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Has Clarkson got it right?

A few weeks ago the TV presenter and columnist started his usual rantbox in The Sunday Times with what, though almost certainly a tongue in cheek comment, appeared to hit closer to home in the Islamic terror debate than most serious commentators have recently:

I have the most horrible feeling that the only possible conclusion to the problem of Muslim extremism — and I’m looking 30 or more years down the line here — is mass deportation and an all-new cold war between Mecca and Rome.

Is deportation a feasible or desirable policy? In the long run is it not an unrealistic approach to talk of community reconciliation and placation of the extremists (who account for a sizable minority in the British muslim population) when the phenomenon of Islamic fundementalism is one that could and probably will take decades to overcome. Departation might seem a particulary apprpriate measure given the frequency that self-pitying Muslims criticise the UK as unIslamic and even as a "polic state for Muslims". Certainly if the gentleman who made the latter comment were taken to Saudi Arabia he might find more missing from his life - and his genitals - than a week in police custody.

Reply 1

Agent Smith

11

Clarkson's views are entertaining to listen to, and sometimes his bull-headed common sense moves out of the realm of the endearing and amusing and into that of the genuinely intelligent, but this is not one of those times. As a general rule, I wouldn't take Clarkson as a socio-political commentator of huge standing.

Reply 2

person 34

9

No. But I suppose they are stlil a valid angle to take into account.

Reply 3

Agent Smith

11

Oh, yes. Of course. For a given value of "valid", though, because in my view they're simply mistaken.

Reply 4

Alasdair

14

Bearing in mind this is the man who chained himself to a bus because it was a 'gas-guzzler'...

He's an idiot, and a brash, annoying one at that. As with a lot of people who are funny because of their bluntness, his political opinions tend to be idiotic (Boris Johnson springs to mind as well).

Reply 5

The_Bear

13

But Alasdair, you are so left wing that even Stalin would have been embarrassed. You have to hate Clarkson and Boris because you brain is that way inclined.

The more intelligent understand that Clarkson is a good motoring journalist and a keen eyed political one too. His articles about global warming and fox hunting in particular have been proven true.

Boris Johnson is far too intelligent for politics, I don't know why he bothers when he could be earning ten times as much in the City.

Reply 6

Arminius

14

Its an ideal solution, but goes against all the established western principles of human rights.

The best solution is prevention, that is why we should end immigration immediately. Then this becomes less and less of an issue.

Reply 7

Longshoredrift80

10

Certainly I think more immigration control is a must, and I think that terrorists / inciters of hatred / other foreign criminals should be deported as soon as possible to wherever will take them. But you really can't just deport law abiding citizens who haven't done anything wrong.

Reply 8

Agent Smith

11

Of course they've done something wrong. They're foreign. And everyone knows you can't trust the buggers.

etc etc etc :rolleyes:

Reply 9

Arminius

14

Certainly I think more immigration control is a must, and I think that terrorists / inciters of hatred / other criminals should be deported as soon as possible to wherever will take them. But you really can't just deport law abiding citizens who haven't done anything wrong.

No, you can't. Though clarkson is correct in that british terrorism in the form of 7/7 does come from the British Muslim community. So therefore deporting british muslims would decrease the risk of more attacks.

In that sense, he is correct.

But, this ignores the rights of these people as british citizens. Deportation is not an option, but i think if you can make the point i have above, greater immigration controls are a no-brainer.

Reply 10

Apagg

13

Where would we deport British Muslims to, exactly?

Reply 11

Longshoredrift80

10

That was going to be my next question. You can deport foreign criminals, even those with British residency but foreign nationality. Even those with dual-nationality. But it's not like there's some big island on the other side of the world where we can just send all our domestic criminals. Anymore.

Reply 12

Dionysus

15

No of course it isn't desirable, much less achievable. And no of course Clarkson doesn't really think that - it's his task in life to be politically satirical.

Reply 13

TheThirdMan

1

The only thing this shows is that Clarkson shouldnt be commenting on current affairs in a newspaper and that the Times is a crap newspaper.

Reply 14

Longshoredrift80

10

The Times is not a crap newspaper.

Reply 15

SHAC attack!

Clarkson could well be right.

Well not literally Rome vs Mecca.

You guys are not looking at the big picture.

What if the pope is assasinated by muslims?

Now, even though the one true church would not condone war, of course, either would high ranking muslims...however the world is still full of idiots who would make it into a holy war, with or without their respected faiths blessing.

Mass deportation, I'm not sure on, this country is too PC for its own good.

Reply 16

Ephemeral_1

I hate Jeremy Clarkson and his 'tongue in cheek' humour. Wow, he can say something un-PC, stick it to the man Clarkson. ******

Reply 17

TheThirdMan

1

The Times is not a crap newspaper.

I suppose thats cos you read it. Its a joke and its starting to use sensationalist celebrity stories on its front cover. Oh and it uses writers from the Sun. Hardly a good paper.

Reply 18

Carl

14

JonathanH

That was going to be my next question. You can deport foreign criminals, even those with British residency but foreign nationality. Even those with dual-nationality. But it's not like there's some big island on the other side of the world where we can just send all our domestic criminals. Anymore.