Why Are Irish Terrorists Less Newsworthy Than Muslim Ones?
Story and art by Christopher Patrick Nelson

I'm Irish, among other things, and close to ten years ago I became Muslim. So I know about both sides of that coin. I notice the big difference in the way terrorists who happen to be Irish and terrorists who happen to be Muslim are covered in the news.

There was, and is, a religious, political conflict going on with ancient roots in different parts of the world. Too many times the party lines have broken down along church lines and progress has been staggered. The conflict is remarkably similar regardless of the country. It is an occupation, and while the occupiers massacre peaceful civilian gatherings, the occupied set off car bombs. This is not just Palestine occupied by the Zionists, this is Northern Ireland occupied by the English. The battle rages on.

A week ago, a bombing in a London train station made front-page news. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was quoted as saying that the attacks possessed Al-Qaeda's trademark “ruthlessness” and was thus probably their work.   Since at the least 52 innocent civilians died, it could have been “ruthless” neo-Nazi's, a “ruthless” English version of the U.S. Unabomber, or, yes, “ruthless” Irish nationalists.   But, Blair went before Parliament and said that it “seems probable” that Muslims did it.   So front-page news it is.

As contrasted with the front and center placement of bad Muslims accused of doing anything, as shown above, gunfights and death in the streets of Belfast get shoved to 14A of the Tuesday July 12, 2005 San Jose Mercury News – in a corner, in the In Brief section. According to the all-too-brief section, this loss of a precious, irreplaceable human life was not even on the ultra-tense “Twelfth” holiday when Protestants mass through Catholic neighborhoods, but only on the night before. Another man, as nameless as the first, was reportedly left in critical condition.    Illegal organizations were involved, at least according to the politician's suspicions: the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Loyalist Volunteer Force. There's plenty of terrorists organizations in that part of the world – the Irish Republican Army, or Sinn Fein, for instance—and this violence was not an isolated savagery, but it is true that no Muslims were reportedly involved.

If there is a bias against Muslim criminals, as opposed to Catholic and Protestant ones, why might that be?   Islam is the fastest growing religion in America and in the world, not being spread by sword (bombings aren't very charming) but by invitation.   Orientalist Bernard Lewis fears for a Muslim-majority Europe, but Allah says in the Muslim Holy Book, the Koran, “There can be no compulsion in religion; reality has been made distinct from error.”  

This is an old problem for the white establishment; the British invaded Ireland centuries ago at the Pope's request, as the Spanish influence provoked fears of the loss of Catholic Ireland to Islam. (Spain was Muslim for the better part of a thousand years.) This is why Frank McCourt, in his Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, Angela's Ashes , describes his aunts' bigotry toward his other aunt -- Irish, but   “with the look of a Spaniard.”   This is why he describes blame for any problem being aimed at “the damned Protestants.” This is where the “Black Irish” come from. Newspapers and armies can only do so much, though. To this day you will find There is no god but Allah, in Arabic, worked into Celtic crosses.  

A Muslim voting bloc in the United States could elect a president.   A Muslim voting bloc could give him the mandate to liberate Palestine by simply suspending aid to Israel for its violations of international law. Such a move is already on the books in the U.S.   But no president enforces it.   Given that most Muslim converts here are from the historically oppressed African-American community, and given the emphasis on justice in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, the 7 million plus possible voters are no idle threat to the status quo.   Although all of this is quite democratic, it flies in the face of our government's policy since the massacres of Deir Yassein and other villages in the 1940's helped empty Palestine of most of its natives.   Those in power always resist change, and by making Islam appear evil, powerful media leaders obviously hope to do so.