On Friday, March 7, I was interviewed by SBS TV in Australia about our SION/Q Society Conference on Liberty and Islam. A Q Society operative filmed the interview. In the above video I’ve combined the raw footage of the actual interview with the report that SBS ran that night — which for the mainstream media, wasn’t as relentlessly and shamelessly biased as many others.
Pamela Geller had a similar experience — video of the raw footage of her interview plus the same news report is here.
Angemon says
13:02 – “Their claims are not made with any context, with any understanding of the religion, its guidelines and its teachings”
AH! I don’t recall Robert ever losing a debate regarding islam. And he debated several muslim scholars. In fact, things usually go like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfyXUszMyOk
5:10 – The imam was asked to quote where in the quran says that muslims and non-muslims are equals. Hilarity ensues.
Clearly Robert knows a lot about islam, and he certainly knows more about what islam teaches and how it’s understood in the islamic world than westernized muslims who were brought up in a secular society but nevertheless foam at the mouth in anger at the drop of a hat. Or at the drawing of muhammad. Or at the quoting from the quran, like the part where it sanctions wife beating.
bill says
You fogot to mention disrespect, damage or abuse of the Quran. Just last week a mob in Pakistan burnt down a Hindu neighborhood at the mere rumour of a ‘Hindu’ having burnt the Quran. Often people are murdered after unconfirmed reports of this kind of thing. No need for verification or proof in a court of law just an excuse for mayhem and death.
ann says
Robert I would be interested to read your thoughts on this article about slavery and the role of Islam
http://www.smh.com.au/national/billionaire-andew-twiggy-forrest-fights-to-end-global-slavery-20140317-34y6d.html
Mirren10 says
Here’s Sheik Tayyeb on wife beating in the Koran. (scroll down a bit).
I don’t think I would be inclined to place any credence in his strictures against slavery.
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4048.htm
voegelinian says
Somehow, I don’t think “ann” is going to respond.
Champ says
Bravo, Robert!!! …great job defending the truth. And you mentioned the doctrine of abrogation; which is such an important point and it’s often overlooked by islamic supremacists and their ilk.
King Dave says
Islam’s greatest and most feared enemy is the truth
Defcon 4 says
“Islam’s greatest and most feared enemy is the truth.” That can really be said of any totalitarian, fascist ideology and is the reason musl0nazis are trying and succeeding, in censoring and obfuscating that truth.
wolfy Ghalkhani says
perfect!
Bradamante says
It’s enough to make your blood boil — they give a tiny quote of Mr Spencer out of a lot of very well-sourced material, then a Muslim claiming that all the charges are cherry-picked.
I notice that they never actually let people hear the powerful argumentation that’s being provided. If they actually let Mr Spencer quote chapter and verse of the Koran without interruption, viewers might start to get scared that perhaps he knows whereof he speaks. We couldn’t have that.
Brian Hockersmith says
I just wanted to say once again well done Robert we in America are so lucky to have such a well educated and fearless advocate on what we stand to loose if Islams plans come to be realized in the world.
Joe Murphy says
The SBS TV broadcast very little of the interview with Robert Spencer, but I was pleased that they did not smear him too much in the program. Not in comparison to what I would have expected from most Western media outlets.
Veracious_one says
as if on que, the Muslim plays the victim card….
dumbledoresarmy says
What *I* hope is that Mr Spencer, in person, obviously knowledgeable, and exuding fuzzy-bear niceness (as he does!) may have piqued the curiosity of the interviewer and of the people who were running the cameras and the sound equipment to record the interview.
Maybe they’ll sneak off quietly to have a peek at what he *has* written about the Quran. Maybe they’ll check out his Compleat Infidel’s Guide to the Koran. Maybe they’ll find his “Blogging the Quran” and discover that he *has* gone through the Koran verse by verse: and in every case, citing the main Islamic authoritative *readings* of those verses, both contemporary and “classic”. Maybe they’ll surreptitiously read “The Truth about Muhammad” (which was favourably reviewed by Stephen Crittenden, who used to do “The Religion Report” on SBS radio) and “Did Muhammad Exist?”
And if they’re lurking in here, peeking over my shoulder, here’s what I have to say to them – I’m a member of Q Society, a 50 year old Australian woman with a PhD under my belt, mother of four, and able to read and understand three languages other than English (Italian, German, and French). I have read most of Mr Spencer’s books and a *lot* more besides.
I have read the Quran from cover to cover, myself, *more than once*; I had read the Quran long before I came across Jihadwatch, and I decided it was a dangerous, violent, and downright creepy cult text, at the time of first reading.
Mr Spencer is speaking nothing but the bare unvarnished truth about what’s in the Quran; and he’s also telling the truth about what’s in the *other* canonical Islamic texts that nobody talks about in public – the Sira of Ibn Ishaq which is *the* accepted Life of Mohammed, and the authoritative or Sahih Hadiths, the Sahih Muslim and the Sahih Bukhari. He’s telling the truth about the sharia of Islam.
When he talks about the rule that those who leave Islam must be killed, he is telling the truth. That *is* mainstream, orthodox Islamic law. Every Muslim who publicly leaves Islam is as much in danger as a defector from North Korea, or from the Mafia.
And the killing of ‘blasphemers’ – anyone who mocks, questions or criticises MOhammed, or *any* aspect of Islam whatsoever – is also normative Islam.
Dutch avant-garde film director and gadfly Theo Van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim, in broad daylight, in a street in Holland, as punishment for lending himself to Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s cogent and truthful critique of the way mainstream Islam treats women, in her short film “Submission”.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2004/11/theo-van-gogh-maker-of-submission-shot-dead-in-amsterdam.html
He was murdered – assassinated – in accord with the example set in the “Life” of Mohammed. Ibn Ishaq records that Mohammed ordered and approved of the assassination of two poets who had mocked and criticised him – the pagan Arab poetess Asma Bint Marwan (a young mother) and the elderly Jewish poet, Abu Afak. Both were murdered by Muslim assassins who sneaked into their homes by night. The Muslims, of course, viewed these murders – and the murder of Theo Van Gogh – as just and as justified, justifiable. But do *you* think that Theo Van Gogh deserved to be killed??
So, O SBS journalist, cameraman and sound crew: are you brave enough to defy the Muslim blasphemy law, and risk your lives to tell the truth??
Here’s a test: ask your bosses at SBS if they are brave enough to air “Submission” on prime-time television…on 2 November this year, which will be the tenth anniversary of the murder of Theo Van Gogh on 2 November 2004 (incidentally, 2 November is the Day of All Souls, the Day of the Dead).
And to introduce it, interview Ayaan Hirsi Ali: give her a full half hour, *uninterrupted*, to explain why she made it, and to speak about her murdered friend, Theo Van Gogh…and to speak about why she abandoned Islam and is now an apostate, following the Western Enlightenment path of pure reason.
If your bosses will not do this, then they do not believe in freedom of speech, for they are allowing the sharia of Islam to control what is seen or said in the Australian public media; or else they would *like* to speak freely but are afraid that Muslim assassins will do to them what was done to Theo Van Gogh and to Asma bint Marwan and Abu Afak.
dumbledoresarmy says
Further: and this is again addressed to any SBS personnel who might be lurking here.
Why not run a program, or series, called “Choosing Freedom: Defying Islam’s Apostasy Law”?
People you could interview, all of them apostates from Islam: Magdi Cristiano Allam (the guy who was baptised by Pope Benedict XVI, some years ago); the artist ‘Bosch Fawstin’, creator of a graphic novel called “The Infidel”; Ibn Warraq, author of “Defending the West” and “Leaving Islam”; “Mark Gabriel”, an Egyptian ex-Muslim now a Christian who wrote a book called “Islam and Terrorism”; Ali Sina (he runs a website called “FaithFreedom”); Taslima Nasreen, author of “Shame”; Nonie Darwish, author of “Now they call me Infidel”; Wafa Sultan, author of “A God Who Hates”; Hannah Shah in the UK, author of a book called “The Imam’s Daughter”; one ‘Abul Kasem’ a Bengali apostate who lives in Australia; Canon Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, author of “Global Jihad” and “Faith, Power and Territory” and director of “Barnabas Fund” which supports persecuted Christians worldwide (but especially within Muslim-dominated lands); and “Sam Solomon”, author of “Al Hijra – The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration”. And quite possibly if you talked to people like Sookhdeo, they could put you in touch with *other* apostates, less high-profile.
Go on; I dare you! Introduce it with Canon Sookhdeo: let him explain why he wrote his book, “Freedom to Believe: Challenging Islam’s Apostasy Law”, and let him also discuss Samuel Zwemer’s classic study, “The Law of Apostasy in Islam”. Then maybe show us Ibn Warraq and allow him to describe his journey out of Islam and why he wrote his book “Leaving Islam”. And then move on to the rest. Give them each plenty of room to speak: allow them to tell their stories and explain why they must either have bodyguards everywhere they go, or else live with the reality that every day could be their last, that a sharia assassin might strike out of the shadows at any moment.
I guarantee that if SBS ran a series like that **I would watch it**.
King Dave says
Or care to report on the one thousand Christian men, women and Children murdered by Islamic separatist Boko Haram in Nigeria this year alone. Boko Haram will gladly tell them how they properly interpret the Quran and won’t apologize about it. They do in fact promise more children will be next.
If that’s not enough go back a decade to Sudan, not satisfied murdering just Christians the Sudanese Islamic front committed genocide against black Muslims and drove the lucky ones into the desert to starve to death. Only when the work completed was it over.
Forgiveness, tolerance, and respect are words that are meaningless in the Islamic faith and they go out of the way to prove it daily.
dumbledoresarmy says
Post scriptum: this time addressing all Aussie infidel posters and lurkers.
In my posting above, I rhetorically addressed SBS, asking them to 1/ show “Submission” together with an interview by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, on the tenth anniversary of the sharia-compliant murder of Theo Van Gogh on 2 November 2004.
I then suggested that 2/ they should run a TV series called “Choosing Freedom”, featuring extended interviews with people who have left Islam.
Let’s put SBS on the spot. Let’s *all* write and put *both* those suggestions to them, and see what happens.
Because, frankly, either would make damn good television – “Submission” is well-made, and very powerful, and all those apostates from Islam are interesting, smart, gutsy people. (They *had* to be smart and gutsy or they couldn’t have fought their way free of the brainwashing or defied the sheer terror).
Leith Wood says
Thank you for making my day. We must keep speaking out or we will lose our country.
fair_dinkum says
“which for the mainstream media, wasn’t as relentlessly and shamelessly biased as many others.”
we do have to remember that SBS IS pretty mainstream tho more ‘independent” than the commercial stations and less bias (usually) than the ABC, who are more worried about funding. they have their biased moments tho, and plenty of them, especially in “open debate” type programming..
however, they can also surprise you sometimes, its not, as Robert put it, ‘as bias’ as most …
generally, moslems dont get any more or less time than anyone else. we are experiencing a flavour of the month in the refugee/illegal entry arena at the moment.
“Let’s put SBS on the spot. Let’s *all* write and put *both* those suggestions to them, and see what happens.”
i tend to agree with you DDA, often with SBS the squeaky wheel gets the grease. and as long as you keep it away from theology debates and state current facts, they cant really ignore it.
it would be fantastic if they did fund a show like that. the gay and womens lobbies (i keep repeating this, and im not gay or female or a devout christian) those groups enjoy particular favour from SBS. if it is approached along these lines, they may build up the guts to air such a program
fair_dinkum says
as a footnote, there was a big anti prime minister (Abbott) rally in Sydney on the sunday just past. it got no media coverage from anyone except SBS. there were around 20 000 people at it, a substantial amount in anyones language, and the prime minister is denying that it ever happened. well, i was there, (because of my feelings on secular govt, im pro secular) and guess what, it did happen.
so they really went against the privately owned medias stance and told the facts as they were, on that occasion. all in all, they are our best bet in this country.
mortimer says
Merely opinions with pictures to give flavor. The facts are ignored. Opinion is what they want.
This is no doubt because most reporters are HOPELESSLY OUT OF THEIR DEPTH IN MATTERS OF RELIGION…i.e. they are RELIGIOUS ILLITERATES unable to discern what is true or false. They are easy prey of the mullahs…and so they treat Robert’s accurate descriptions as blah-blah-blah…in one ear and out the other.
These reporters need DEPTH and their EDITORS are just as SHALLOW about the Islamic political ideology and theological justification for it. Journalists have no idea about the sly prevarication called taqiyya which allows the mullahs to tell egregious lies to besmirch opponents of Islamic totalitarianism.
Shallow journalism is INACCURATE journalism.
citycat says
“worried about attacks on Muslims”
is a typical narcissist lying technique
it is not truth they want, this is part of their war machine
while their ever debate lingers the truth they are playing for time, smug social stealth, creeping and breeding
They know exactly this is the case
Christopher says
What Western countries should be doing is deliberately irritating the muslims as much as possible, bringing out the biggest reactions they can. We have the better weapons, we can handle ourselves, why not just get this thing kicked off and bomb mecca ASAP? It’s the only way this is going to be resolved.
Anyway great work Robert, really pathetic amount of your excellent contribution made it through.
voegelinian says
There’s no evidence bombing Mecca is going to “resolve this”. There are, however, many indications it will electrify Muslims all around the world and all the millions of them already inside the West.
While generally speaking I can see the rationale behind “bringing things to a boil” in order to hasten the denouement of a protracted prolongation of the inevitable; I think that when most of us are unprepared — as the majority of the West is, still laboring under the delusion that most Muslims (particularly most Muslims in the West) are decent Moms and Pops Like the Rest of Us — such an impulsively catalytic process (as bombing Mecca would surely trigger) would be disastrous.
Defcon 4 says
So the slow boiling of the frog is any better Voeg? Islam0nazism is winning, all over the world, in the here and now.
There are no academic debates and hand-wringing over how to treat the najjis kaffir in islamic states, or if it’s moral to outlaw criticism of islam and its prophet.
Davegreybeard says
“…such an impulsively catalytic process (as bombing Mecca would surely trigger) would be disastrous.”
Seems like just the ticket to give our Muslim deportation project a JATO boost.
voegelinian says
“boost” meaning what? If you mean helping to change us so that we become more willing to deport, that would be strange, since if the West changed as radically as it would need to in order to be willing to bomb Mecca, it would ipso facto have changed enough (i.e., shed enough PC MC) to round up and deport. No need, then, to make the millions of Muslims inside the West turn into raging rioters and civil unrest maniacs, only making the rounding up process that much bloodier, costlier, and messier.
Geordie says
That was blatant bias. Proven beyond doubt.
tesa says
as ever a candid and truthful account of islam and it’s agenda. all we need now are candid and truth seeking politicians and media. thank you robert and pamella for the trouble you go to for truth justice and what used to be the american way.
Dr. Bukk says
Why do libs embrace a cult who denies Natural Law, which Christianity bowed to around the 14th century? They mock Climate Change “deniers” for being flat-earthers, while they curl up with violent murderers around the globe who believe Allah could suspend gravity (so why study it?).
They condemn the West for “the Crusades”, etc. and ignore every-day human rights atrocities going on for 13 centuries.
Henry says
‘Their claims are not made in context or with any understanding of the religion” Ha! Hogwash!, Taqiyya and the old victim hood strategy at play yet again.
Banana Bender says
Once again, DDA has NAILED IT. This lady is always “spot on” with her comments. I would love to meet her face to face. If Robert would pass on to DDA my email address, perhaps we could open up a person to person discussion. From what DDA has written in the past, she appears to be a fellow Queenslander. Over to you Robert.
Defcon 4 says
DDA is good, her comments are always worth reading.
gravenimage says
Agreed.
Jamaal Uddin says
Robert started out slow and once he started quoting the Koran, he just took off full speed. Quoting the book of muslims really shut the big guy up and he started looking for a way out after he got Robert going. Great inter view Robert
gravenimage says
Media bias: Robert Spencer unedited interview with SBS Australia, & what actually ran on the news
…………………………
And would that this were just SBS Australia—instead, this sort of thing is all too common.
Don’t these dhimmi tools realize just what it is that they are enabling?