The Sun Scores A Hit With Its Muslim Woman In A Union Flag Headscarf Cover
THE Sun has been leading with IS, the group the media labels “so-called Islamic State”.
Yesterday the Sun’s cover featured a staged photograph:
In the Guardian Nesrine Malik (no headscarf) opined:
Yes, you there, Muslim – bleary eyed, sipping your coffee, who thought the activities of a militant group thousands of miles away had nothing to do with you – are you standing up to extremism right now? Is your Islam “British”? If not, then you are Part of the Problem.
Minorities look for codes. But the Sun is not challenging just Muslims.
Daniel Hannan (bare headed) writes in the Telegraph:
Some critics complained about the image which The Sun put on its front page earlier this week of a woman wearing a Union flag headscarf. Why should Muslims be singled out, they asked, folding their arms sulkily.
There are three answers. First, it’s wise to respond even to ill-founded prejudice with patience and courtesy. Second, the Sun wasn’t making demands of Muslims in particular, but asking everyone to be more patriotic: it’s precisely the aversion that some Britons have to such patriotism that contributes to the sense of alienation in the first place. Third, and most important, British patriotism is worth celebrating.
Think about what the above image represents. The United Kingdom is a country where it is unthinkable that a woman could be forced by law either to wear or not to wear symbols of religious devotion. This is something that makes us different from, say, Saudi Arabia or France. A Union flag headscarf is a totem of the religious pluralism that an open society takes for granted. A friend who has been known to wear a Union flag hijab tells me: “This is the best country in the world to be a Muslim. I can practise or not practice my faith however I want”.
Compare that sentiment to the banal nihilism of the jihadis, and then tell me which is the more attractive. We offer something better.
It is a striking image.
Posted: 10th, October 2014 | In: Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
