Sunday, September 03, 2017

Three wise monkeys

The majority of crimes are committed by young males.  This is a statistical fact.  So is that first sentence in any way sexist or ageist?  If you see a young male walking down the street do you automatically think "he's probably a criminal?". Why am I asking this?  Because a Labour MP has been sacked for claiming that Britain has a "problem" with British Pakistani men exploiting young white girls.  She points to recent cases in Rotherham, Rochdale, Newcastle and Oxford of gangs of men coming before the courts charged with grooming and sexually abusing girls.  The majority of the men involved were of Pakistani heritage, and the majority of the girls were young white teenagers. So why was she sacked (or forced to resign which is pretty much the same thing)?  Because, according to the Labour hierarchy, what she said amounted to "demonising a community" - in other words labelling all Pakistani men as paedophiles. But was it?  I'm sure there are those who think that way, but was that the intention? Are we so afraid of being seen as racist that we cannot report what is staring us in the face?

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