This week I found myself sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Nigel Farage on Loose Women. He was on the show to talk about his support for Trump’s travel ban, an Executive Order which bars US entry to passport holders from seven mainly Muslim countries and imposes a 120-day suspension of admissions for all refugees.
It has became known as the Muslim ban and it has sparked mass protests around the world and been branded racist and Islamophobic.
As the show’s only Muslim panellist, I asked this so-called man of the people how HE would feel if someone who subscribed to his views physically attacked someone like me because they didn’t like immigrants, Muslims, or people with brown skin?
I didn’t pluck my question from thin air to be awkwardly, I based it on facts.
FACTS like the murder of MP Jo Cox by extremist Thomas Mair during the EU referendum campaign. Mr Justice Wilkie told Mair: “It is evident your inspiration . . . is not love of country or your fellow citizens, it is an admiration for Nazis and similar anti-democratic white supremacist creeds.”
FACTS like the fatal shooting of six Muslims gunned down in Quebec during evening prayers. The man charged with their murders is reported to have “liked” Donald Trump and other right-wing diehards on his
Facebook page.
With a mind and tongue as sharp as Farage’s, I’d have thought such a question would have been a golden opportunity to show he lives up to that man of the people tag. He could have empathised with my fear, especially as reported hate crime – including assault and arson – soared 41per cent in the UK directly after the Brexit vote.
What I wanted him to say was: “Saira, if someone attacked you in my name, I’d feel ashamed.”
But he didn’t empathise because, I suspect, he’s not capable of it.
Instead he asked me: “How would you feel if Muslims listening to an extremist preacher planted a bomb on a London Tube?”
There was no condemnation of hate crime, no regret about the climate of fear, just words like “extremist preacher and bomb” hand- picked to resonate with his supporters.
Then he came out with the old chestnut: “I have Muslim friends who feel they’re looked at in a different way, because they’re scared, but they’re not getting that from us.”
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And there it is in a nutshell – he sees British Muslims as “them” and his political allies as “us”.
He presents himself as a bit like that naughty uncle we all have, who says things like: “I have Muslim friends. How can I be Islamophobic?” And people go along with it – he doesn’t mean any harm, it’s just banter.
Which is how the far right’s dangerous rhetoric, masquerading as common sense, makes even reasonable people say things like: “Saira, you know I’m not a racist, but I can see their point.”
Our society is being spoon-fed so many lies for breakfast, lunch and dinner many of us just lap it up without even questioning it.
And when you are bombarded daily with headline words like “Muslim, border control, migrants, refugees” you start to associate them with negativity. They are problem words and we don’t want problems, do we?
Nigel Farage wants to be the new Piers Morgan. With his chatty persona, I can see him doing well on TV. He should revive the much-loved 1980s quiz show 3-2-1. Especially as no contestant would win Dusty Bin. Because the booby prize would go to Farage every time.