Manufacturing Muslim "outrage"

There were some interesting, and all too predictable, headlines in the papers this weekend on the presentation of Professor Steve Jones, an eminent geneticist, at the Hay Festival.

Professor Jones is reported to have spoken of “inbreeding” and the impact of first cousin marriages on children born to couples who are closely related.

See articles in the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Daily Star.

From all three papers, the presumptuousness of sub-editors is to be marveled at.

The Daily Mail reports of “Muslim outrage” despite the fact that the two Muslim people quoted in the paper, a representative of the Ramadhan Foundation and the Bradford Council of Mosques, express no such sentiment.

The Daily Star would have us believe the comments have sparked “Muslim fury” though the attributed comments to Muslims representing national organizations clearly differentiate between cultural practices among Pakistani communities and non-Pakistani communities.

And the Daily Telegraph tells us Professor Jones “risks a political storm” for making the comments. Is there a storm brewing? We certainly can’t see it on the horizon.

Perhaps the foreboding headlines were to be expected. Nothing like manufactured Muslim outrage to keep the punters happy.