The Wall Street Journal ran an opinion column from Quillette editor Andy Ngo that cowardly and dishonestly tried to slander England's Muslims as having dominated Whitechapel, a London neighborhood.

I know it's untrue and dishonest because I live there.

Ngo really went for fear mongering and race-baiting rather than giving a fair assessment of the neighborhood, so I gave one here.

Andy Ngo, an editor at Quillette, wrote an opinion column in the Wall Street Journal about "Islamic England" that plays fast and loose with facts and context in a cowardly attempt to fear monger around England's Muslim population.

Ngo visits pockets of Muslims living in London to paint a picture of a terrifying and restrictive land governed by religious law, which is an absolute fabrication that must have required him to willfully ignore facts.

I should know, because I've lived on the exact streets discussed by Ngo for a year.

"Muslims walked in one direction for jumu’ah, Friday prayer, while non-Muslims went the opposite way. Each group kept its distance and avoided eye contact with the other. A sign was posted on a pole: 'Alcohol restricted zone.'"

Looking past Ngo's eye contact judgement for now, mentioning the alcohol restricted zone in connection to the mosque represents the first of many attempts to portray Islam as dominating parts of London.

In fact, the alcohol free zone outside the mosque is one of many all around the UK imposed by the elected government, not zealous Muslim overlords, to prevent "anti-social behavior," such as drunkenness and public urination.

Honestly, I live around the corner from this zone and it took me months to realize it was alcohol-restricted. Before I read the sign on the pole highlighted by Ngo, I first noticed a large mosaic depicting the Jewish star of David on a planter directly outside the Mosque.

When I finally saw the alcohol-restricted notice, I was at that moment drinking a beer on one of the benches nearby, and, perhaps due to Ngo's dreaded lack of eye contact, nobody seemed to care.

Ngo constantly portrays a lack of English identity or history in the Islamicized corridors, but he's not looking for it because he's engaged in a weak attempt to skew facts and promote fear of Muslims.

Ngo enters the East London Mosque, where he is, predictably, encouraged to join the congregation. Ngo cherry picked sentences from literature he retrieved there that indicates the resident Muslims want to impose Sharia, or Islamic law.

With a massive devout Muslim congregation and nearby population, let's look at how the biggest Mosque in Europe dominates its immediate area:

Lifted out of Riyadh, huh? Google Maps / Alex Lockie / Skitch

This image represents just a few blocks of Whitechapel, but I couldn't actually point out all the pubs because it would crowd out the picture. The implication that the Mosque has somehow limited alcohol use or availability in its immediate area, literally even directly across the street or in neighboring buildings, is, as a white, Christian, eye-contact-making British person might say: "Rubbish." (To Ngo's credit, I have noticed Londoners of all stripes make less eye contact than New Yorkers.)



I should point out, that in New York City, you're not allowed to drink outside anywhere in public. Ngo didn't mention whether or not this was due to Muslims having taken over and imposed Sharia law.

Look at that map again. Ngo looks at a tiny alcohol-free patch in an otherwise vibrant patch of pubs and boozy, flirtatious nightlife and says of the street: "The scene could have been lifted out of Riyadh."

Could it, Mr. Ngo?

If you're going to say something, say it. Don't hide.

Ngo's dishonesty in his piece jumped out at virtually everyone with a passing familiarity of the area, but I'd like to point out his cowardice. "Nobody made eye contact," Ngo points out. So what? Do strangers on the street owe that to you?

Ngo brings up terrorism and increasing security measures in the article. Why? Do the ISIS-inspired attackers who killed Londoners in tragic acts of violence represent London's Muslim population in Ngo's eyes? Have any Muslim Londoners contributed anything positive to London? Yes, but you won't read about it in Ngo's Wall Street Journal opinion column.

Ngo seemed genuinely afraid of, and intimidated by, London's Muslim citizenry. In his conclusion, any respect I might have had for his writing went out the window:

"Other tourists might remember London for Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus and Big Ben. I’ll remember it for its failed multiculturalism. Or perhaps this is what successful multiculturalism looks like."

Here Ngo sheepishly avoids any conclusion at all. Ngo's opinion is literally that multiculturalism might be bad, or not. He can't even come straight out and conclude his cobbled-together argument that Islam has taken over parts in a definitive way.

Ngo here has a chance to express his opinion on the massive and respected platform of the Wall Street Journal, and he uses it to imply Muslims are bad before chickening out of saying it outright.

If you're going to go to all the trouble, why not just say you don't like Muslims or don't like them in London, Mr. Ngo?