Stirrers and wedge drivers

We probably all know any number of stirrers. They introduce a controversial comment into a conversation at the workplace, club or the pub, then walk away and enjoy the ensuing argument, or even a fight. Easy topics for their games are, politics and sport.

Bandwagon joiners tend to be more intercultural and want to prove how smart they are, by joining the in-crowd.

They choose a controversial person or issue and then poke the borax at them in the hope that they are seen as part of the incrowd.

President

Trump is currently a popular target.

Wedge drivers are the most dangerous and effective of them all. They identify a group by nationality, creed or colour, pretend that they support them in some controversial way then inch by inch, step by step, they drive a wedge between their target and the rest of the population.

Currently wedge drivers have been very active and successful. Successful targets include Muslim immigrants and all immigration numbers in general.

Knowing that most Muslim immigrants come from war-torn, barbaric, fundamentalist regimes, and that they have never experienced the right of free speech and association they become ideal targets. They have never experienced the right to express a view on anything, least of all their own sensitivities.

To date they have succeeded in getting the Speaker of the House, Trevor Mallard, pictured, to misuse his newly acquired powers, to remove reference to Jesus in the prayers that precede the House of Representatives sittings. They have succeeded in getting the Palmerston North City Council to remove the Cross in Civic Square, and currently they are attacking the Crusaders rugby team’s name and their horse riders’ ritual that entertain the public before the game, claiming that they all offend Muslim sensitivities.

None of these issues have ever been raised by the Muslim community leaders, and talkback radio followers will know that some Muslim listeners have expressed their dismay at such claims.

Then we were exposed to rantings of President Erdogan, who used the Christchurch massacre as a campaign prop in his efforts to retain his power over Turkey, together with those of the Sultan of Brunei, all of which add to our negative views of Islam.

The media are partly responsible, because they only report the brutality, corruption and totalitarianism of radical Islamic regimes.

When was the last time that we heard anything positive about the Islamic world?

Then when an RSA invited a Muslim cleric to recite a prayer at their Anzac ceremony, the stirrers managed to poke their nose in, and we buckled under the pressure from anonymous threats.

This, two years after the Turkish representative was the guest of honour at the Anzac Day Civic Service in Hamilton, and was greeted with acclamation, and no negativity.

The wedge drivers are of real danger because, inch by inch, step by step, they successfully drive a wedge between Muslim immigrants and the rest of our multicultural, multiracial society, and our NZ leaders appear to be oblivious to their existence.

Brian Main, Hamilton