IMO: Really disgusting behavior from "Islamic" Extremists in the UK

The tragedy of Anjem Choudary is how much coverage he's been able to receive. He has never come through on a single claim, and consistently espouses outlandish positions, creates absurd initiatives, and somehow always gets the media to bite.

The fact is that he furthers a pre-existing narrative about Muslims (and makes for good TV), so media outlets jump at the opportunity to get him as a guest. It's easy to draw assumptions when someone's on TV- he must be popular, representative of a mass movement, etc. Everything I've read on him says otherwise- apparently he tried to organize a speech a few years back at a university in the UK, said 1,000 people were going to show and no one showed up. I beleive after that incident, he got in the habit of simply claiming he was going to do things, drumming up hype about it through media outlets, but then canceling.

The sad thing is, we can insult this guy all we want, but in a few weeks he'll probably get face time on Fox News, CNN, or another major media outlet for a debate, and the clip will probably be posted on D&D, and we'll be debating all over again about whether or not he really represents Muslim sentiments....

 

Forgot that was the same guy.

Anyway this guy doesn't sound like he has any following and almost seems like the Warren Jeffs of Islam, someone so ridiculously radical he is an embarrassment to the religion he claims to follow, or the Stephen Colbert of Islam, basically a parody.

 

Its not just that he plays into pre-existing narrative but also that radical outlandish behavior and rhetoric plays well on TV. Consider how much coverage the Westboro Baptist Church gets when the Church really isn't much more than Fred Phelps' family.