The Islamic Trojan Horse - Birmingham Schools (1 Viewer)

[Uncle Gizmo]

I recall this story from a few years back. At the time, I was appalled that this sort of thing was happening in the UK.

However this nice investigative journalism expertly reveals the political pushing and pulling going on behind the scenes, in this so called trojan horse takeover of the schools.

Podcast Here:-

Google Podcasts

podcasts.google.com

By Samira Shackle https://samirashackle.com/

This is a brilliant example of what journalism should be like. And even though I'm not sure that I agree with the political bent of the guardian newspaper, I'm beginning to think I should subscribe and support them!

I would be supporting this in-depth and traditional type of journalism.

 

[Isaac]

Next time I'm on one of my 30 minute drives, I'm going to listen to this instead of Tucker Carlson. I'll be interested to find out what the 'real' story is, or what they say it is. The acceptance of Islam is a topic I'm interested in.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

Next time I'm on one of my 30 minute drives, I'm going to listen to this instead of Tucker Carlson

I think you are familiar with podcasts and podcasting so you probably already know this, but I thought it worth mentioning for anyone else.

There's usually an option on the podcast to download it directly to your mobile phone. That way, you do not need internet access to listen, which is often poor when you are driving.

 

[Isaac]

I've finished listening to it. I gained some new knowledge about Britian, specifically British schools. It's certainly a very interesting and highly relevant/current topic.

When you were done listening to it, what did you think? Do you feel Samantha came across as 100% objective, or a bit on the apologist side? What do you think about the actual issue at hand?

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

When you were done listening to it, what did you think?

Hi Isaac, and thanks for listening, and posting!

I think it was good investigative journalism. I do think the Muslims had an agenda, in that they wanted to make the schools more in line with their faith. I don't object to this, because we do the same with our Christian schools. The school governors have a lot of leeway in how religious education is taught in their school, and whether it's Christian or Muslim is up to them. I wouldn't like my kids going to a muslim school, and I should imagine a Muslim wouldn't like their kids going to a Christian School.

However Muslims do have more of a segregation policy than we are used to, and it's a segregation policy that goes against basic human rights in the UK. I think that's possibly where they went wrong. This raised some red flags, and gave the political objectors a nice stick to beat them with.

As to what was said in the WhatsApp chat, this is a private chat between a private group of people, and I think it's of no consequence to anyone else what was said. To bring that out, and use it against them was totally wrong. What I say to my family and friends in private, is nobody else's business. Just the same as what happens in the privacy of your bedroom, it's nobody else's business.

However I will say if you think you're having a private chat on the internet then you're not! Whether it's a private forum, club, WhatsApp chat, then you can be pretty sure that someone will release it, or some officialdom will have access to it. So if you're daft enough to post controversial material in such places, then you should expect to suffer the consequences.

It was significant that all charges were dropped except some minor one's against one of the teachers. This does point to the distinct possibility that the government agencies went too far --- in the manner of a witch hunt.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the Guardian is a bit left wing, a bit democrat-ish in its Outlook. I don't know if the reporter Samira Shackle has that particular political leaning, but it is evident that Samira Shackle https://samirashackle.com/ is a very good and thorough journalist.

The main thing is, whatever your political feelings/leanings, if you can accept another person has a different point of view, which is just as valid as yours, and you can talk to them, reason with them, then that's how it should be. In other words you get to the truth.

Now the truth definitely appears different through different eyes, but once you talk to the other person, you can see what their eyes show them. If they are willing to see what your eyes show you, then you have a good basis for discussion and getting to the nitty-gritty of the issue.

I saw something the other day, it was a blog about a colour, some people said it was blue and some people said it was green. I thought it could be either, green or blue, but if I had to say a colour I would say it was blue. My wife said if she had to say a colour she would say it was Green. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, it's now Green!!!

 

[Isaac]

Fair enough. Yes, I was interested to learn that religious worship and such is a required component of schools there. I was on the fence about the WhatsApp chat. While I agree that probably that shouldn't "officially" have factored into the decision (they ought to have only looked at what ACTUALLY happened at the school), it does give one a little window into what at least some of them were really thinking. But then again, I also tried to be fair, in the sense that.....within any group of a certain # of people, there will be a few with more extreme viewpoints, especially when being expressed in what they thought was relative privacy. I can sympathize with those who are nervous in general about Islam, and probably simply don't want it promoted at all. It's been behind a lot of violence in the world, and not just 500 years ago, but currently. Of course they say that's just a few fringe members, but not everyone sees it that way.

I agree with your approach about getting to the truth. Dialogue and trying to understand other perspectives definitely makes us better. It may either change our mind on a topic, or further reinforce our position, but at least we can then wear the badge of having tried to understand and empathize before making a conclusion.