The xenophobia behind wanting to ban Halal meat

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t’s becoming apparent that intolerance and xenophobia are on the rise in our society. Even though the majority of us have embraced multicultural Britain, certain mouth-breathers remain that refuse to stop looking back toward the days of Empire and reluctantly drag themselves into the 21st century. From the man who was forced out of a carriage by Chelsea fans because of his race to the people who just can’t stop vandalising anything religious that doesn’t have a steeple, minorities apparently can’t catch a break.

But every so often, a story comes along that’s so ridiculous, asinine and unbelievable that it makes you consider a one-way ticket to Mars. It’s recently emerged that someone known only as “Rodney” has been helping to co-ordinate a stickering campaign warning us that Halal meat MUST be linked to terrorism. Not content with making your weekly shop uncomfortable, the stickers appear to be popping up wherever these human-shaped turds can place them.

But as Rodney (and anyone else stupid enough to support him) insists, this is not Islamophobia. It’s apparently about a lack of choice. Apparently he simply wants his animals humanely killed. Right.

Surely if anyone has such a problem with the way Halal meat is produced, they should consider vegetarianism? When you think about it, that’s the most humane way to deal with animals. But leaving that aside, how exactly is this not Islamophobia!?

After all, this is someone who has linked a basic tenet of a religion to a tiny scion of the same religion. It’s almost like linking the sales of crucifixes with paedophilic priests, which is obviously ridiculous. It doesn’t matter how any apologists look at it, and it doesn’t matter if Rodney and his friends claim not to support right-wing policies. They’re being incredibly racist and casting aspersion over the way all Muslims live their lives, forcing them to all bear the burden a few have created.

Whether we agree with Halal or not shouldn’t be a concern – a religious group should be free to express themselves (provided they don’t impinge on human rights in doing so), and it is high time everyone learned to accept that. What really needs to be addressed is the growing trend of associating anything Islam with terrorism. While we do that, we only create a divide that makes it harder and harder to integrate as a society.

Why do we continue to only do this to Muslims? Why are they the one religion that is assumed to have no variance? Coming back to Catholics, I don’t recall any “community leaders” having to explain away the rampant paedophilia, homophobia and sexism which is expressed by the more devout believers. Can we just not accept them? Is that so hard for people? It’s difficult to understand exactly why we keep on blaming billions for the acts of hundreds, but it just keeps happening. It needs to stop now, otherwise we’ll never become a truly multicultural society. And what is Britain if not a mishmash of cultures from all over the world?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/husseinkesvani/this-guy-wants-to-ban-halal-meat-from-british-supe