Two common variations on that tactic are accusations of incitement or complaining loudly about fears of a “backlash.” There has emerged a standard operating procedure: Deflect attention, and silence the discussion by claiming victim status.
And so it also happens in Australia, which is feeling the ripple effect of European declarations of the failure of multiculturalism. One detects a certain sense of relief in those countries that it is finally politically permissible to point out the elephant in the room — though some have done so for years, to those same cries of “racism” and “hatred,” and at the risk of their lives and livelihoods.
“Muslim integration the real problem,” by Andrew Bolt for the Herald Sun, February 19:
When you hear “racist!’ now, you know some coward is once again just trying to shut a debate he fears he can’t win.
No one who knows the Opposition’s immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, would dream he’s racist, as so many commentators now imply.
His real offence is that in shadow cabinet he suggested the Coalition tackle an issue of growing public concern before it turned even uglier.
That issue is Muslim integration. And add now the Gillard Government’s new defence of multiculturalism, a policy to fund what divides us that the leaders of France, England and Germany say has failed in their countries.
What broke multiculturalism there is also killing it here. That we have trouble integrating our 400,000 Muslims is beyond question, even if it’s also true that most make fine citizens.
Here are some statistics from a minority that’s actually smaller than our Buddhist one. Muslims here are more than twice as likely as the rest of us to be without work. Their children are twice as likely to be jobless, and three times more likely to be poor.
Their imprisonment rates are higher, and all 20 of the people we’ve jailed on terrorism-related offences are Muslim.
The reassurances offered by Muslim leaders are rarely much comfort.
Take Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, for many years Mufti of Australia, despite praising suicide bombers as “heroes” and calling the September 11 attacks “God’s work against oppressors”.
Hilali this week played down Muslim terrorism here by telling The Australian’s Sally Neighbour: “There are people who have the mindset to commit harm, but no one has the capacity to execute anything.”
As long as we keep catching them, we’re safe. But the bigger this community gets, the bigger the threat.
As the Labor Government admits in its own 2010 White Paper on terrorism: “The scale of the problem will continue to depend on factors such as the size and make-up of local Muslim populations.”
So with the number of Muslims here projected to increase by 80 per cent by 2030, any party that won’t discuss immigration betrays its duty to preserve harmony and public safety.
And any party that thinks the answer is just more multicultural tribalism is a fool.
One lawmaker proposed putting the brakes on Muslim immigration in the past week, and received a familiar response (thanks to Dumbledoresarmy). The senator who simply allowed the inclusion of the bill for discussion found himself having to defend his decision, on the grounds of free speech.