Memo to FAIR: Steyn not guilty of "Islamophobia" -- but free speech still in jeopardy

Mark Steyn my hero and so thankful he is there for the fight to win!

From article: More importantly, it cost Canada its international reputation as a free, just and tolerant country.

Canada is slipping. Several serious incidents in the recent past indicate that Canada ain't what it usta be. Freedom and 'thought police' are inconsistent with each other, and can't exist in the same time space at the same time.

The ranks of the 'thought police' (no matter what fancy name they give themselves), are saturated with mean spirited, punishment happy, egoistic hypocrites. Look and see how they handle the power that has been given them...

They are the enemy within...Islam did not invent this ignoble trait in kufrs but they certainly exploit it. And the exploited are either are too blissed out on their own power to notice, or don't care. Either way, Canada is sinking fast and the rest of the west will follow, if it follows Canada's path.

Protect free speech and castigate those who threaten it. And above all, stop electing mean spirited, punishment happy, egoistic hypocrites
to public office and power positions...

Have Obama on your mind when you enter the voting booth...then vote for McCain...

I want to remind JWers not to confuse Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, the bad FAIR with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the good FAIR.

i bet yall wished you had a First Amendment to wish upon, don't you? if yall get to many more muslims around there you wish you had a Second Amendment too.

Guilty? Not guily? The 'decision' is irrelevant. WHO the F-CK are THEY to render these 'sentences'. That is the key point.

People, from our own country, viz., "Jackbooted thugs intimidate citizens (re: Obama).

A must-read from "Chandler's Watch":

http://chandlerswatch.com/

To be a Human Rights Commissioner apparently the first requirement is that one be a wus, a coward, and a lib apologist.

Hurray for Mark Steyn and hurrah for free speech, but these commissioners live to fight another day. They should be done away with.

The Oprahsization of the quasi judiciary.

What pusillanimous pukes.

Darcy,

Holy sh-t! That's one scary story!

Readers who wish to read the pdf of the British Columbia HRC's decision can find the link to it at the FreeMarkSteyn site. In their write-up, the HRC "kangaroo" judges claim:

115 “Both [Rippin and Ayoub] agreed that the [Steyn] Article’s description of an Islamic conspiracy with ‘serious global ambitions’ to dominate the world, and create what the Article calls ‘Eurabia’, has no basis in the Qur’an or Islamic traditions. As part of their beliefs, adherents of Islam are not exhorted to conspire to take over the world…”

119 “…Dr. Rippin described the Qur’an as requiring Muslims to show respect to other communities and tolerance of other religions.”

129 “…Based on their evidence, the Panel accepts that the article contains numerous factual, historical, and religious inaccuracies about Islam and Muslims. Maclean’s did not call evidence to the contrary.”

Those apologists for Islam, Rippin (a mild apologist) and Ayoub (an extreme apologist), did not substantiate any of their claims, though their claims were accepted, by the "judges," as "expert" testimony. There is plenty of material in the Quran, Hadith, and Sira supporting imperialistic Islamic global ambitions. Of course, Maclean's/Steyn did not bother to refute those claims because they were hoping for an opportunity to fight this out in a real court. Still, the HRC's statements above are now being quoted in the mainstream media, and it would be useful for some expert critics of Islam to refute the "expert testimony" of Rippin and Ayoub.

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"If elected Prime Minister, what will Stephen Harper, Stephane Dion, Jack Layton or Elizabeth May do to rein in the powers of human rights commissions and protect freedom of speech and freedom of the press?"

Of these candidates, Harper (Conservative) is most likely to take a pro-free speech approach, combined with a critical attitude toward the human rights commissions. (Several years ago, Harper strongly criticized the HRCs, but subsequently, since he became Prime Minister, we have not seen any clear defense of free expression from him). Several Conservative politicians have expressed support for the free expression side in this controversy and have criticized the HRCs.

"fragrant Islamophobia" - is there some sort of smell test involved?

"did not violate the Human Rights of the Complainants merely by reporting Facts and accurately quoting sources"

This quote leads one to believe that the Commission accepted the truthfulness of what was published.

Mark needs to bludgeon these people with more of the same. The Commission found itself on thin Ice and Mark has managed to crack it under their Feet. A few more hits and it will succumb to the pressure, sweeping it away with the undercurrent.

It is really immaterial why and how the Commission made its decision.The fact remains that they made it. The wound is fresh and one cannot allow it time to heal.

Go for the Jugular.

Suggested campus activity for Jewish and philojudaic Gentile students and faculty members, during 'Islamofascism Awareness Week'.

Get Andrew Bostom 's 'Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism'.

Assemble a relay team of readers, folding chairs, drinks (to wet the whistle), and (for reference purposes) the Qur'an and Guillaume's translation of the Sira (some other texts might be handy, too, but these are the minimum).

Around morning-tea time set yourselves up in a suitable location on campus, say, in a sunny corner of the quadrangle and - having announced the title, author, and date of publication of the text - read aloud the 'Introductory Quotes' (giving the name and identity of each speaker).

Then read 'Note on the Cover Art'. That is: the story of the murder of Sol HaChuel Ha-Tsaddiqa [the Righteous Woman], in early 19C Muslim Morocco, on a bizarrely trumped-up charge of blasphemy and apostasy. For extra dramatic effect, find a pleasant-voiced young Jewish lady willing to read all portions of the text that are reported as Sol's own words; and, perhaps, to give, at the proper point in the text, the recitation of the Shema Yisroel, Sol's last act before her execution.

Around morning-tea time, a gentleman with a pleasant, scholarly voice reads aloud Ibn Warraq's 'Foreword'.

Any interested passers-by are requested to come back tomorrow to hear more.

On the second day, the fun really begins: the team starts in to read aloud the whole of Part One - 'Islamic Antisemitism: Jew Hatred in Islam'.

One reader is appointed as 'narrator' and reads in Bostom's voice.

Other people chip in as necessary to read the major quotations embedded within Bostom's text.

Some play the part of 'the historians' - reading all passages by non-Muslim scholarly observers. Others present 'the testifiers' - reading all passages written by non-Muslim victims of Islam, for example, Maimonides. Others represent 'the Muslims' - reading the passages from Muslim sources, whether Qur'an-Sira-Hadith, historians, jurists, or interpreters such as Qutb.

This would, I think, create quite a dramatic effect. (I experimented with reading portions of it aloud, while I was on holiday recently - it reads aloud very well, and the dramatic impact of the text is staggering, when read aloud rather than simply absorbed in silence).

I don't know how long it would take. Part One of Bostom's book occupies about 172 pages.

But I think a determined and pre-rehearsed team of readers, working together, mornings and afternoons, would probably complete it within the week.

Such a public reading, of part one of Bostom's book, by a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles, would be worth a try on any major Canadian or USA university campus.

The million-dollar question is this: would such a reading be permitted? How long before someone tried to stop it? (Make sure you have people ready and equipped to record the whole thing, visual and audio). And - would the readers be accused of 'hate speech' and 'Islamophobia'??

PS - I would *love* to do something like this - but I am in Australia, not America, and I am neither a faculty member nor a student at a university. This activity is something that I think would be best done by faculty + students, if they could muster the courage. For if the truth (about, for example, historic Muslim mistreatment of Jews) cannot be spoken in public in the main quadrangle of major western universities, then we really *are* in trouble.

Small correction to the above: the paragraph reading

"Around morning-tea time, a gentleman with a pleasant, scholarly voice reads aloud Ibn Warraq's 'Foreword'"

should be worded

"Then, around afternoon-tea time, a gentleman with a pleasant, scholarly voice reads aloud Ibn Warraq's 'foreword'".

flowerknife,

You wrote: "This quote leads one to believe that the Commission accepted the truthfulness of what was published."

The quote you cited was of a blogger expressing an opinion. The Tribunal/Commission did not accept the truthfulness of Steyn's article. Rather, they judged, on the basis of the opinions of two Islam apologists, as follows:

[140] “We have accepted the expert evidence of Drs. Rippin and Ayoub that the Article contains historical, religious, and factual inaccuracies. However, their expertise did not extend to linking the inaccuracies in the Article to the probability that it would expose Muslims in B.C. to the level of ‘unusually strong feelings and deeply felt emotions of detestation, calumny and vilification’ required by Taylor.”

Of course, even if the kangaroo judges had accepted the truthfulness of Steyn's article, that would have been no defence for Steyn/Maclean's anyway.

I suspect, as do many others, that the kangaroo judges let Steyn/Maclean's off the hook because they feared (i) legal action that might have abolished their jobs and (ii) a large public backlash against the HRCs generally.

Hey Tanstaafi
" Flagrant/ fragrant Islamophobia "
? Is there some sort of smell test involved ?
Have you experienced a roomfull of arses raised up westward....... yewwwwwwwwwwww......if that isn't fragrant/odoriferous { aroma-therapy} I don't know what is ??????

Kinana-

Thank you for the clarification and correction.

Was anyone involved in this affair knowledgeable about anything?

Do the Commissioners themselves have any knowledge of the subject?