A joke on a Wagga-run Facebook page may lost its humour after it inspired a series of comments encouraging violence against Muslims.
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The post on “Wagga Wagga buy, swap and sell” claimed the recent census results showed the majority of Wagga residents were Muslims and asked where a new mosque should be built.
However, the joke made in bad taste took a sinister turn with options like “next to a brothel, across the road from a bacon barbecue, which is next door to a lingerie shop”, “at the Wagga tip”, “pig farm” and “in a hole underground with dirt over the top”.
Griffith imam Mohammed Mofreh said he believed ignorant and hateful comments like this were due to a fundamental misunderstanding of Islam.
"The people who create violence around the world are not related to Islam, they are just people who want power,” Dr Mofreh said. “When they say ‘all Muslims are terrorists’, that’s not fair. It will only create more hate.”
A Facebook spokesman said there was “no place for content encouraging direct threats or hate speech on Facebook”.
“We have a set of community standards... and we urge people to use our reporting tools if they find content they believe violates our standards,” he said.
“People can use Facebook to speak up and educate the community around them. Counter-speech, in the form of accurate information and alternative viewpoints, can help create a more respectful understanding.”
However, the comments under the post were anything but “respectful understanding”.
“Back of the gun club on Copland Street… perfect location,” one person wrote in response to the poll. Another suggested putting a mosque right in the middle of a firing range.
One poster went even further, suggesting dumping a pig’s head on the site of any future mosque. Similar acts of religious hatred have been carried out elsewhere in the world, possibly because pork is forbidden under Islamic law.
The administrators of the Facebook page did not respond to requests for comment.