Poor Omar had his passport cancelled at the point of exit out of Australia and didn’t get to the Hajj as planned – something he should actually be grateful for, as it may well have prevented him being trampled to death with hundreds of others. Omar feels singled out and victimised and can’t understand why. So let’s help him in a way the ABC of course wasn’t interested in doing so, in reaching some basic comprehension as to why members of one faith and one community (his) might be questioned more often than others in relation to possible terrorism offences. Could it possibly be that almost every terrorist event in the last few decades, and there have been a few, has been carried out by members of that one faith and that one community?
Notwithstanding the obvious answer, Omar popped up on TV, mystified, and without a clue, as to why he would be ‘singled out,’ and then was given plenty of time and space by the national (taxpayer funded) broadcaster (of course) for a long, self indulgent whinge about said passport cancellation. I sat through the interview and must say I have a lot of sympathy for Omar – I’d have certainly let him go off to Saudi Arabia and only then cancelled his passport, so as to prevent him returning to this country. It just happened to be the day, too, on which the latest ‘lone wolf’ attack by an Islamic fanatic, this one a teen, was carried out in Sydney. But the ABC never was very good at identiying the real victims.
Still look on the bright side Omar. You got off rather lightly. In Australia we only cancel passports. Doesn’t hurt much. If you were a genuinely persecuted member of a minority in a place where people really are victimised and singled out for their faith – let’s just pick one random place shall we, how about if Omar were a Christian in those parts of Syria now enjoying the gentle rule of the ‘religion of peace’? One would be willing to bet a large sum he’d be missing more than his passport.
Tell someone who cares Omar, and have a nice day now…
