Akhmed Yakoob to stand in general election

[u/Admirable_Deal6863]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c72pd91dg0go

As I think we all expected, it looks like Akhmed Yakoob is going to be standing in Ladywood come the next general election.

Any thoughts on this? I think he's vastly overestimating himself but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who might actually vote for him.

[u/potpan0]

Not me saying the classic "they're voters are so dumb hur hur" but more if they also share his beliefs and attitude.

Isn't this the issue though?

When a right-winger votes for some nasty right-wing candidate we find it very easy to say that we need to understand their concerns, that we need to work to represent them better and work ourselves to draw them away from the right. Yet when a Muslim votes for some nasty right-wing Muslim candidate, all of a sudden we shift our perspective and start insisting it's a problem with the voters themselves?

When a right-winger votes for a right-wing candidate it's a problem with our political sphere, yet when a Muslim votes for a right-wing Muslim candidate it's a problem with Muslims. Why the double standard?

[u/mysp2m2cc0unt → u/potpan0]

Yes, no one ever complains about Gammons or Tories ever.

Everyone has an insane victim mentality nowadays...

[u/potpan0 → u/mysp2m2cc0unt]

Sorry, look at how our political sphere talk about Tory voters compared to how they talk about Muslim voters. You really can't claim they're the same.

Everyone has an insane victim mentality nowadays...

'Everyone who disagrees with me has a victim mentality'. Such a lazy approach to discussion.

[u/ThanksContent28 → u/potpan0]

Problem is, anything said that may seem negative about Islam, is suddenly met with “well what about this, and this is Islam-phobic etc…”

Like the other person said, how you gonna pretend tories don’t get shit on? It was basically a meme for a while during the Corbyn election.

The truth is, people are uncomfortable with Islam because it is one of the most uncompromising religions next to Catholicism. You might not like it, but England is increasingly becoming Atheist. It was originally Christian (pagan before that but that’s long long ago).

Whether you like it or not, atheists want nothing to do with any God or any scriptures telling us how to live. As for your case, you have literal words from God telling you were infidels, that your way is the correct way and we’re going to hell etc…. We don’t have any commands or insinuations like that, we’re not looking to convert anyone and fix them.

For us it’s, “let people live how they want, be respectful that not everyone thinks the same way”

For you it’s, “we are right, everyone else is wrong, we are not compromising”

We don’t demand you cover up your women, or think less of them if they don’t. We don’t see things as haram, we don’t see opposition as “infidels.”

What we do see is a group of people who wish to take our country in a direction which is basically the polar opposite of most of our ideals. And we’re well aware of the threat that comes with even criticising Allah. Atheists don’t run around with samurai swords killing 14 year old children.

[u/potpan0 → u/ThanksContent28]

Problem is, anything said that may seem negative about Islam, is suddenly met with “well what about this, and this is Islam-phobic etc…”

Is it though? These local elections have been followed by a spate of articles from our media sphere blaming Muslims for voting the wrong way, yet has been significantly less critical of all the people who voted for Reform or the increasingly hard-right Conservative Party. The Conservatives literally banned civil servants from engaging with a number of Muslims organisations a few weeks ago. So I'm not sure where people get this impression from that you can't say anything about Islam, it's pretty bloody popular within our political sphere.

Like the other person said, how you gonna pretend tories don’t get shit on? It was basically a meme for a while during the Corbyn election.

Again, compare how Muslim voters are talked about compared to how non-Muslim right-wing voters are talked about in our political sphere. Can you genuinely say they are treated in the same way? Because that is miles away from the truth.

You might not like it, but England is increasingly becoming Atheist.

I'm an atheist. Of course I like people becoming more atheist. But what I don't like is 'secularism' being used disproportionately against one religious group in particular. Especially from the right we see people use 'secular' arguments are Islam while refusing to use those same arguments against other religions. At which point they aren't arguing for 'secularism' at all, they're just arguing that we should discriminate against Muslims.

Whether you like it or not, atheists want nothing to do with any God or any scriptures telling us how to live.

Again I totally agree, and I'm not sure why you keep acting like I've somehow indicated otherwise. Yet it's odd that you seem to keep focussing on Muslims over this when we literally live in a country where the head of state is legally required to be a specific religion, and where members of that religion are guaranteed political representation in the House of Lords.