Woolwich murder: 22nd May 2013

Today, a horrific crime was carried out on a South East London street.  An innocent, young man was murdered - hacked to death by mindless thugs, armed with knives and machetes, in the middle of the street.  It has been reported that the young man was a serving British soldier; as of yet he has not been formally identified.

Police are apparently treating the attack as an act of terror.  This announcement has opened the floodgates for the mindless, racist generalisations towards Muslims.  'Get all Muslims deported out of this country!' is just one of the many ridiculous comments I have seen on Facebook and Twitter this afternoon.

Evil people commit evil acts because they are evil, not because of their religion, or because of their skin colour.  For people to make sweeping statements that all Muslims are evil and that all Muslims should be 'thrown out of Britain' is shameful.  There are British people all across the world who live in other countries who commit horrible crimes, but do they receive the same kind of judgement and the same racist reaction?  The British man who killed his two children in Lyon at the weekend is a prime example.  The two barbarians who killed this poor, young man today just so happened to be Muslim.  It's no different to the racist brutes who killed Stephen Lawrence - they were white.  Was there a similar backlash and racist outburst towards them, calling for all white people to be thrown out of Britain?  No.

Unfortunately, there are evil people everywhere in this world.  It doesn't matter what their religious beliefs are, what the colour of their skin is, or what their nationality is - there is not an 'evil race'.  To believe such a thing makes you no better than the Nazi Party.  Their victimisation of the Jews began in a very similar way, culminating in the Holocaust.

The people who carry out these horrendous, unthinkable attacks on the world are in the minority of all religions and races.  Making snap judgements and racist remarks, and calling for horrific things to be done to them, only makes people look just as bad as those who have carried out these atrocities.

Theresa May calling this 'an attack on the whole of the United Kingdom' and referring to it as 'a new type of Islamic terrorism' is only fuelling those mindless, racist idiots.  The media coverage is also just as bad.  ITV News showing the video of the murderer with blood-stained hands, still clutching the weapons, attempting to justify what he has done, while the man lies dead on the ground behind him, is a very confusing move.  To give him the media exposure to get his views across is only going to encourage like-minded people to carry out similar attacks, as well as further fuelling the racist minority in this country.

This evening I think people should spend more time thinking about the family and friends of the victim, and the poor people who had to witness this attack, rather than dwelling upon the religious background of the attackers and pointing the finger of blame at an entire religious group.  Spouting racist remarks and comments does not make anyone look big or clever.  It makes you look senseless and irresponsible.