Suspected Finsbury Park mosque attacker is 'a complex individual'
Image: Robin Sones
The front pages of today’s newspapers are an object lesson in the preferential treatment given to white terror suspects in the aftermath of an attack.
Since Darren Osborne was named as the suspect in the Finsbury Park mosque attack, the right-wing press has scrambled to humanise him, focusing on the details and difficulties of his life rather than the brutality of the attack, or Osborne’s reported lack of remorse.
The Times has been particularly singled out for criticism over its splash, which describes Osborne as a ‘jobless lone wolf’, referencing his reported mental health problems in the sub-heading.
However, the Sun, Mail and Express also emphasise that the suspected attacker was a ‘father of four’.
Meanwhile, a Telegraph article headlined ‘Who is Darren Osborne?’ begins:
“The father of four suspected of mowing down a group of worshippers outside a London mosque was a ‘complex’ and ‘troubled’ individual known for ‘flipping his lid’ when he drank too much, it has been claimed, as his mother said he is ‘no terrorist’.”
The article extensively quotes members of Osborne’s family, who deny that he has any history of racism or expressing anti-Muslim sentiments.
The Telegraph prioritises accounts of neighbours who described Osborne as ‘a ‘family man’ who was heard singing in his kitchen with his children on Sunday afternoon, just hours before he is alleged to have driven to London.’ Lower billing is given to those who report hearing the alleged attacker shout at his wife.
Last night, hundreds of people gathered for a solidarity vigil at the scene of the attack.
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3 Responses to “Right-wing media misspells ‘suspected terrorist’ as ‘jobless lone wolf’ and ‘father of four’”
Clive Baulch
Efforts by the media to “normalise” the unusual white terrorist is par for the course (unless you are an Irish terrorist of the Nationalist variety of course). A certain ‘shock Jok’ this morning went so far as to say that he had never seen any Islamophobic headlines or comments in the newspapers.
BREXIT only makes everything worse. The leading Brexiteers are deliberately creating a rose tinted view of a “nice” Empire to cover up the rather nasty, racist point of view that is actually the history of Empire. The Moslems have never been liked as a group. Considered too alien, too different. Too much the Johnnie Foreigner. They ‘take over’ white culture and now we have Sharia Law. This is what the white, far right people believe.That is a fact which many of us feel more than uncomfortable with even today. I have no answers to this problem at all. I think that we will see more Moslems die going forward.
Alex from Carlisle
The BBC and others in the liberal media had no problem whatsoever in calling him a ‘white man’ though.
Imagine the foaming and gnaahing of teeth amongst the metro left if Salman Abadi had been called ‘the ‘brown man’ or ‘the muslim’ in the Telegraph or mail.
Master
Lol so humanise the jihadists but not when it’s a white guy. You left leaning parasites