The burgess effect

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Last updated on July 24th, 2017 at 08:16 am

Doubt the power of blogging? Consider:

October 2004: Dilpazier Aslam is hired by The Guardian under its “diversity scheme”.

July 13, 2005The Guardian publishes an opinion piece by Aslam in the wake of the London bombings; Aslam asserts that younger Muslims are “much sassier with our opinions” and don’t much care “if the boat rocks or not”.

July 13: Scott Burgess—an indoor-based blogger—uncovers Aslam’s support for a global Islamic state.

July 15: Burgess exposes Aslam’s membership of extremist Islamic group Hizb ut Tahrir.

July 16: The Melbourne Age publishes Aslam’s comment piece.

July 17The Independent reports: “The Guardian newspaper is refusing to sack one of its staff reporters despite confirming that he is a member of one of Britain’s most extreme Islamist groups.”

July 19The Guardian fires Aslam, considering his membership of Hizb ut Tahrir to be “not compatible with being a Guardian trainee”.

July 22: An insanely bitchy and cowardly piece (“by a staff reporter”) in The Guardian claims Sassygate is “a demonstration of the way the ‘blogosphere’ can be used to mount obsessively personalised attacks at high speed”.

July 29: Albert Scardino, Guardian executive editor for news, resigns.

August 3: Mockery of The Guardian spreads.

August 5: Prime Minister Tony Blair bans Hizb ut Tahrir.

Posted by Tim B. on 08/06/2005 at 03:30 AM
(36) Comments • Permalink