In the twisted culture of the far Left, an Islamic jihadi who hates his or her home country is a hero. Any action law enforcement authorities take against the jihadi only enhances his or her victimhood status and thus in turn only magnifies the jihadi’s celebrity status in the West. Sick? Oh, that’s an understatement. But it is on abundant display these days thanks to the venerable British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which has just rolled out a prime-time documentary as well as a superabundantly detailed ten-part podcast series on the story of Shamima Begum, an Islamic State (ISIS) bride who is in the midst of a years-long effort to be allowed to return to the country she left to wage war for Allah.
Begum’s path to celebrity has been unconventional. She became the object of the BBC’s lavish affections by fleeing Britain to join the Islamic State (ISIS) at age fifteen, becoming a jihadi bride, showing no remorse for the atrocities of her jihadi friends and colleagues, and being consequently denied the right to return to Britain. Now, just as Rolling Stone magazine did with Boston Marathon jihad bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, The Times’ Saturday magazine published a glamor shot of Begum on its cover to help publicize the BBC series.
The UK’s Spiked magazine observed Thursday that “anyone following the past week’s coverage could be forgiven for thinking that Shamima is the victim, rather than the villain of her story. The fact that Begum was a footsoldier of a movement responsible for unspeakable carnage and suffering is treated almost as a footnote. No space, it seems, could be found to give voice to the families whose lives have been destroyed by ISIS killers.” Of course. Giving any camera time to Begum’s victims would have contradicted her own victimhood status.
The celebritization of Begum is just one episode in a long string of indications that the BBC has a deeply ingrained far-Left bias. What’s more, its notable lack of balance belies the mission statement contained in the BBC’s Royal Charter: “To act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain.” Impartial? That ship sailed for the BBC a long, long time ago. The Beeb’s fascination with Begum demonstrates beyond any lingering doubt that the once-trusted broadcaster has reduced itself to being nothing more than a propaganda arm for the hard Left, which sees any enemy of Britain and the West as an ally and friend.
Stung by widespread criticism of its loving portrait of Shamima Begum, the BBC insisted that it was not simply offering up a puff piece but would look at her critically. This has not proved to be the case, and the very fact that the documentary and podcast series exist at all demonstrates the BBC’s intention: to make British people think positively of Shamima Begum and get her back into the country. Consider, for comparison’s sake, the fact that the BBC wouldn’t be caught dead featuring a foe of jihad terror in a 10-part podcast or in any sort of treatment at all except an attack piece full of critical quotes from Leftist jihad enablers and Islamic supremacists.
Skeptical? Back in 2013, when Pamela Geller and I were banned from entering Britain for the unforgivable crime, as far as the British elites are concerned, of opposing jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women, I happened to be working very early one morning. I saw the BBC announce on Twitter that it was going to have a show in an hour, about 3 a.m. Pacific time, discussing whether or not Geller and I should indeed be banned from the country. The allegedly impartial broadcaster had not, of course, bothered to invite either Geller or me to participate in the discussion, or made any attempt at all to contact either of us. When I tweaked them for this on Twitter that night, however, they were embarrassed and ended up (no doubt reluctantly) inviting me on after all.
Related: Liberal Media Bias Is Alive and More Embarrassing Than Ever
That was how I got my one and only chance to defend myself in the British media: in the middle of the night, sleepless and without preparation, and only because I caught the BBC out and called them on it publicly. Pamela Geller never got any chance to respond at all. A portion of the show I was on can be heard here; listen to see how the imam the BBC had on to discuss what terrible people Geller and I were was completely unable to answer the points I made about the Qur’an.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer. The BBC loves the ISIS bride Shamima Begum and is doing everything it can for her. But those who oppose jihad terror? The BBC doesn’t love such people so much. There is no BBC documentary or podcast series about anyone in Britain who stands against the cause to which Shamima Begum gave so much of her life. As far as the BBC is concerned, defending Britain as a free society doesn’t make you a hero. Only wanting to see Britain conquered and subjugated will make you a star on the BBC.
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