Monday, October 09, 2006

British press: "Muslim" victims, "Asian" violence

One of my greatest pet peeves is the idiotic British habit of using the catch-all euphemism "Asians" to denote Muslims. (I have ranted about this obnoxious habit here and here and here). Of course, the British media always uses "Asians" in the context of Muslim violence. If we're talking about good deeds of Muslims, they're sure to be identified as Muslims. But if it's Muslim violence, all of a sudden they're "Asians" to the British media, "jeunes" to AFP, and a "broad strata of society" to the AP and Reuters.

This cowardly trend is taken to the point of absurdity in this article (h/t LGF; Jihadwatch noticed this article also), which uses both terms, "Asians" and "Muslims". This article uses "Muslims" to describe the people who were the victims of a hate crime, and then "Asians" to describe the people who responded violently to that hate crime:

Extra police are being drafted into the Windsor area today after three nights of violent clashes between white and Asian youths.

Gangs have fought battles in the streets using baseball bats and pitchforks. A Muslim-run dairy which wants to build a mosque was petrol bombed.

Not an Asian-run dairy?

Windows of the makeshift mosque and dairy vehicles were smashed. Residents said gangs of Asian youths travelled from Slough to fight the white gang. One youth was reportedly arrested for carrying a 12-inch knife.

Gangs of Muslims didn't travel from Slough? What were the Muslims doing while the whites and Asians duked it out? Watching from inside the dairy I suppose.

Read my entire rant here. And please check out the comments section, where Krishna109 points out how the British press's use of this euphemism is unfair to British Hindus.

1 comment:

  1. In my neighborhood we have a lot of Asian liquor stores, donut shops, laundries, and clothing stores. I wonder if I ought to be worried.

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