Predictable outrage at the Mail as Muslim gets religious job

When I read the news that the BBC had appointed a Muslim as head of religious programming last night, I envisaged the outrage that would be shown by the Mail and its readers.

And they really are that predictable.

This appointment apparently means - according to Peter Jones in Amersham - that: 'This entire organization is rotten to the core and should be shut down with immediate effect.'

Other comments include: 'I've just torn up my TV licence', 'Obviously,' and 'Sounds just about right for lunatic left bbc.' All these get massive positive scores. Even the comment 'No comment!!!!' gets +137.

Whereas 'I'm sure he will do a good job', 'I don't see what the problem is,' and 'I don't really understand your objections to this since the BBC has said he was the best candidate for the job' all get hugely negative reactions (-300 and worse).

The Mail do point out that Aaqil Ahmed had recently commissioned the series Christianity: A History on Channel 4. But they don't go on to tell any views from the man himself - they are more interested in the views of Christians about this appointment. But of the Chritianity series, Ahmed described it like this:

Christianity: A History is the biggest project I have commissioned during my time at Channel 4. It’s almost unheard of for a mainstream broadcaster to dedicate eight hours of prime time television to Christianity in this way. I think it’s fair to say that it’s a big risk, but a risk I really wanted to take.

So in what ways is this a 'controversial first' as the Mail headline has it? Well, it isn't at all really. I say good luck to him.