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Mark Steyn: “No serious person thinks Spencer and Geller are any threat to ‘public order'”

Feb 10, 2015 11:16 am By Robert Spencer

AntiFreeSpeechThe problem is, the un-serious people are in charge. “The Sound of Silence,” by Mark Steyn, February 9, 2015 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

You can get away with anything when you smother it in blather about “enhancing” public safety and “advising appropriately”. But the fact remains that, a few days after the hideous opportunist Cameron was marching under the #JeSuisCharlie banner in Paris, his coppers were ordering newsagents to cough up the names of anyone who bought the magazine. This is Mother England in 2015: You can still read samizdat literature, but your name will be entered in a state database.

Equally disturbing was a recent English court judgment re the Home Office ban denying Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller entry into the United Kingdom. Their Lordships’ appalling decision essentially extends the heckler’s veto to Her Britannic Majesty’s immigration policy:

A British Court of Appeal handed down its judgment dismissing our appeal challenging our ban from entering the United Kingdom. The key element of its decision is its emphasis on the fact that “this was a public order case where the police had advised that significant public disorder and serious violence might ensue from the proposed visit.” In writing that judgment, Lord Justice Tomlinson (with whom Lord Justice Patten and Lord Justice Floyd agree) has only made it clear that the British government has decided to set aside established law and the freedom of speech in order to appease violent Muslims.

No serious person thinks Spencer and Geller are any threat to “public order”. They speak without incident all over not only the United States but also the Dominion of Canada, and without unduly stressing the Queen’s Peace. So, if they can’t speak without incident in the United Kingdom, that is a reflection not on them but on Britain. What Lord Justice Tomlinson means by the prospect of “serious violence” is that, if you’re booked to give a speech in Oxford and some Islamic grievance-mongers threaten to go bananas over it, your speech has to be forbidden in deference to the crazies. The decision thus incentivizes those who threaten violence. As Laura Rosen Cohen likes to say, “security concerns” are the new “shut up”.

And, if you think David Cameron’s ministry has grown far too comfortable with using state power to restrain the opinions of a free party, wait till the other fellows take over:

The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, will on Monday unveil a strategy to tackle the UK’s soaring rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and abuse of people with disabilities. The package includes making homophobic and disability hate crimes an aggravated criminal offence, ensuring that police treat such offences in the same way as racist hate crimes.

Cooper will outline changes to the criminal records framework whereby such offences will be clearly marked on the criminal records of perpetrators. Currently, records checks do not highlight homophobia, disability or transgender identity as a motivating factor in a conviction, and do not automatically appear in police data used for vetting applicants in sensitive vocations, such as those working with vulnerable people, including the disabled.

Labour’s move comes as a new breakdown of police figures reveals an escalation in hate crimes since 2012, with a steep rise in abuse reported by the transgender community alongside the well-documented rises in antisemitism and Islamophobia.

As that grab-bag suggests, right now the leftie sexual identity groups are happy to make common cause with the Islamocrazies because they’re both about shutting people up. For example, the feminist comedienne Kate Smurthwaite is already in Britain so, unlike Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller, she can’t be turned back at Heathrow. But she apparently holds insufficiently “respectful” attitudes to “sex workers”, so she had her speech at Goldsmiths College canceled because of – what else? – “security concerns“. The topic of her talk was, of course, free speech.

Professor Jonathan Turley says:

Western leaders have increasingly spoken out against the dangers of free speech. For politicians, free speech is an abstraction, the consequences of free speech tend to be more tangible in the form of riots and murders.

You don’t have to be a politician to think “free speech is an abstraction”. Robert Spencer might want to give speeches about Islam, and Mrs Keat might want to read Charlie Hebdo, but most people don’t want to give any speeches at all and are content to read Hello! or People or whatever’s filling the rack where Charlie Hebdo used to be. In some ways, it’s the easiest right to surrender, particularly to regimes that smother the expansion of state regulatory power in soothing twaddle about “enhancing public safety” to protect “vulnerable people”.

Speaking of “vulnerable people”, how about this headline from The Daily Mirror?

Child sex abuse gangs could have assaulted ONE MILLION youngsters in the UK

Read it all.

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Filed Under: Featured, free speech, Islamic supremacism Tagged With: Mark Steyn


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Comments

  1. jayell says

    Feb 10, 2015 at 12:01 pm

    “No serious person thinks Spencer and Geller are any threat to ‘public order’”. In the normal run of things, with people who behave themselves decently and properly, I totally agree. But don’t forget that we are talking about Muslims and the British Government here. Perhaps we should remember the ‘little problem’ when Geert Wilders (the anti-Islamic Dutch politician) was invited by the House of Lords to give a talk on the ‘Religion of Peace’. One ‘Lord’ Ahmed (a muslim self-made millionaire who gave money to the Labour Party and was also infamous for having killed someone on a motorway by texting as he was driving, and only went to jail for one week, and didn’t lose his licence or his title!!) threatened to convene a mob of 1,000 of his muslim cronies in a ‘demonstration’ (peaceful, of course!!!) in Parliament Square as and when Mr Wilders arrived. The Government then suddenly decided the Mr. Wilder’s visit was ‘not in the public interest’, or something like that, and he was denied entry. And don’t forget that we are talking about an democratically-elected, serving politician from a fellow EU country here! So what chance are Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller supposed to have???

    • james hazan says

      Feb 10, 2015 at 1:12 pm

      A sort of bloody revolution by the Muslims in UK will happen soon,The UK Gov.m is simply postponing this august day. The arrival of Robert and Geller will accelerate that day and UK is not ready to meet it YET !!!? We all know how an ostrich behaves.. The wonderful and heroic men of the 8th army etc are nearly all dead of old age,what is left are a bunch of spineless spoilt brats without balls, I am 82 now and I shall meet these gentlemen in the streets of Yorkshire I hope others will come and fight with me in my solitude

      • Lee Cooper says

        Feb 10, 2015 at 10:49 pm

        You will not be alone James.

        • james hazan says

          Feb 11, 2015 at 2:10 am

          Thank you,and kol ha kavod to you

      • Kathy Brown, Esq. says

        Feb 10, 2015 at 11:23 pm

        Leave it to ‘The Greatest Generation’ as we call our WWII vets here across the pond.

        I have no doubt, James, that you will give a fine account of yourself and send quite a few ‘Slimes to Hell. Whence they came, where they’re bound.

      • Mirren10 says

        Feb 11, 2015 at 10:14 am

        ” … I shall meet these gentlemen in the streets of Yorkshire I hope others will come and fight with me in my solitude.”

        Damn right, James. I’m not quite as old as you, but I’ll be there ! I live in Yorkshire, too.

    • jayell says

      Feb 10, 2015 at 4:47 pm

      Point taken. If there was anything dubious about the way this ‘person’ achieved his wealth, nothing would surprise me, bearing in mind his somewhat chequered track-record so far.

  2. Angemon says

    Feb 10, 2015 at 12:44 pm

    The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, will on Monday unveil a strategy to tackle the UK’s soaring rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and abuse of people with disabilities. The package includes making homophobic and disability hate crimes an aggravated criminal offence, ensuring that police treat such offences in the same way as racist hate crimes.

    So what happens if an homosexual is attacked by a muslim of Pakistani origin? Is the aggression a homophobic hate crime or is the denounce of the aggression an islamophobic hate crime?

    • umbra says

      Feb 10, 2015 at 3:11 pm

      The left’s retarded self induced paradox. That which it disagrees with is hate. When it realizes it disagrees with itself, then …

      • Western Canadian says

        Feb 10, 2015 at 9:46 pm

        Oh, if only!!!

    • Kenny says

      Feb 10, 2015 at 5:48 pm

      What a great point!

      Or a muslim abuses a disabled, Jewish gay person.

      What would happen is you and I will sit back and enjoy the awkwardness of it all unfolding!

    • pumbar says

      Feb 10, 2015 at 10:53 pm

      Pakistani muslim trumps white homosexual in the marxist,collectivist pyramid scheme.

    • jay says

      Feb 11, 2015 at 2:35 am

      Well, they would defer to Sharia in that case in which the homosexual would be deemed evil and the Muslim would be cannonized as a great hero.

  3. ECAW says

    Feb 10, 2015 at 12:51 pm

    Mark Steyn’s last point refers to this:

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/child-sex-abuse-gangs-could-5114029

    Ms Champion sounds genuinely concerned but has been MP for Rotherham since 2012 and this is the first I’ve heard of her. I wonder why it’s taken so long for her to make her concerns public (unless I just missed them).

    • umbra says

      Feb 10, 2015 at 3:18 pm

      She could very well be genuinely concern with pedophiles rings in her area producing steady streams on traumatized victims. All civilised law abiding individuals would. There is also a general election in May which could have provided further motivations for her timely actions.

      • ECAW says

        Feb 10, 2015 at 3:47 pm

        Yeah, crossed my mind too. She’s not going to win standing on Labour’s record is she?

        • umbra says

          Feb 11, 2015 at 8:03 am

          Rotherham is a labour stronghold by a wide margin. However, relentless streams of pedophile scandals – Rotherham being an epicenter – have the labour party’s complicit fingerprints all over them. The civilise British public is upset with this. Come May UKIP could mount a strong challenge againsts her in Rotherham, though she is likely to retain her seat.

  4. Brian Hoff says

    Feb 10, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    Since both Geller and Robert have the event in Texas there is than increase in the number of treat against mosque ans Islamist schools. Than Country Officical in than other country make anti-muslim and anti-Isslam remarks on social media than one of his supporter in the country posted there are over 6000 muslim where I live than an mosque give me the word I will go there an take care of the problen, which in this context is than treath legal.. This Sunday I was told to be on hight alert with the older childern told to keep they eyes open to any odd going on round outside when on break with the treachs told to be extra careful while keeping than eyes on the childern. I ask to have two other brother and one sister to help next sunday it the treat isnot ended. The city police and FBI are on the case, while the country police where that person live isnot taken it serous. The board is think or arming our security with AK-47 assualt rifles.

    • Western Canadian says

      Feb 10, 2015 at 9:51 pm

      Congratulations, you have again maintained your incredible standards for your each and every post: Your words are dishonest and contrived gibberish, and so is their content. WELL DONE!!(/sarc off

      • Brian Hoff says

        Feb 10, 2015 at 10:51 pm

        So you support that criminal that treaten our Islamist community where I live. Rhat rednexk is from than small town with than small town mendal . Who believe thanthat Islam isnot than religion or muslim have rights too.

        • Angemon says

          Feb 11, 2015 at 7:00 am

          Brian Hoff posted:

          “So you support that criminal that treaten our Islamist community where I live.”

          As far as I now, the MSM differentiates between “muslims” (people following islam who [apparently] abide by the law of the land) and “islamists” (people like bin laden, or members of the islamic state, who have declared war on the West and are trying to impose their religion on us by force).

          You claim to live in an islamist community, you deserve whatever “threats” you get.

        • Western Canadian says

          Feb 11, 2015 at 10:01 pm

          you are lying again, no such things have happened. And like many others, I look forward to the day that muslims just like you, face trial for crimes against humanity.

    • pumbar says

      Feb 10, 2015 at 10:57 pm

      From what I could gather from your “post” that means they’ve got you sitting with the little kids now? Well, that’s some improvement i suppose.

  5. Peter says

    Feb 10, 2015 at 4:22 pm

    And if a Muslim engages in an act that is anti-Semitic, homophobic, or abusive of people with disabilities (e.g., having a handicapped person kicked off a public bus because he/she has a seeing eye dog, or not letting them in a taxi), you can be sure…. nothing will happen!

  6. Peter says

    Feb 10, 2015 at 4:26 pm

    “Currently, records checks do not highlight homophobia, disability or transgender identity as a motivating factor in a conviction, and do not automatically appear in police data used for vetting applicants in sensitive vocations….” That means, “Islamophobia” is.

    What about “anti-British” motivations? Are they recorded, too? How about sedition, treason, being a Useful Idiot or a Quisling? Or is the database just not large enough for all those potential entries?

  7. Elise says

    Feb 10, 2015 at 5:53 pm

    Does anyone question why good people like Spencer and Geller are seen as evil by the British, while evil disgusting Muslim rapists of children and women, are seen as good descent people who just don’t know British culture? I’ve always believed in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but I have not really been a bible reader or prayer until I read the article about the child sex gangs. The people of the UK have been blinded by evil, call it what you want, Satan, the Devil, just like many in Europe and America who are afraid of being called islamophobic or racist. Rather than hate the stupid British for their blindness and weakness, similar to Chamberlain, pray for them and pray for our incompetent Obama Administration.
    When I think of the woman, Kayla Mueller, who had so much love and hope for humanity, I want to scream and yell at Obama and his minions, who are lost in fantasy and Hell on earth. ISIS and radical Muslims know only evil and have no concept of love, forgiveness, charity, or free will because they likely follow Satan. By beheading, stoning, crucifying, burying and burning children, women, and men alive, Muslims want Westerners to fear them and hate them. The best thing we can do to end their hate is to pray for them, much like the Iranian Christian women did while they were imprisoned in Iran for handing out New Testaments and spreading the Gospel to Iranians.
    Like the story of Daniel in the lion’s den, I pray that the next Westerner who might be burned alive has the faith to pray to God to save him or her from the fire. The video of a miracle would be the best way to end an evil “reatarded” religion called Islam.

  8. Kenny says

    Feb 10, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    Can someone help me out with a point please as I just don’t get it?

    A crime is a crime! Surely the actual crime is the important factor? I mean, let’s take murder for example. A racially, or some other PC factor, inspired murder, or just plain murder. What’s worse? Two people are thereby dead.

    Isn’t that the important issue? Are we really suggesting that an ‘ordinary’, murder victims loved ones will be less traumatised in the knowledge that it wasn’t racially motivated?

  9. Georg says

    Feb 10, 2015 at 7:26 pm

    Saying Robert is a threat to public order is like saying Louis Pasteur was belligerent with microbes.

  10. Matthieu Baudin says

    Feb 11, 2015 at 7:00 am

    The British now have a significant rift that has opened up between the reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth, a level headed WW2 generation woman who knows and respects her subjects and her son The Prince Of Wales, Charles Windsor, who has swallowed the hype of the ’60’s, embraced Islam and chosen not to speak out against the wave of censorship that today threatens to bury the values of liberty and free speech that his mother supported during and after the Battle of Britain.

  11. thomas pellow says

    Feb 11, 2015 at 8:39 am

    “GUTFELD: WH ‘TERROR DENIALISTS’ THE REAL ‘ISLAMOPHOBES’”

    (video clip.)

    http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/02/10/gutfeld-wh-terror-denialists-the-real-islamophobes/

  12. D J says

    Feb 11, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    They did this years ago to Michael Savage, more English injustice on display.

    • Kathy Brown, Esq. says

      Feb 11, 2015 at 10:10 pm

      They sure did and they still haven’t repealed that atrocity.

      As an American I’m used to loving GB but they’ve made a sorry display lately. Still: I won’t believe she’s finished ’til I see it.

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