I appreciate Reid Smith for informing us that the BBC now consider Abu Qatada, an al Qaeda sympathizer and quite possibly an operative, to be an extremist after all. As Reid notes, I made a fuss about it last week after reading Charles C.W. Cooke’s item at National Review Online and after doing my own research found, not to my surprise, that they had no qualms describing Israeli Jews as extremist. Cooke would later make note of my observations.
Reid is also kind enough to suggest that Cooke and I may have helped the Beeb to see the light. I am more inclined to think the BBC did its about face because of the mocking they faced by the likes of The Daily Mail than any dispatches that were written about it overseas. Nevertheless, if I played any part in shaming the BBC then I am more than glad to have helped.
Nevertheless, it isn’t the first time that the BBC has gone overboard with political correctness and it won’t be the last. While they might be less hesitant to call the Abu Qatadas of the world “extremist” I don’t think they’ll be any less hesitant to describe Israeli Jews as “extremist.” Where liberalism is entrenched so too is moral equivalence. Which is all the more reason for us to be vigilant about such things no matter which side of the Atlantic it takes place.