You may not like to hear these words but we have an increasingly polarised atmosphere that is causing a huge amount of discontent amongst minorities.

The Quebec mosque massacre left six dead and several injured and led to the arrest of a 27-year-old local university student who was influenced by far-right views.

Some might say recent years are no different to ten years ago during which time minorities have been painted as a clear threat to the British way of life.

If you are a minority you are likely to have read countless articles and heard many debates which have helped to perpetuate these myths.

What we have now is a situation where it is quite normal for people to think a certain way about foreigners.

There is no victim mentality here but it is common practice for media organisations to change headlines and write articles for the sole aim of encouraging racist comments.

Now, if these were marginalised articles on obscure websites then we may not have an issue. But they are not. Worryingly they are on some of the most respected websites in the world.

The major issue is just like those religious extremists who are keen to read about information that relates to them we have individuals and groups who only want to consume views they themselves agree with.

Social media has made this even more apparent.

There are clearly points to be made concerning how people can be drip-fed prejudicial information about minorities. So much so they genuinely won’t read or believe anything to the contrary.

So, what is stopping anyone from being led to believe that minorities are a major danger to their community?

Increasingly, I have actually spoken to Asian people who read and share disparaging stories about other Asians. They almost revel in it. Much of these articles and posts are clearly there to insinuate false notions about immigrants and other religions.

If an Asian person with immigrant parents holds these ideas what may I ask must a person who does not even mix with other minorities be thinking?

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Take the above for example. This was the front page of a UK news organisation’s website throughout the day on Monday.

It led to a barrage of racist comments and the article seemed to almost beg for the killer to be a Muslim.

When later in the day it turned out the killer was not a Muslim and this was a racist attack the article was pushed way down the website.

Fox News in America also went down this route.

It is much like the shock jocks that some Canadian Muslims are now mentioning that has helped to contribute to the resentment of foreigners in the country.

This week the Canadian Muslim community complained about the impact of the anti-immigrant rhetoric heard on the city’s airwaves.

Now we must point out that there is no evidence to suggest that the alleged shooter in the Quebec Massacre was influenced by these radio shows.
 “Whenever you happen to listen to this trash on the radio, you clearly hear xenophobic language,” said Mohammed Ali Saidane.

“What I reproach with these media is that they import problems from elsewhere, especially France. We don’t live in ghettos here. It’s not the same as France.”

Louis-Philippe Lampron told the Washington Post, “The real danger of this kind of radio is that they play with the line between news, opinion and demagoguery.”

Lampron said four or five talk-show hosts dominate 'the market competing for listeners with outrageous talk, which is often right-wing and populist in tone'.

“It’s very insidious and aggressive.”

Of course there is along line between material that demeans minorities to extremism and violent extremism.

And no way am I suggesting that this can lead to a person then committing mass murder. But when you lay the foundations and normalising such abuse you are making such opinions more mainstream.

And let me leave you with one thought. Name a developing and so-called 'backward' nation on the planet where daily mainstream newspapers make out that white Christian people are a threat and the common enemy?