Dogwash

Things are not always as straightforward as we would like them to be.

I wouldn't want to detract from Tariq Jahan's grief at the death of his son, nor from the eloquence of his powerful speech to the media, a speech which I suspect did a great deal to defuse rising tensions and mollify threats from Pakistani groups around the country to travel to Birmingham and take 'revenge' on random Blacks. But are things quite as black-and-white as they are presented? Media reports suggest that a carload of Blacks deliberately and without provocation drove at the three young Pakistani men. The Islam v Europe blog, however, quotes a Times report,

At the crime scene, witnesses spoke of their anger and frustration. A youth worker who was with the three men when they were killed said that the rioters had “a Grand Theft Auto mentality”, adding: “They think they can steal and do anything. People here were just wanting to protect their property.”

He admitted that the car which ploughed into the men had been attacked with bricks and sticks seconds before the fatal collision.

(IvE emphasis)

And this presumably US source reprints an agency wire,

A carload of rioters sped into a fleeing crowd of shop defenders, witnesses said, hurling three young men into the air and killing amateur boxer Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shazzad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31.

"We all had stones in our hands. But we had no defense to stop a car. They revved their engines and drove right at us as fast as they could," Mohammed Ibrahim, 23, told The Associated Press. "These black men deliberately tried to kill us all."

So then, a carload of evil Spades playing human skittles with a group of Paki lads gathered peacefully in the street to dissuade potential rioters and looters by the force of their moral authority? Or a car load of Black lads intent on causing mayhem among the 'soft' Pakis, coming under attack and, realizing they were in over their heads, panicking and gunning the gas pedal lahk wot dey do in da movies, innit. Particularly if they were familiar with the likely attitude of their opponents,

"We'll hunt down these black men, cut off their heads and feed them to our dogs," said Amir Hawid, 20, who lives just a hundred yards (meters) from the killing scene and heard the screams of the crowd at the moment of impact.

(I thought Muslims didn't do dogs, but there you go.)

Not easy this blame bollocks, is it? Six of one and three pairs of the other.

Innit?