July 14, 2006

First suspect granted bail

Teenage Canada terror suspect granted bail - lawyer | Reuters

He won't be the last. Some of the suspects, I'm sure, were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's interesting that this happened so soon after this "mole" stuff became public.

On a somewhat related note, the Canadian media must really find some new Muslims to interview. I'm really tired of reading what Tarek Fatah has to say on every single issue. Perhaps it's only our own silence that allows people like him to have a forum to express such opinions; the wiser opinions, meanwhile, remain relegated to the depths of the vast wasteland that is the internet. Irrelevant opinions, indeed.

5 comments:

  1. Re: Tarek Fatah and the media: it's hard to break up a love affair once it starts. It has to burn itself out.

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  2. I don't know, sometimes I think we're responsible for making Tarek Fatah what he is. We don't give the media any rational alternatives.

    On every issue, it always appears to be Ali Hindy and Tarek Fatah. A lot of the most articulate and knowledgeable people I know tend to stay away from the media, for fear that their opinions may be misconstrued. I don't blame them, but unfortunately, it leaves the door wide open for people whose opinions are silly to begin with, ones that misrepresent all of us.

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  3. You're right, but the media isn't blame-free here. About not offering alternatives to the media - they're journalists, they're trained to find people. That's their job description. Except they stopped looking once they found Mr. Fatah.

    Because think about it, if you stopped and interviewed any random Muslim on the street, you would get way more rational answers from them than Tarek Fatah. But we do need to step it up. You can't expect to be silent and have people's understanding and sympathy.

    And, believe me, better Ali Hindy than Tarek Fatah.

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  4. I don't have an issue with Ali Hindy per se. I don't know much about him, to be honest. I'm just saying that he's one of the people who tends to always act as a spokesperson, for better or for worse. There are nearly a million Muslims in Canada; there has to be more than two people to speak on our behalf. CAIR-Can often does the best job of reflecting what I believe are Canadian/Muslim values, but they have been strangely quiet over the last month. Or maybe I just haven't been reading the right media.

    I don't consider the media blameless, of course.

    When the first terrorism arrest was made in Canada in March 2004, myself and most of my friends were contacted by the media in some way or the other. And at least one of them said some stupid things, and that's what made all the papers.

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  5. Quite agree. Tarek Fateh needs to be taken a notch or two down pronto. Was on the MCC newsgroup for a bit before the constant bickering over trivial issues got to me. Or maybe it was the whole grovelling bit after the Danish cartoon controversy. I mean, violence is out but atleast accept it was an insult and not just some random form of art.

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