Jon Stewart unapologetic for being a useful idiot, inviting Yusuf "Kill Rushdie" Islam to "sanity" rally

Jon Stewart is an idiot. I've never watched him because he's an idiot.

So, pay no attention to Dhimmi Jon Stewart. Also, his fatwa-loving Islamic colleague, convert Stevens.

“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it doesn’t exist.” – Sir Salman Rushdie

You get it, Muslim Stevens?

Jon Stewart. As Pamela would say, another self-hating Jew.

Hey Cat, I thought music was haram in Islam? I guess everything is haram to you guys...

...accept when it's not. Maybe you were just being followed by a moon shadow. Or a death star. Or somethin'.

Muslims never apologize...they just get more violent.

I loved Jon Stewart until I read this just now. I thought perhaps he just forgot about Cat Steven's fatwa endorsement but obviously he just doesn't care about it. Very disappointing.

If I were a Jew, Mo-bot "reverts" like Yusuf Islam would alarm me deeply, especially in light of the recent attempted synagogue attack. Right now I'm reading Elie Wiesel's "Night" and it just seems like people don't want to confront dangerous truths until it's too late. Nobody in Elie Wiesel's town listened to the warnings until it was too late and they were taken to Auschwitz. I'm concerned for all Jewish people right now because I think we are reaching a critical time against Islam yet even they are largely refusing to acknowledge it.

Cat Stevens. Still crazy..uhm, Muslim, after all these years.

Stevens' biggest hit was "Peace Train". I guess murdering people because they say something you don't like belongs on his "peace train".

Perhaps Jon Stewart would feel differently about it if Stevens becomes offended by something on Stewart's show and a fatwa is put on his head...

This rally is looking more like INsanity. They did get the fear part right.

Can't wait to watch the election returns.

Bottom line: Jon Stewart is part of the problem, not part of the solution. And, oh man, is he overrated. Big time.

He's tedious too, except for those too easily amused, which unfortunately are way too many in this silly age that we live in. But I digress.

As for Cat Stevens, or Yusuf Islam, or whatever name this joker chooses to go by, he is an enabler of evil. So, he's not "merely" a fool like Stewart. Oh yeah, he's much worse.

Freedom again and again is opposed by doofuses and wicked folks. Stewart and Cat Stevens are demonstrative of this. Anyone caring to dispute my point here, go ahead and give it a shot.

I have enjoyed Jon Stewart's comedic talents. But now, if I see him on a screen, I'll change the channel or walk away. Until he apologizes for including Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens and acknowledges it was wrong to include him, I won't be able to look at Stewart's face without disgust.

Furthermore, if Stewart ever becomes the target of a death fatwa, he deserves no sympathy or help. Let him fend for himself.

This highlights how deeply theological this conflict is? Our old patterns of thought and tradition leads us down a road of perpetual conflict? A road to peace will require either a new sense of a much higher spiritual authority that all parties agree to or a peace built on the scorched earth of conflict not unlike Atlanta 1864, or Germany and Japan in 1945?

We face tough choices but this may energize higher creativity and options? Might revisiting the Constitution of Medina open up new possibilities for cross cultural dialog?

Interesting (to me) opinions about the Cat Stevens/Jon Steward issue on The Daily Show's website:

http://forums.thedailyshow.com/?page=ThreadView&thread_id=33649

Most are very much against the inclusion of Cat Stevens. So, there is some sanity out there. Just not very much.

Stevens' biggest hit was "Peace Train". I guess murdering people because they say something you don't like belongs on his "peace train".

That's what makes his reversion to Islam so bizarre to me, the total repudiation of the sentiment expressed in Peace Train.

Hey Cat, I thought music was haram in Islam?

Anything is halal if done to deceive the infidel and benefit the ummah. Where do you think royalties on the new albums, plus the millions of dollars per year in royalties he receives for his old ones, is going?

Stevens, a Muslim convert, has reiterated his support for the death sentence on multiple occasions, most recently in 1997. When asked during a 1989 interview whether he would take part in a protest that burned Rushdie in effigy, Stevens replied that “I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing.” The singer has never apologized for endorsing the fatwa....
....................

But wait—there's more:

Yusuf Islam addressed students at Kingston University in London in 1989 about his conversion to Islam and was asked about the controversy in the Muslim world and the fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie's execution. He replied, "He must be killed. The Qur'an makes it clear - if someone defames the prophet, then he must die."

Newspapers quickly denounced what was seen as Yusuf Islam's support for the assassination of Rushdie and the next day Yusuf released a statement saying that he was not personally encouraging anybody to be a vigilante, and that he was only stating that blasphemy is a capital offense according to the Qur'an.

Yep—just orthodox Islam—which is the main problem.

More, from his appearance that same year on the aptly named BBC program "Hypotheticals", in conversation with moderator Geoffrey Robertson:

Robertson: You don't think that this man deserves to die?

Y. Islam: Who, Salman Rushdie?

Robertson: Yes.

Y. Islam: Yes, yes.

Robertson: And do you have a duty to be his executioner?

Y. Islam: Uh, no, not necessarily, unless we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered by a judge or by the authority to carry out such an act - perhaps, yes.

[Some minutes later, Robertson on the subject of a protest where an effigy of the author is to be burned]

Robertson: Would you be part of that protest, Yusuf Islam, would you go to a demonstration where you knew that an effigy was going to be burned?

Y. Islam: I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing...

The New York Times also reports this statement from Islam: [If Rushdie turned up at my doorstep looking for help] "I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like. I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is".

Later, Islam objected to some of the content of the program. Did he regret his own murderous comments? He did not. He and other Muslim participants "objected to cuts" that "omitted the Muslim justification for punishment of blasphemy."

Over ten years later, he chalked up his statements to those of "a new Muslims". So—did he regret his calls for Rushdie's murder? I'm afraid not. Here are his comments in a Rolling Stone interview from 2000:

"I'm very sad that this seems to be the No. 1 question people want to discuss. I had nothing to do with the issue other than what the media created. I was innocently drawn into the whole controversy. So, after many years, I'm glad at least now that I have been given the opportunity to explain to the public and fans my side of the story in my own words. At a lecture, back in 1989, I was asked a question about blasphemy according to Islamic Law, I simply repeated the legal view according to my limited knowledge of the Scriptural texts, based directly on historical commentaries of the Qur'an. The next day the newspaper headlines read, "Cat Says, Kill Rushdie." I was abhorred [appalled?], but what could I do? I was a new Muslim. If you ask a Bible student to quote the legal punishment of a person who commits blasphemy in the Bible, he would be dishonest if he didn't mention Leviticus 24:16."

Uh, yes—because the most common top... sarc/off

Islam continues to defend his murderous statements to this day. The *only* mitigating comments he has ever made is in noting that the Fatwa might only apply in "a place or land where such law is accepted and applied by the society as a whole"—in other words, watch out when Britain and the rest of the West become fully "Shari'ah compliant"...

What could possibly do more to "restore sanity" than including a figure who has called for the murder of a peaceful man for "blasphemy"—and has done so now consistently for well over *twenty years*?

Sounds less like "Peace Train" to me, and more like the "Highway to Hell"...

it's quite possible, even probable, that Stewart knew nothing about Cat Stephens support of the fatwa to kill Rushdie. Until now, that is.

Dare i hope this proves a valuable learning experience for Stewart?

The left simply cannot fathom that there is a global Islamist movement supported by nation states, media, schools, mosques and other establishment islamic organizations. When any on the right suggest as much, they're immediately deemed "extremist," "racist," and the like. But now Stewart, like so many on the left sooner or later, is running head first into a bit of reality.

Maybe he'll be a changed man for it.

Islam wasnot the only music person at the rally, there where many who went to have than good time and it have nothing to do with the RELIGION OF ISLAM.

Stevens-Islam is NO friend of the Jews:

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/6284/islam-denied-entry-cat-stevens-peace-train-of-islamic-hate-derailed/

Some pertinent comments on Stevens:

Jon Stewart Doesnt Regret Inviting Fatwa-Endorsing Singer to Rally
By Alana Goodman | November 02, 2010 | 10:35

According to novelist Salman Rushdie, Comedy Central star Jon Stewart appears to be unapologetic for featuring Muslim extremist folk singer Cat Stevens (a.k.a. Yusuf Islam) at his Rally to Restore Sanity last Saturday. Stevens has previously supported a long-standing Islamic death sentence against Rushdie.

Standpoint magazines Nick Cohen spoke to Rushdie this morning, who told him that: I spoke to Jon Stewart about Yusuf Islam's appearance. He said he was sorry it upset me, but really, it was plain that he was fine with it. Depressing.

After Rushdie penned The Satanic Verses in 1988, Irans Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him, claiming that the book was blasphemous against Islam.

Stevens, a Muslim convert, has reiterated his support for the death sentence on multiple occasions, most recently in 1997. When asked during a 1989 interview whether he would take part in a protest that burned Rushdie in effigy, Stevens replied that I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing. The singer has never apologized for endorsing the fatwa.

Michael Weiss at The New Criterion calls out Stewart for his hypocrisy, and notes that Stevens is far more extreme than the conservatives Stewart regularly mocks on his show:

Yet as Stewart makes clear by his every off-camera action (and every other on-camera one), he's as hypocritical and spin-doctored as any thundering Beltway egomaniac he lampoons.

Would it be rude to guess at his decision to invite Cat Stevens, a.k.a. Yusuf Islam, to perform at last weekend's mass rally in implausibly denied partisanship at the National Mall? Who better than a Greek-American convert to Islam with multi-platinum records under his caftan to combat the vicious demonization of Muslims by the Tea Party and anti-mosque fanatics.

Except that Yusuf Islam is a right-wing fundamentalist who makes Sarah Palin look like Bella Abzug. Nothing is more of a ratings boost for that hebephrenic pseudo-historian Glenn Beck than exhibiting a medieval apologist for murder as a spokesperson for "sane" America.

Journalist Andrew Anthony has more on Stevens radical positions, which are completely out-of-sync with the theme of Stewarts sanity rally (via Nick Cohen at Standpoint again):

"[Stevens] told me in 1997, eight years after saying on TV that Rushdie should be lynched, that he was in favour of stoning women to death for adultery. He also reconfirmed his position on Rushdie. He set up the Islamia school in Brent, which is currently undergoing council-backed expansion. Its mission statement three years ago explicitly stated that its aim was to bring about the submission of the individual, the community and the world at large to Islam. For this aim it now receives state funding. Its an incubator of the most bonkers religious extremism and segregation, and is particularly strong on the public erasure of women. Why do people go to such lengths to ignore these aspects of Yusuf Islam's character and philosophy?

UPDATE: While Stevens did seem to back away from his support of the fatwa in a Rolling Stone interview in 2000, as well as in a statement posted to his own website, he still hasn't explicitly apologized for his earlier comments about Rushdie. Ron Radosh writes at Pajamas Media:

Those who commented on my post yesterday, pointing out that Yusuf Cat Stevens Islams two statements do not in fact apologize directly for his approval of the fatwa against Rushdie are correct. He still denies saying what he in fact very clearly did say. Before anyone should ask the singer to appear at their event- especially one that is supposedly meant to foster harmony and sanity- Yusuf Islam should be asked to clearly and unequivocally repudiate his past statements, and admit that he in fact made them.

Read more: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/alana-goodman/2010/11/02/jon-stewart-doesn-t-regret-inviting-fatwa-endorsing-singer-rally#ixzz149Njckmt

Anyone who urges others to kill someone for writing words is a terrorist, terrorists should not be allowed physical freedom, they should be safely locked away for the protection of society. Terrorists should not be invited to political events, it just legitimises the killings of innocent people.

John Stewart and Stephen Colbert (who has made more money and achieved more fame from one "ironically" arched eyebrow than anyone else in history) are certain that they're smarter, more talented, and cleverer than anyone else. They have no capacity for self-reflection or self-doubt, which is not surprising since the wormy pus-sacs they call their brains are so full of self-love and self-infatuation, there's no room for anything else, like even rudimentary capacity for introspection.

Shame on Jon Stewart for the stupid inappropriateness of having Yusuf Islam at a "sanity" rally of all things.

I used to like to listen to Cat Stevens. Never bought any of his music because I was more a rocker, but I thought he sang good songs. I was interested in his conversion (I refuse to call it reversion as I don't buy the BS that everyone in born a Muslim). If I recall correctly what I read, his brother was raised Muslim and was a constant influence in trying to get him to convert (Michael Jackson, anybody?).

Then after he almost drown while body surfing, Stevens had a revelation and converted to Islam. It would have been better if he had just drowned, because he died inside that day.

Stewart is not an idiot, as some here have said--he's a coward with the "identify with your enemy" mentality. Like the poor Jewish prisoners in the concentration camps who used black humor and befriended their captors, Stewart doesn't have the cajones to speak the truth about Islam and Islam the person. How sad a Jew like Stewart stands behind such a horrible anti-Semite, generalized hater of the dhimmi world, like Cat/Islam. How pretentiously Stewart is with his superiority attitude for "the islamophobes." One day he may wake up with his head next to his body, staring at his empty crotch. There's nothing worse than a person backing the philosophy of another person who actually wishes him dead or submissive, and who thinks of him as a pig or ape--in Stewart's case, perhaps he's right.

Jon Stewart and Colbert are simply Progressives that think it's ok to promote a rally that had such 'hateful people there, with atrocious signs against other Americans, AND the likes of Cat Stevens who approves the killing of Rushdie
for merely "writing words", that offend someone of the type
of Barbarism that is Islam. This cult is a violent one, that also treats it's female population like: "Raw meat that
needs to be covered as it smells and entices men, and the women are like dogs"-THIS, is a general phrase from one of the IMAMS, describing the burqa and it's women who need to be covered.

As a Jew, is Jon Stewart AWARE of this, is he "so impressed with his OWN sense of importance" that he spews out to an audience of dolts, that THINK he IS giving them news? He can call it a parody, but it is arrogant and he gets his ever present Liberal/Progressive points across as he demeans
ANY person who is not of HIS ilk.

It is time to make these "Holly-woodheads" accountable for what they spew out on a nightly basis, that is hateful as it
is boring. He/Colbert THINK they are funny, as Letterman,
who also mugs, and says outrageous things about Conservatives, but gives his Lib/Progressives a pass on ANY
thing they say or do. When will the networks realize these
"show offy kids, are just that- Show Offs that their family
apparently laughed at, and they continue to act the same in adulthood. Not funny, just dumb...as are their audience.

you have it right, Jo. At one point I actually did laugh at their material, but then it becomes obvious that it's totally one-sided. Of course the media in general is so far left that it makes Saul Alinsky look like a Conservative.

Anyone who would invite such a disgusting person as pratt stevens onto his show doesn't have the intellectual capacity of a cross-rib roast or an advanced fern. My UK friends quite accurately refer to this no-talent plagarist as a muzak-oriented wanker. The only song he ever recorded which made it past the level of an advertising jingle,"Morning Has Broken," is a Gaelic hymn from the 19th century with new lyrics added in 1931 by a Norwegian woman named Eleanora Farjeon.
Nuke mecca.