Nigeria: Muslims kill 6 in machete attacks on Christian villages; the Associated Press tells us "6 dead in religion-torn central Nigerian region"

"Religion-torn." It just might as well be followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as any other set of beliefs. We don't even get the usual, catchy, alliterative "sectarian strife." No, religion did it.

The headline could have been: "Muslims claim retaliation in machete attack on Christian village, 6 dead." But stories like this are par for the course: when Muslims attack non-Muslims, the mainstream media highlights reciprocal "tensions."

Bad publicity for Islam, as we know, is tantamount to incitement, running the risk of making the AP just as much a bunch of haters as Anwar al-Awlaki.

And of course, this would not be the first time the AP has gone rather Orwellian on us. "6 dead in religion-torn central Nigerian region," from the Associated Press, January 24:

JOS, Nigeria -- Authorities say machete-wielding attackers have killed six people in two attacks on Christian villages in central Nigeria.

The attacks occurred Sunday night south of Jos with attackers armed with machetes and firearms targeting two Christian villages.

Violence between Christians and Muslims has claimed more than 500 lives over the last year in Jos and surrounding areas.

Officials say the raid was in retaliation for a New Year's Eve attack on a van full of Muslims returning from a wedding that left at least eight people dead.

The implication there is that Christians fired the first proverbial shot in this round of violence. There is nary a mention of the massive casualties -- at least 86 dead -- in the Christmas massacres carried out against Christian worshipers. And of course, there is no mention of the drive to impose Sharia law across Nigeria.

But wait, it's not really about religion except when it sort of is:

Sectarian violence has been on the rise in recent weeks. The attacks often have more to do with politics and economics, though violence frequently falls across religious lines.

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gravenimage | January 24, 2011 3:41 PM | Reply

Nigeria: Six killed in Muslim machete attacks on Christian villages
...................................

Oh, no! This might make Muslims "look bad"!

Never mind the poor people *hacked to death* by Muslims. The mere reporting of this—never mind the soft-peddling and obfuscation—"defames" Islam.

Surely, the Associated Press must, ergo, be a tool of "the Zionists". sarc/off

Cornelius | January 24, 2011 3:56 PM | Reply

"Sectarian violence has been on the rise in recent weeks. The attacks often have more to do with politics and economics, though violence frequently falls across religious lines."

That paragraph reflects the utter incongruity of the liberal narrative, so steadfastly and faithfully upheld by the AP and the rest of the big media. The message couldn't be more succinct...

"...it's really not about religion, except when it is."

bernard | January 24, 2011 4:31 PM | Reply

http://www.antisharia.com/
NEW WEBSITE
Fighting Radical Islam, exposing the true Face of Islam, resisting the threat of Sharia Law in the West.

Islam_Macht_Frei | January 24, 2011 4:31 PM | Reply

I wonder if newspapers in the South used to say: "3 lynched in racially-tense encounter" or some such

Iceman | January 24, 2011 4:50 PM | Reply

The mainstream press are always using neutral terms to describe such atrocities but only, seemingly, when Islamists are the aggressors. Words such as Guerrilla, militants, fighters instead of Terrorist.

Words such as killing, deaths instead of murders. Indeed, the media tend to put quite a bit of code into their reports but they can be translated if you know how.

For instance, "Violence between Christians and Muslims," tends to mean the Muslims are continually terrorising the Christian population even though some Christians are trying to fight back.

lkeevy1 | January 24, 2011 6:29 PM | Reply

l think most people understand the MSM is quite a cheer leader with PC BS! we know the layers of lies MSM use on us, and that is why they are losing circulation with their rags and audience is shrinking with the dinoshoar media as well. good by ABC,NBC,CBC, and CNN

SaleemSmith | January 24, 2011 7:16 PM | Reply

Straight from the “Glorious Koran”. lolllll

005.033

YUSUFALI: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;

PICKTHAL: The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;

SHAKIR: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement,

In other words - whomever doesn't obey and submit to “Allah and His Messenger” - are the enemies of Islam and the Muslims, and fair game for slaughter, enslavement, etc etc.

But I digress - Of course we all know that Islam is the perfect religion of peace and justice. Yeah...sure...that's it...!

I am an ex-Muslim who knows full well how evil Islam is in part and on the whole.

Infidel#1 | January 24, 2011 7:17 PM | Reply

I wonder if the newspaper-reading public has caught on. D'oh!

'Authorities say machete-wielding attackers have killed six people in two attacks on Christian villages in central Nigeria.'

'Officials say the raid was in retaliation for a New Year's Eve attack on a van full of Muslims returning from a wedding that left at least eight people dead.'

'Sectarian violence has been on the rise in recent weeks. The attacks often have more to do with politics and economics, though violence frequently falls across religious lines.'

There you have it! In the article, the 'machete-wielding attackers' aren't described as muslims. And neither are the 6 victms described as christans. What is described is some lame excuse of a New Year's attack on some muslims.

We didn't ask AP of their opinion.

DJM | January 24, 2011 8:17 PM | Reply

What happened to Nigeria's 'shoot-to-kill' order?

Oh, wait... that only applies when Christians attack muslims...

Never mind.

Buraq | January 24, 2011 10:42 PM | Reply

Or, to put it another way,...

German forces attack Leningrad in war-torn Russia. Cultural differences cited as main cause. German soldiers dig trenches to hide from Russian wrath.

bernard | January 25, 2011 2:38 AM | Reply

http://www.antisharia.com/2011/01/25/why-the-argument-that-islam-is-a-religion-of-peace-is-not-convincing/

In Arabic there are two words: “salam” (peace) and “Islam” (submission). Muslims say that both are from the Arabic root word “slm”.Chapter 2:208:

"O you who believe! Enter full / completely into Islam, and follow not the footsteps of Satan, as he is to you an avowed enemy. "

There are Muslims who declare that the phrase is "enter fully into " peace "(salaam)." And so they use the phrase to say that "Islam is peace", "Islam is a religion of peace. "

Islam and Muslims are not the same thing:
Islam is 100% what the Koran says. But there are many Muslims who do not practice what is in the Coran.One hears the phrase repeated by Muslim leaders: "we should not judge Islam by what is done by a Muslim. "I agree 100%, we must " judge Islam by what is said in the Koran. "

Another argument used:

There are Westerners who say: "The extremists / terrorists are not the ones that define Islam, they are a aberration.Take out the extremists and it is a religion of peace."
Another argument:

There are Westerners who say: "You can not slander an entire religion for the actions of a minority of extremists / terrorists, there are extremists / terrorists in every religion, in Christianity and Judaism."

True, I agree 100%. We should judge a religion by what is written in the text,its beating heart, that is to say, the Koran.

http://www.antisharia.com/2011/01/25/why-the-argument-that-islam-is-a-religion-of-peace-is-not-convincing/

duh_swami | January 25, 2011 6:21 AM | Reply

Officials say the raid was in retaliation for a New Year's Eve attack on a van full of Muslims returning from a wedding that left at least eight people dead.

Did any Christians get arrested for this? Is there any evidence that Christians were responsible?

'The Raid' is always in retaliation for something...real or imaginary...most often it is imaginary or deliberately made up to justify 'The Raid'...There's a whole lot of 'Raiding' going on in Islam, Nigeria is just one place...

deebartok | January 26, 2011 10:21 PM | Reply

Marisol-

Interesting take and a good piece, but what to me is more telling is the “machete-wielding” moniker ascribed to these particular miscreants; never mind everything else.

This is twice-removed Islamo PC:

“machete-wielding, right wing, Alaskan, caribou hunting Catholic!” - or something.

sigh...

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