Did anyone watch the Omar Bakri Mohammed programme on C4?

[Guy_Montag]

I loved the people at the conservative garden party. I didn't think people like that still existed.

The comments on why there would never be an islamic revolution in Torquey or the West Country in general were classic.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

1. Jon Ronson is one of my heroes.

I read "Them: Adventures with extremists" when it first came out & subsequently never realised that the guy he trailed was the now notorious Omar Bakri.

I also loved the garden party - especially after reading the latest about Allason:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=191x9972

edit -- excerpt from the Omar Bakri chapter in Them:

http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=TRADE%20PAPER:SALE:0743233212:6.98&page=excerpt

[T_i_B]

2. "Them: Adventures with Extremists"

That book seems more and more like required reading since the London bombings. It follows Bakri, as well as other selected loons such as the KKK, Ian Paisley, David Icke and Alex Jones. And in particular it does point out the fondness such extremists have for conspiracy theories. Definitely a UK forum book recommendation.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Strange how Alex Jones is popular with several DUers

given his politics. I guess sometimes the desire to believe in government conspiracies outstrips the feelings about the source they come from.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

4. I've got a soft spot for him

I first encountered Alex Jones via Kevin Booth (Bill Hicks' best friend, producer & promoter) at sacredcow.com. Booth & Jones became friends - I think over a shared interest in Waco, plus they both live in Austin - & Booth put together a "Best of Alex Jones" video in 2000. Subsequently Booth has hosted various clips of Alex Jones ranting or trying to convert friends about the latest "New World Order" plot. 5-10 minute clips are about as much as I can stand mind you -- how anyone listens to his 3-hour radio show I'll never know!

http://www.sacredcow.com/allnew/index_content.php?n=multimedia_video_alex

That said it truly does astound me to see him cited as an authority on anything, something I noticed particularly after 7/7. It's quite bizarre to see what once were far-right conspiracy theories parroted by the left. Chip Berlet nailed it 15 years ago in his "Right Woos Left" essay (http://www.publiceye.org/rightwoo/rwooz9_TOC.html)

[T_i_B]

10. Yes it is very odd

To me Alex Jones pretty much embodies all that I dislike about the freepers. He's never struck me as left wing in the slightest, if anything he seems to be more the sort of person who finds the GOP to be far too moderate!

But because he goes in for anti-Bush tin foil hat shennanigans some folk on DU are happy to listen to him. Just shows how utterly loony things can get on DU.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

5. Icke & Jim Tucker (Bilderberg) online:

Icke:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,457988,00.html

Bilderberg:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,449284,00.html

[LeftishBrit]

6. I may be a bit dim but...

While I know quite a bit (too much for comfort!), about Bakri, the KKK and Paisley, I don't think I've ever come across Alex Jones. Who is he?

[lockdown]

7. He has a radio show

Only connection to Omar Bakri Mohammed is that Jon Ronson has featured them both in his stuff.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

8. His website:

http://www.infowars.com/

& sister site (run by a British conspiracy theorist called Paul Watson):

http://www.prisonplanet.com/

He's also made several documentaries "exposing the New World Order" called "Police State" & similar, which he hawks on his radio show.

[Taxloss]

9. I read the book. Very funny.

I like the fact that one of his bugbears is packets of tights having pictures of women's legs on them.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. And now he thinks no Muslim should live in the UK

Before this response to the bombings, Muslims in Britain were "living in harmony," Bakri said. "I was living in the U.K. because I really loved the country, which was really my second home, and I had no problem with the culture.

"However, after the bombings of July 7, I think the British government adopted a policy to cover up their own failure to find who was behind the bombing, to start to accuse the so-called extremists. Unfortunately some people bought that from them."

Britain's Muslim population should consider following his lead, Bakri said.

"Myself, personally, I do not see any reason to stay in the U.K. after the new laws of terrorism," he said. "I think the Muslim community can no longer live in peace in the U.K. It is better for them to think to leave."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=18323#

Wow, he's got an ego as big as Dubya's. He had no problem with the culture? That's not what Ronson's book shows.