has a different content. It isn’t a crisis of ‘conscience’, but rather of etiquette. The question isn’t ‘How might I suppress/conquer my own bigotry?’, but ‘Will my fellows think me cowardly or rude if I switch carriage at the next stop?’.
I should clarify before going forward that we are talking here of devout Muslims; that is, bearded, religiously dressed men, or completely veiled women. I don’t feel any anxiety sitting next to a brown person. It should also be clarified that I mean here situations in which one will be seated for a long time.
With that out of the way, I’ll confess to what I’ve done in the past – not always, but on occasion. If a devout Muslim has chosen a neighbouring seat, I will often wait until the train is at the following station, head calmly out like that is my stop and then hop back into the neighbouring car instead. On most of the these occasions, it has been because the Muslim in question is embellished with a backpack or bulky satchel (those with memories of 7/7 will appreciate why this matters). I’ve never felt a whiff of bad conscience for doing this. My legs, my arms and my life mean infinitely more to me than my sense of political correctness.
I also think that if Muslims should ever dare to repeat an enrichment of the 7/7 kind, we could make good use of this gesture as a means of protest. Though I still make cover for myself when switching carriages, in the event that Muslims once again bomb our infrastructure, we could make standing up when a Muslim sits next to us a very emphatic display of moral resistance.
In dignity and silence, this public motion would make known our willingness to put our safety before the bullying demands of established politics.
D, LDN.
This seems to me a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and I routinely do it myself when on public transport – out of one carriage and into the other (I particularly remember doing this when commuting into work using the Piccadilly Line straight after 7/7, not knowing if I would be blown to smithereens at any moment – it is sheer prudence). I must admit I do this also due to rude and inconsiderate natives. But how terrible that those of use who do not cause a problem are having to change carriage due to a breakdown in authority and decency in society.
As the numbers of Muslims increase we are thus likely to see increased voluntary segregation whereby some carriages will be full of Muslims and some full of natives, and if a Muslim appears in the native carriage this will be reason to be even more concerned. In short we are seeing an unwanted colonisation with regard to the Muslims, and we need to get our own house in order with regard to the behaviour of our natives (especially the ever-growing underclass).
This may become formalised, even with certain people paying to be together. Then the Left and “offended” parties will say how terrible it is that some people have nicer carriages than others, this is discrimination, and in this we will see a microcosm of the modern liberal PC grievance society at large.
Glad I’m not the only one. I don’t care about offending the believers themselves, but I’m wary of seeming cowardly. Nevertheless, if a devout-looking Muslim carries a backpack onto a crowded tube-train, it is foolish to sit next to them. It might be brave, but it is also foolish.
Changing cars in the NYC subway is a regular thing for me, due to all the reasons mentioned above, and then some (fragrant homeless people can clear a car in seconds). Terror takes different forms, from loud bullying to bombs made out of pressure cookers. One must always be tuned in to the subtle signs of aggression, and there are many. I think in many ways, the West—our world, is becoming unlivable without self segregation. Equality before the law is one thing. Equality in human beings is a myth.
I always imagine New Yorkers as more ballsy than Londoners. British people don’t like ‘causing a scene’.
I’ve done this ever since 7/7 as but for the grace of good luck I could very easily have been on one of the trains that exploded. and I make no apology for it or even try to disguise what I’m doing. If an Asian with a bulky bag/rucksack/case gets on my train or tube, I leave the carriage at the next possible opportunity. Simple as that. Now, that is not at all fair to Sikhs or to Hindu’s or any other Asian non-muslims, but I’d rather hurt somebody’s feelings than lose my life.
Absolutely.
I used the tube the day after 7/7. I could have gone where I went a day earlier. It’s strange how these seemingly small decisions pan out.
Your list of sample cities omitted Mumbai, Madrid, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. And Nairobi, Kenya. The list is getting longer and longer.
Indeed. London is especially at special risk though, along with other ‘world capitals’. A south-European capital like Athens seems pretty safe, although it would carry great symbolic value if that particular city was attacked, given what it represents.
I spent most of my adult life in Coventry, a multi-ethnic and latterly ‘multicultural’ English city. I am not bothered about how other people dress, other than if they are wearing a face mask, niqab, balaclava or any other, in a public place. It doesn’t bother me if someone dresses from head to foot in black, ‘goths’ do so and a young couple in Lancashire were attacked a few years ago, one fatally so, for being dressed differently by of few of our own indigenous scumbags. The Western clothing that most of us wear is of American origin; if we wore traditional English clothing we’d all look like members of the Wurzels.
As for the terrorist threat, it is not so long ago that Irish terrorists backed a large contingent of American supporters, were causing carnage in England. Coventry was twice attacked by the IRA: in 1939 (in support of their Nazi friends), murdering five people and unsuccessfully in 1974, a week before the IRA bombed two pubs in Birmingham, murdering more than twenty people. Should it all kick off again, I wouldn’t assume that any Irish people were terrorists or even sympathisers, because the vast majority are not. In fact I’m sure there are plenty or Irishmen in London at the moment, working on Crossrail and travelling by tube to get there.
“Secular Vegan”, please familiarise yourself with this page:
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/opinion-polls.htm
Also with the Qur’an, which all Muslims are obliged to recognise as the direct word of God:
http://forum.theodoredalrymple.org/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=3496
And with the actions of Mohammed, whom Muslims regard as the perfect example of a man (this is why they take his name, which is now the number one name for babies in our country, England):
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/WWMD.htm
Indeed we did face a problem with terrorism from the IRA in the 70s and 80s, which has hopefully prepared us somewhat for what has happened and what more is likely to come. However, our government was stronger back then, the Irish did not have a book such as the Qur’an which they were obliged to follow and they were not present in anything like such numbers within our very borders, nor did they seek to change mainland culture and effectively colonise our country.
Please visit a suburb of a city such Birmingham to see for yourself what is going on, and think of the girls in towns such Rotherham.
I would add that Islamic garb is not some kind of fashion, either, it is a statement of otherness and of the totalitarian (and idiotic) ideology of Islam. If people would like to live in an Islamic society I would suggest they go elsewhere than the UK.
Gavin, I don’t need a lecture about Islam (about which I have already posted on my blog), Rotherham (ditto) or Birmingham which I have visited numerous times; the bus back to Coventry goes past a large newish mosque as it passes through Bordesley. I know several people of Asian (Sikh, Muslim or Hindu) upbringing and most are lapsed in the beliefs that they were brought up with. PS I can only assume that you have never been to Coventry if you think that I don’t know what a ‘multicultural’ English city is like. Visit and go for a walk along Foleshill Road.
Secular Vegan – sorry, I think I slightly misread your post there, thus my response. Hopefully my links will be instructive to someone else.
I still think we face a problem very different in nature to the challenge that was faced with the IRA. The only similarity really is that both will use terrorist tactics. The Muslims are likely to be even more barbaric though since they likely feel not only a religious division but also an ethnic one – and their religion instructs them to disrespect unbelievers.
I think when you have a few people, limited immigration, they can integrate if they have a will to do so – and they are quite obliged to do so for practical reasons. When you have so many, in so short a space of time, they instead set up parallel communities and that is why we have so many Muslim ghettoes. And because Islam is retrograde, they then resent those who are more successful than them (as socialists do). We’re now being outbred by them.
I hope your optimism is well founded, but what polls there are don’t look very encouraging the moment. Most of all, it just seems sad (to put it mildly) that this is all happening at all, when the British people would never have voted for it. Indeed, most supported Enoch Powell, but we know what was done to him (Ray Honeyford treated the same way).
I know Coventry is quite far gone now, though I have not been there for a long time. Birmingham too, Slough, Luton, Bradford. Many other towns also. We just have to face that Britain will not have the character it enjoyed for centuries again now, not unless there’s a major social upheaval.
p.s. On the dress sense, you say the Wurzels but I think Brideshead Revisited! Anything but the awful combination of slovenly “kidults” and Muslim dress one usually sees today.
Gavin, apology accepted. I’ve only just read your post. I think that some of the reaction against the way that Muslim women dress needs to be balanced against how conservative (with a small ‘c’) Christian women dress. I think that if Muslim women want to dress as conservatively as nuns, that is their prerogative. The real problem is the niqab, which is unacceptable in a society where covering one’s face in public runs contrary to the shared values of that society.
I agree what you say about ghettos and those running Labour-controlled Coventry City Council should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for recently granting permission for separate Muslim and Sikh faith schools. The latter I actually find more worrying because thus far Sikhs hadn’t been pressing for separate faith schools. I have to say that most of the people of Asian (Muslim, Sikh or Hindu) background I know are middle-class professionals and hence less inclined to a ghetto mentality.
If you want to boggle your mind – see this, which is a display of grovelling dhimmitude in response to the latest public display of bad behaviour – a hostage-taking – by a proudly self-declared Muslim, in Australia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-15/illridewithyou-hashtag-takes-off-following-siege/5
Useful Idiocy could surely go no further – and worse still, this mind-bogglingly crazy campaign kicked off even while the hostages were still being held at gunpoint in a cafe in central Sydney. It is ongoing even as the blood is mopped up from the two hostages who were murdered. Somehow, a lot of people have been fooled into thinking that the Muslims are uber-victims who need to be hugged and protected (nota bene – NOBODY proposed an “i’ll ride with you” campaign to accompany visibly-identifiable Aussie Jews, after we had a couple of truly nasty antisemitic attacks, nor in the wake of news of Muslim murders of Jews in Israel).
However, there *is* a satirical riposte underway, and it’s a doozie. See here:
http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/12/15/illnotridewithyou-backlash-against-the-illridewithyou-twitter-campaign/
The imagery people have put with their tweets is brilliant and apposite.
I was surprised that this happened in Australia. Not the terror attack, but the woolly-headed reaction you mention. Usually, mindless liberalism is a speciality of the UK-US.
I’m glad you wrote this post. I am so fed up of hearing from non-Muslims from the apparently counter-jihad crowd who say they are ‘against’ preemptively judging ‘someone they’ve never met before’ and criticising the non-Muslim who is simply taking steps to protect themselves by choosing not to sit near a Muslim person. I care more about my safety than I do, worrying about whether I’ve ‘offended’ a Muslim person or not. Do these mindless idiots who take the moral high ground actually expect me to behave counter to human nature for the sake of not ‘causing offence’? It is THEIR attitude which offends ME, because they refuse to acknowledge our basic survival instincts (our common sense) and they prioritize this below creating the appearance of being ‘civil.’ Along the lines of ‘Oh I’m better than that. We won’t stoop to their level by segregating ourselves.’ They’ve lost their minds. Let’s see how they feel when they’ve lived in a Muslim dominated area in a developing country where explosions on public transport are expected to happen at least once yearly. I will judge these people as much as they seem to judge me for my stance. When push comes to shove, they will be no different to me. Sometimes, the only way that people like that will learn is when they experience the challenges and the fear themselves. Their sympathy rests more strongly with the Muslims than it does with their own fellow non-Muslims who are (with good reason) wary.