Remarkable! A moderate, sensible, even balanced column about Muslims from Miranda Devine. No it’s not an oxymoron, and I haven’t been ingesting hallucinogenic substances. Read it for yourself.
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*waits for the four horsemen to appear*
I can’t work it out. Maybe she’s been around the Herald too long and the pervasive left-leaning atmosphere has finally overcome her. Or else she’s just keeping her natural right-wing indignation and loathing in check so she can save it up and have a real blowout next week…
I reckon that last comment’s on the money James.
The Thursday OpEd was also quite good. It was about the iman Zainal Arifin who stood up to the JI thugs (he was featured in Monday’s 4 Corners). It is good to see that Miranda is distinguishing between moderate muslins and their more extreme brethren. While I wouldn’t necessarily define the Mufti or Kayser Trad as moderate muslims, being in opposition to some their rather unenlightened views, they have to commended for expelling those thugs from the Islamic Youth Movement from the Lakemba Mosque.
She seems to be taking a more pragmatic view on the issue.
“But if you accept the view that the war against terrorism is not a “clash of civilisations” between Islam and the West, but a struggle between moderates and militants within the Muslim world, then Hilaly is a powerful ally.” (15/6/02)
“The courage of moderate Muslims like Zainal is our front-line defence against terrorism.” (12/6/02)
Ensuring that these violent, bloodthirsty militants do not gain any stranglehold in any community should be the first priority. Also, ensuring that moderate muslims are not radicalised will reduce the breeding-grounds for would-be terrorists. Explaining why the ‘us against them’ dichotomy is a crude simplication that would do more harm than good.
Obviously Hilaly is embroiled in a power struggle within the Islam community, with a position that’s encouraging for Westerners. I’m not convinced that he’s doing anything more than protecting himself against an internal threat to oust him from his position of influence. Given his hate messages against Jews in the past it’ll take a lot more than this stance to convince me that he’s acting from a position of morality and decency.
But I suppose we have to be grateful that in this instance he’s not acting against our interests.
Devine is trying to create a bit of branding herself as a “thoughtful” right winger, unlike, say, the totally-over-the-top Piers Ackerman or Janet Albrechtson.
She’s done it before, when she wrote a column against 4-wheel drives, for which she copped some flak from her erstwhile friends. After that, she soon reverted to type.
This is just a bit of market positioning by Devine. She is smart enough to realise that the complete far right loony bit of the columnist spectrum is a crowded field, and to stand out her product has to look a little different.
But like apparently different soap suds, it’s all marketing hype with no substance.
You might be right Dave but if she tries to go all moderate she’ll be out of a job. Her role with Fairfax is to generate readership by stirring the pot. Her columns tend to generate more “Outraged of Paddington” letters than Paddy’s do. I suspect that’s pretty much the yardstick of her “success.”
Geoff, that is the point. Paddy doesn’t generate letters because he’s a joke, and a shop soiled joke at that. If Devine positions herself as just a little bit thoughtful, say once every three or four months, then she is bound to generate a bigger reaction when she reverts to type.
LOL – “a little bit thoughtful, say once every 3 or 4 months.” I think we’d have to term that ‘enouragement with faint praise.’
A thuoghtful, intelligent (not to mention *your* adjectives) column from Miranda Devine, on *any* topic? I’m almost afraid to click. Supposing ’tis a trap?
“But like apparently different soap suds, it’s all marketing hype with no substance.”
Yep, she’s still a dingbat.
Anyone familiar with the Lakemba area who thinks the mufti isn’t a cancer within Australian society, is beyond reasoning. There are excellent reasons [from his perspective] for opposing Muslims who are a potential threat to his power; but don’t break open the champagne, or you’ll be sadly disappointed.