Wednesday, April 09, 2008

So Weak: Torygraph Scribblers Are Not Fit For Purpose


Farmer Dale draws our attention to a Muslim hypothetical. This is that - in theory - there is a justification for strict Muslims who have been convicted and imprisoned for sex crimes not taking part in group therapy.

This is presumably because unidentified verses of the Quran and/or ahadith thereon state that Muslims should not discuss such crimes in front of others. Presumably also should not commit such crimes in the first place?

The downside of this - in theory - for the incarcerated is that prisoners of any background, religion, temperament, shyness, health etc opting out of such sessions may - in theory - delay their release as the risk of releasing them is held to be less easy to assess.

The downside of this - in theory - for the service is that in the fullness of time an oxymoronic but devout Muslim sex offender may take the service to task and claim discrimination on grounds of religion.

Iain's post - which ought perhaps to be calling for castration for hair-trigger bloggers and scribblers instead of drawing sweeping comparisons with alleged laws and practices in Teheran - is problematic as is the original Telegraph story HERE. That's because neither one nor the other quantifies the problem or even states whether it is a real issue rather than a complete, and by the time Iain posts his spin on it hysterical, hypothetical.

Because of this glaring omission it would not have made it into the hallowed pages of student papers I worked on 30 years ago. Editors would have simply said "This doesn't stand up Dale, this doesn't stand up Farmer*, it's not going in my paper." So how has this got onto "Britain's leading political blog" or a desperately sliding right wing "quality" broadsheet?

As things stand - whether or not there is a real problem or not - this story is not at a level of readiness for responsible publication. It is more like something Nick Griffin would insert into a likely-to-be-banned party political broadcast or a filthy fascist pamphlet.

* Pure coincidence. The Torygraph scribbler and dog whistler's name is Farmer.

6 comments:

tory boys never grow up said...

Totally agree Dale has been incredibly sloppy. There must be plenty of precendent/case law where religous beliefs and the law have come into conflict in the past - which would inform the sensible reader as to how such conflicts might be handled by the courts. However, no attention is paid to these whatsover.

Dale shoudl know better than highlighting it as a Moslem only issue when it clearly isn't

Chris Paul said...

Absolutely. The Torygraph piece is pretty shoddy. But Dale takes things to another level.

Ted Foan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Yes, Chris, Iain Dale is a homosexual - your gratuitous reference to him as "farmer Dale" is puerile and unnecessary.

If he lived in Iran he would not only have his gonads removed simply because he has announced his homosexuality openly but he would also be strung up by his neck on a 40 foot crane in the centre of Tehran surrounded by baying mob.

This is pretty rough justice - some may call it medieval barbarism. This happens - now - in our 21st century - under a form of Islamic hegemony that purports to be the only true religion.

Your criticism of this particular Iain Dale blog on the grounds of sloppy journalism illustrates yet again that you are just another tired and muddled left winger who has run out of ideas. A bit like your beloved so-called New Labour Party?

tory boys never grow up said...

Anon

If using one type of bigotry in order to justify another is your idea of a good idea - then rest assured that the Labour Party won't be coming up with anything that you might see as an idea.

And I think that the Farmer reference has nothing to sexuality whatsoever - I think it is about the use of dog whistles - but I am sure Chris can put you right on this.

Chris Paul said...

I have no idea what my drunken midnight commentator is on about TBNGU. I am not aware of any relationship between the monicker "Farmer Dale" and Iain's sexuality. Farmer Dale is a character in a kid's book - a shaggy dog story as it goes - and Dale Farm is a brand, and Iain is in fact from a farming family.

Clearly Teheran is among the places on this earth where life for LGBT people is not as free as it is in our society and where there is in extremis death for sexuality. However I am not sure what Iain's use of graphic examples from Iran was to do with the irresponsible Torygraph piece.

Absolute rubbish. BNP standard politics. Which is not to say Iain is a racist or a BNP supporter or any such. Just that he is very a careless and often hysterical - not in a good way - blogger.