"The decision of women to wear Jilbab and men to wear beards in our communities is as much a statement of political intent as it is a statement of religion."

Next time I see that orthodox Jewish couple walking around Westfield at Parramatta in Western Sydney, I'll let them know that. Then I'll pass on your message for them to go back to the gas chambers.

Rache >“documented 80 to 90 thousand civilian deaths in Iraq ... not to mention .. hundreds of thousands that died because of the economic sanctions.”

I notice you haven’t bothered to break those figures down into numbers killed by Americans and those caused by other Muslims. It is typical of the left to always want to blame someone else. If the Sunnis decide they want to wipe out the Shia, that’s Americas fault?

There is a war going on within Islam at the moment for control of its future, and incidentally, for control of ours. So tell me. Are the attacks by muslims extremists in the Philippines and Thailand our fault? What about the 150 dead school children in Beslan? The killing of Christians and others in Dharfur? The attacks on Jews in Israel? The attacks on Hindus in India? The terror cell that comitted 9/11 were based in Hamburg. The recent riots in Paris by the so-called “youths”. Cartoonists in Denmark fear for their lives. Film makers in the Netherlands have lost theirs. All across the globe radical Islam is on the march, fighting not just for the future of muslim countries, but also of European, Asian and African nations.

I’m not suggesting that Australia’s muslim population is about to rise up in arms. What I am suggesting is that we need to stop fuelling the sense of victimhood which is pervasive in the Muslim communities. We have not only provided these people with a home, health care and a gov’t income, we have assured the protection of their right to practice their religion. Unfortunately we have gotten to the point where we are changing customs and practices because it offends them. Rather than the other the other way around.

BTW the sanctions were a UN initiative and many on the left begged for the chance to allow those sanctions to work. Well they certainly did work, unfortunately not on those who were its targets but is it our fault that Saddam chose to spend the money he received on weapons and aramaments instead of on food and medicine?

It interests me very much that I saw the same 4-Corners program as the author but I did not interpret it in the same way. I think most of us tend to read in an interpretation that reflects our bias. I thought Sally Neighbour was telling it like it is rather than making a case to blame non-Muslims. Perhaps she should have glossed over the ugly scenes and sentiments of protests against the application for a new Muslim school. Perhaps she ought have censored the angry victimhood of the young Muslim men. The program left me considerably disquieted rather than feeling guilty for what was happening to "poor disenfranchised Muslims". This article is one more example of someone with a strong ideological position using a dire social situation to beat upon a perceived ideological opponent. There was a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment out there and there was a lot of angry alienation out there from Muslims. Neighbour brought this situation to our loungeroom. Understanding of who and what is to blame, and how to ameliorate the situation is the task to which we should apply ourselves rather than taking opportunity to vituperate the so called Left.

The propagators and followers of the non sequitur that "non-Muslims are to blame" for Muslim extremism are bereft of imagination and historical sense. The causes might be many and complex but the dots that connect it with a KNOT to Islam are few and incontestable. It's in the religious fantasies of Islam, and the fatal attraction these have on many young Muslims, that extremism lies.

http://kotzabasis1australiaagainst.blogspot.com

I too felt disquiet at the 4 Corners show; and real despair watching the Camden debacle.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Well said FDR. In the present context what a pity it has not become a motto for us all so that we can welcome our Muslim brothers and sisters to this country instead of demonising them.

The only people who benefit from creating this fear and fostering division are those who bank the profit we make for them, and those poor misguided working people who address their own alienation by "lording" it over others, thus reinforcing their divorce from their own humanity.

Dear Bozo.. you got in b4 me.. shame :)

Ok.. I do recognize some very real biases here. Yes, some of them are in the article. Some of them are in the transcript and others in the posts.

1/ THE PROGRAM. The author correctly points out the discrepancy between Neighbours 'preferred orthodoxy' of poor alienated etc.. with the reality, 'educated, of considerable means and employed'

2/ RACHE She continues the other orthodoxy along the line of death of umpteen gazillion babies because of sanctions.. not mentioning Sadaam siphoning off available funds for his new palace or for military spending.

3/ CAZZA makes a reasonable point, which if nothing else, should re-direct the focus away from sizes of families and ONto the central doctrines of Islam.

OUTCOMES.
The four corners program at least provides a perspective, and one which these days can be itself used for a critical response.. on YOUTUBE. For a paltry $150 you can get a video editing package which will enable you to do all kinds of creative things and make your point 'seeable as well as readable.