Terrorism and Society
07.24.07 - 09:29am
Reading RickB’s post, The Memory Hole, over at Ten Percent reminded me of a disturbing interview broadcast on Channel 4 News at the weekend, an interview which for a moment gave a disturbing insight into the effects of racism and hysteria over Islamic terrorism.
A reporter was talking to Dhiren Barot’s lawyer (at first I thought it was his wife but I have since revised this) about her views on the attack on her incarcerated client at HMP Frankland, Durham. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find the film or a transcript of the interview but it went something like this:
Dhiren Barot’s lawyer: Dhiren does not deserve to be attacked like this.
Reporter: Do you believe that?
Dhiren Barot’s lawyer: Yes.
Reporter: Really? You really believe that?
Dhiren Barot’s lawyer: Yes.
It wasn’t hard to understand what was going on. The reporter was expressing incredulity at Dhiren Barot’s lawyer’s statement. The implication was that there were grounds for believing that somebody may deserve to be attacked by a prison inmate, have boiling oil splashed over him such that he was left horrifically burned, lost his hair in the attack and no doubt left scarred for life.
The climate of hysteria, fear and recrimination is having an effect. The continual dehumanising of “the terrorists” is serving its purpose.
There are so many stories of abuse finally surfacing. It seems the media doesn’t report them, or, like channel 4, does so in a very skeptical light.