Like it or not, a lot of people agree with Sonia

WAS Sonia Kruger right? A lot of people certainly seem to think so — but they’re not likely to say it in public.

Sonia Kruger has copped fierce abuse.

OPINION

WAS Sonia Kruger right?

Like it or not, a lot of people certainly seem to think so. The Today Extra host has been subjected to an outpouring of abuse in the wake of her controversial comments on Monday calling for a ban on Muslim immigration.

But viewers, readers, and many in the general public have backed her.

“You’re speaking for the silent majority,” David Lang wrote on Today’s Facebook page. “It’s not racist to want to protect your children and grandchildren. So glad to see someone in the media with some sense.”

Sonia Ricci-Baldassarre said: “Have to agree with Sonia on this one. The fact of the matter is there was a lot less terrorism around the world before the borders were open. No one can deny that.”

Harvey Plumsted added: “Thank you for [having] the courage to say what needs to be said.”

Judging by thousands of similar comments on Facebook, news websites and callers to radio stations, there is widespread support for her views.

News.com.au understands Channel Nine was inundated with calls following Monday’s segment, the majority of which were expressing support.

Kruger was responding to a piece by News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt highlighting the link between Muslim immigration and terrorism. “We are fools not to change our own immigration policies to protect ourselves,” Bolt wrote.

Kruger said she wanted a ban on Muslim immigration because she wants to “feel safe”.

It is therefore ironic that many people no longer feel safe expressing what is rapidly becoming a commonly held view — for fear of being abused, branded a bigot, or even threatened with violence.

“Personally I think Andrew Bolt has a point here that there is a correlation between the number of people who are Muslim in a country and the number of terrorist attacks,” Kruger said on Monday.

“Japan has a population of 174 million, it has 100,000 people in that country who are Muslim. We never hear of terrorist attacks in Japan.

“Personally I would like to see it (Muslim immigration) stopped now for Australia, because I want to feel safe, as all of our citizens do, when they go out to celebrate Australia Day.”

Since Monday, you could count on one hand the journalists and commentators who have defended Kruger.

Even Kruger’s own friends in TV are mostly unwilling to publicly support her, for fear of copping a similar backlash.

One exception was Mike Goldman, Kruger’s former Big Brother colleague. “Sonia Kruger is definitely not a racist,” he told News Corp. “She never talked about race, just religion. She’s saying what a lot of people are afraid to say in public.”

The Australian public is not stupid. Of course they realise the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful — but the peaceful majority are irrelevant.

The Australian government has a responsibility to make decisions in the best interests of its people, and our immigration program has to be pragmatic, not idealistic.

As 2GB radio host Ben Fordham said in a spirited defence of Kruger on Monday, the world seems to be broken up into “feels” and “reals”.

“The ‘reals’ are those who live in the real world, the ‘feels’ are those who just want to feel good,” Fordham said. “The reals can see there is a rising number of Islamic terror attacks and this threatens our safety. The feels think that by highlighting this inconvenient truth, it’s going to hurt people’s feelings.

“You don't have to be a brilliant mathematician to know that the more Muslims you have in a country, the greater the chance of Islamic extremists being part of the cultural make-up.

“That’s not bigoted, it’s not discriminatory, it’s just fact.”

Critics of Kruger and Bolt’s Japan argument point out that Japan has had terror attacks too. Yes, it has — the last one was more than two decades ago.

Take a look at the number of Islamic terror attacks in the 21 years since the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack. In 2016 alone, there have been nearly 1300 individual attacks in 50 countries, nearly 12,000 dead and more than 14,000 injured.

As the disconnect grows between what people really think, and what they are told is acceptable to discuss in public, our ability to have honest discussions about uncomfortable issues diminishes.

And that makes everyone less safe.

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Originally published as Like it or not, a lot of people agree with Sonia