Extremists
Man 1 You bloody terrorist!
Man 2 What?
Man 1 You're a bloody terrorist.
Man 2 I'm not.
Man 1 What?
Man 2 I'm not a terrorist. I'm an extremist.
Man 1 Exactly.
Man 2 They're two different things.
Man 1 What?
Man 2 Terrorist and extremist. They don't mean the same thing.
Man 1 They do.
Man 2 They don't. Not all extremists are violent.
Man 1 Well, most of them are.
Man 2 Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Jesus.
Man 1 I was talking about Muslim extremists. You're all Islamists.
Man 2 Do you even know what an Islamist is?
Man 1 Yeah. All right. What's an Islamist?
Man 2 Someone who believes the world should be controlled by Islam. The government, law, society.
Man 1 Well, then.
Man 2 Do you know what Islam means?
Man 1 What, you mean-
Man 2 The word Islam.
Man 1 No.
Man 2 Submission or peace.
Man 1 Submission or peace?
Man 2 Yeah.
Man 1 How can it mean submission or peace?
Man 2 Because to me, submission is peace. I submit myself to the will of God and it brings me peace.
Man 1 But you want more?
Man 2 No, no, no, no, I want everyone in this country, everyone in this world, to submit themselves to the will of Allah Sharia Law.
Man 1 Exactly.
Man 2 Yeah, because then we'll all live in peace and harmony. That's what makes me an extremist. It doesn't mean I want to go around blowing people up. It just means I'm standing up for something. But you-
Man 1 Right, I'll stand up against people like you, trying to ruin this country.
Man 2 And how am I?
Man 1 We used to be the greatest country in the world until people like you started coming here.
Man 2 What do you mean? Brown people like me?
Man 1 Too right. You're all bloody the same, you want free schools and hospitals when you don't even belong here, you don't even try to fit in.
Man 2 And what gives you the right to decide who belongs?
Man 1 Because I was born here, British born and bred.
Man 2 I was born here too.
Man 1 Yes, but you're not English, though, are you? Where are your parents born?
Man 2 Pakistan.
Man 1 Exactly.
Man 2 But I was born here. You can't choose your parents and where you're born.
Man 1 All right, I'll give you that. But-
Man 2 Where was your parents born?
Man 1 Slough.
Man 2 What about your grandparents?
Man 1 England.
Man 2 Yeah, all of them? Do you know, as a white British man, you share a third of your DNA with the Germans? Nearly half with the French. So how does that make you feel? You racist.
Man 1 I'm not racist. I just hate Muslims. You just said it for yourself. You want to take over the bloody world. You're a bunch of medieval barbarians.
Man 2 Man, where'd you get this stuff?
Man 1 9/11, 7/7, ISIS, Al-Qaeda.
Man 2 Do you know, there's over 1.5 billion of us. We're not all the same. We're not all terrorists. We're not even all extremists. Most Muslims just want to live a quiet life.
Man 1 I've read about what you lot want.
Man 2 Where?
Man 1 Newspapers. What? It's the news. They have to check their facts.
Man 2 What you don't think they're going to choose to report some facts and not others?
Man 1 Yeah, they'll report the important ones.
Man 2 Newspapers want drama, blood, death, bad guy. They're never going to report 'Yesterday, millions of Muslims all over the world were living their lives in peace and harmony'. Real world Muslims aren't such a threat to you.
Man 1 Yeah, but you stand out like it's deliberate. I don't see why you can't just be like us.
Man 2 Because I'm a fundamentalist.
Man 2 That means I live my life strictly by the teaching of my religion, the Qur'an and the saying the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, peace be upon him.
Man 1 Why would you choose to live like that?
Man 2 I didn't choose, I was born a muslim.
Man 1 You can't be born a religion.
Man 2 Religion feels good. I look at myself in the mirror and I know who I am.
Man 1 Right. So you want to turn us all into Muslims because it makes you feel good?
Man 2 Yeah, okay, I do.
Man 1 Right, do you know how scary that is? You can't just come here and tell us to speak Arabic, cover up our women and chop off the hands of our criminals and not eat bacon. We're British. It's not the way we do things here. So of course we're going to fight back.
Man 2 So you're allowed to fight back, but we're not?
Man 1 What do you have to fight back against?
Man 2 It's not the British being attacked. I've been really attacked by soldiers, tanks, drones. My people are being oppressed. Of course I want to fight for them.
Man 1 But you said Islam means peace. Doesn't it say in your Qur'an that killing people is wrong?
Man 2 Except in a just cause, and this is a just cause. This is a just war. When America wants to wipe out the Muslim people.
Man 1 Where'd you get that from?
Man 2 What?
Man 1 America wants to wipe out Muslim people. Come on.
Man 2 The internet. What?
Man 1 There are 300 million people in America. They're not all the same either. Some of them are Muslims.
Man 2 Well, fine. But Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, Guantanamo. Look, there's a war to be fought, man.
Man 1 But you're not a soldier.
Man 2 I could be.
Man 1 What, so you want to go die in a desert?
Man 2 Yeah, maybe I do.
Man 1 Why?
Man 2 Because, because I want to feel a part of it. Yeah, danger and glory and brotherhood. It's exciting, okay yeah. Is it, is it so bad? And I, and I hate this country. I mean, how would you feel if-
Man 1 What?
Man 2 If you, if you grew up learning alcohol is wrong? Homosexuality is wrong. Women showing their bodies is wrong. Sex before marriage is wrong. Think how I feel when I walk the streets and I see women in their tiny skirts, tight tops and the sex on TV and movies and music videos, adverts.
Man 1 Jealous.
Man 2 Angry and disgusted and frightened. And, yeah, jealous, because I can't help seeing this.
Man 1 If you don't like it, go back to Pakistan.
Man 2 How did you get like this?
Man 1 Like what?
Man 2 How did you get so radicalised?
Man 1 Hey, I'm not radicalised.
Man 2 Yes, you are.
Man 1 You're the one who's radicalised.
Man 2 Of course I am, because I'm angry. I want the world to be somewhere I can feel safe. I want someone to blame for the things that scare me, and yeah I've met people who felt the same way, and it was like waking up. They understood me and it felt good. And bit by bit we made each other angrier. So yeah, we radicalised ourselves because we wanted to outdo each other, and you're the same
Man 1 I'm bloody not.
Man 2 You're an extremist, you're a racist. How did you get to be like this?
Man 1 Because-
Man 2 Why do you hate me so much?
Man 1 Because the world's a mess. I mean we can't trust the media or the banks. And there weren't any jobs. Dad never had a job, so there wasn't anything for us to do except, you know, watch telly, go online and see these adverts which tell you life's about having money, cars, phones and watches, and we couldn't have any of that. So you look around for something else to make you feel like you're a part of something, a football team, a band, a gang. And then you get older and you still don't have the money or the job or the stuff you're supposed to have, so you start to feel like cut off. Like, you got no, no reason, no purpose, and you look around for for someone to blame, anyone. It could be bankers, immigrants, paedos, and then you hear about these Muslim terrorists waging a war against your way of life, but you don't know any terrorists, but you know, some Muslims and bam! You found a purpose, an enemy, and you do something about it because it gives you a reason to exist, and that's what we all need. We need to feel like we know who we are.
Man 2 No society is perfect in this life.
Man 1 So why don't you think for yourself then?
Man 2 Why don't you?
Man 1 I do.
Man 2 Do you?
Man 1 Well, do you?
Man 2 All right. Maybe I don't always think for myself.
Man 1 Well, maybe I don't either.
Man 2 I still believe Sharia law is the right way to live.
Man 1 I still think the British way of life is disappearing because of people like you.
Man 2 So, what do we do?
Man 1 Well, I guess we keep on talking.
Man 2 All right. I've got to go.
Man 1 Me, too.
Man 2 My daughter.
Man 1 Got a daughter?
Man 2 Yeah.
Man 1 How old?
Man 2 Three.
Man 1 Mines five. You getting the bus?
Man 2 Yeah. 58.
Man 1 That's mine too.
Man 2 Alright.
