Homegrown: News that London’s bombers were “homegrown” evoked headlines about Britons’ “worst fears” and “nightmares” being realized. I found it odd. As Christie Blatchford of The Globe and Mail wrote, abusers and molesters are often family, friends or neighbours. As for violence, in the Western tradition, the first murderer was Cain, brother of Abel.

When terror acts such as bombing abortion clinics or murdering abortion providers happen here, people don’t worry that it may have been someone homegrown — they just want to know who did it. When the Oklahoma City bomber turned out to be American instead of Arab, there was surprise that initial expectations were wrong, but no one said, Our worst fears are realized.

So I don’t believe those responses meant what they said; I think it was code for something else: namely, that the “worst fears,” which were realized, are that “they” are “olive-skinned” Muslims and can’t be trusted in our midst, that the policies that let them settle among us were a mistake, because they are not like us and won’t ever be. In other words, the response expressed deep-rooted, sometimes conscious, sometimes not, racial fears.

The news was followed by a harping, didactic tone in authoritative quarters. To take just Canada, David Frum wrote a column in the National Post called “What we should expect from Muslims.” There were reviews of how “their” leaders are doing with the challenge: “This time around, we’re observing a healthier response” (Jonathan Kay, the Post). A Globe editorial gave higher marks to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas than to Canadian Muslim leaders, whom The Globe coached on what they “must” say, as if this is not a democracy and they are not adults. Imagine Jews or blacks being told what they must say on an issue.

But the whole category is peculiar: a billion diverse people, including religious variations that run from secular to fundamentalist. (Yes, there are many secular Muslims.) The same editorial separated hate attacks on South Asians from those on Muslims, though “South Asian” probably includes Pakistanis, who are Muslim, along with people taken for Pakistani.

Another sign: Each day since the London bombs, a comparable number of Iraqis have died in terror attacks; but the news is always on an inside page, and no moments of silence have honoured them across Europe.

I wouldn’t call this kind of thing racist; it’s too broad and categorical a term. But I’d say it has racializing aspects that infect people of otherwise goodwill. This may help explain why David Ahenakew has garnered so much attention for his anti-Semitic rants. His case is so overt, conscious and deplorable. We can all look at it and say: Whew, that certainly isn’t me.

Live 8 and G8: I have no problem with rock stars speaking politically. This is a democracy. But like anyone, they can sometimes be found, as they say over there, talking rot. For instance: Microsoft’s Bill Gates appeared at Live 8 as, said Sir Bob Geldof, “the greatest philanthropist of our age,” a hero in the fight for Africa. But Microsoft is at the heart of the explosion of patents, patent law, patent suits and intellectual property rights that block the generic drugs that could defeat AIDS there. (And rock stars have concerns about intellectual property, too).

I sympathize with Paul Martin on the issue of 0.7 per cent of GDP for aid, on which Bob Geldof raked him. It would cost billions, while our medical, educational, housing and other basic needs have still not been met. Paul Martin was elected here and owes Canadians his first loyalty. We are certainly wealthy enough to cover both kinds of need — but not on the present agenda of tax cuts, debt paydown etc. Doing both would require higher taxes on the rich and a redistribution of income. A politician ready to pursue that agenda could commit to 0.7 per cent, but Paul Martin is not him, and he’s honest about it.

Rock stars, it’s true, could commit their money or their country’s to the 0.7, without trading away their families’ basic needs. But that’s what makes them rock stars. Maybe the Barenaked Ladies should have changed the final song in their set to, “Since I have a million dollars . . .”

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Rick Salutin

Rick Salutin is a Canadian novelist, playwright and critic. He is a strong advocate of left wing causes and writes a regular column in the Toronto Star.