With 10-million views in 4 months, Muslim Demographics, posted on YouTube by friendofmuslim is a classic example of a viral video. Searching on YouTube for videos with keywords like ‘Muslim Europeans’ and ‘future of Europe’ doesn’t reveal this particular video on page one of YouTube search results, suggesting that the web address itself has been emailed, or the video has been embedded time and time again.
As it happens, the facts are not accurate: while there may be 2.5m muslims in the UK now, the increase in population hasn’t been quite so explosive as the video suggests: According to Dr Andrew Hinde, a demographer at Southampton University, from the 1981 census, those born in Pakistan and Bangladesh in the UK alone numbered 300,000.
25% of the Belgian population isn’t muslim – the actual figure is more like 6%.
And to suggest that muslim women produce 8.1 offspring is hokum – according to 2008 UN figures, the average for Moroccan and Algerian muslims is much lower, at 2.38.
But the real issue is why this video has been distributed and subsequently viewed 10m times. It’s inaccurate, it’s inflammatory and doesn’t it remind you just a little bit of anti-Semitic propaganda in the 1930s?
More here: More Or Less, Muslim Demographics on BBC Radio 4, 8pm Sunday or online
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“But the real issue is why this video has been distributed and subsequently viewed 10m times.” (Graham)
Well, in the USA there are several tens of million of Evangelicals Protestant Christians who believe in Pat Robertson, in communist Europe’s betrayal against their god, in the forthcoming of Apocalypse, so if 1/4 of them have an internet connection…
Comment by Nicolas Krebs — August 18, 2009 @ 4:18 pm |