In PJ Media I take apart the latest farrago from a leader of the academic left.
…University of Michigan professor Juan Cole, showing an imaginative reach that would arouse envy in J. K. Rowling, blames Roof’s murders on … Pamela Geller and me. He reveals how uninterested in truth and rational analysis the academic Left and the “Islamophobia”-mongers really are….
Cole grandly announces:
…[Breivik’s] passions were whipped up … by reading anti-Muslim hatemongers such as Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller and Daniel Pipes (whose ‘Campus Watch’ is an Israeli settler-oriented attempt to deny tenure to American academics critical of Israel’s oppression of the stateless Palestinians, and to harass more senior professors with character assassination).
That Breivik was a lone psychopath, not the vanguard of an army of “right-wing terrorists” stirred up by Pamela Geller and me, has been for nearly four years now a keen disappointment to Cole and his comrades.
In their need for bogeymen, they have no alternative other than to keeping trotting him out. They hope that their readers won’t notice his murders were singular and not part of a movement, that they took place years ago, and that Breivik himself criticized me and the others who are supposed to have incited him to homicidal rage for being “to [sic] scared to propagate a conservative revolution and armed resistance.”
In other words: Anders Breivik hated us for rejecting violence, which according to Juan Cole we’re supposed to have goaded him to commit.
Even more devastating for Cole’s argument: contrary to Cole’s claim about Dylann Storm Roof’s insane “manifesto,” Roof never once mentions me, or Pamela Geller, or Geert Wilders, or Marine LePen, or Daniel Pipes, or Islam, or Muslims….
Cole, for all his handwringing about our baneful influence, would never dare debate me or Pamela Geller or anyone else he is so intent to defame.When one has as willingly and even eagerly foregone the use of the tools of genuine intellectual discourse in favor of propaganda and defamation as he has, one fears taking them up again, particularly in a debate setting. When one has become used to playing Julius Streicher, it becomes more and more of a stretch to play Abe Lincoln (or Stephen A. Douglas).
He knows, in other words, that he’d get waxed. The truth has a way of coming out, despite the best efforts of people like Juan Cole to obscure it.
Read the rest here.
Joan_in_Houston says
Robert, Re the aforementioned Juan Cole, we cannot really know what he THINKS. We can know for sure only what he ASSERTS. Joan//Saturday a.m.
Georg says
I think I’ll assert the guy is an imbecile who’d sooner blame the victim before letting history and morality get in the way of his factually beleaguered, rickety ideological post-modern dissertation that we all need like a hole in the head. Robert has devoted the better portion of his life to standing up against that which this tenured busy body can only pretend to do.
“Anders Breivik hated us for rejecting violence…” What more is there to say? If Breivik himself voiced his disdain for JW or whatever other sites he visited, how can this buffoon so confidently “assert what he thinks”, as you find so problematic. This is the same sort of intellectual filth put forth by closeted Islamists and their doe-eyed enablers who have the temerity and gall to suggest the fervor of those resisting Islamization and jihad are only equivalent to jihadists in their zealotry.
One is good. One is evil. Take your relativism and… Yea.
Congratulations to Mr. Cole — you’re so liberal you stand up for Salafists and get in the way of those who aren’t content to let them have their way with Western society. Aren’t we glad not to be enlightened. I hope you’re proud of yourself. Because no one else is.
Bamaguje says
In his manifesto Breivik also copiously quoted Islamic scriptures (Quran, Hadith), which we all know motivates Muslims to violence. Yet leftist nut-jobs and dhimmi Muslim appeasers like Juan Cole conveniently never mentioned that.
It is far more likely that Breivik was also motivated to violence by the same Islamic scriptures he quoted, particularly as he toyed with the idea of cooperating with Islamists – “An alliance with the Jihadists might prove beneficial to both parties… We both share one common goal.”
Georg says
I didn’t know he consulted Islamic scripture.
But what about the fact that it doesn’t matter at all what the guy consulted? He was/is a lunatic. Cole has never come across one? Is he so concerned with where those guys on the street corner with matted hair past their rear end talking about how bunnies want to blow up Mars get their news? Breivik does not have a functional understanding of reality and probably has all sorts of mental illnesses which render his behavior causeless as far as ideology is concerned. Who cares what kind of cereal Jeffrey Dahmer ate as a kid, or what Jack the Ripper’s favorite color was? They have nothing to do with their aberrant behavior which is the result of genetics/anatomy/physiology and not ideology. There’s nothing Charles Manson could learn that would render him harmless.
Cole would blame Robert for this type of stuff but not Jihadist violence on Islamic doctrine? Anyone with an IQ above room temperature ought to be outraged. I’m about totally ignorant of law, but it seems like this guy ought to be sued.
Western Canadian says
In a just and sane world, Cole would be very familiar with lunatics, as he would be occupying the same facilities as they….. Admittedly, campuses are all too often very much similar….
Champ says
Well “Joan”, I think that you’re a nitpick who’s majoring on a minor issue …
And does “Joan” have any choice words today from Houston for, Juan Cole?
Georg says
This is all just the ol’: Disagree with someone and can’t win a structured argument? Call them Hitler! Because nobody can defend Hitler, ya’ see?
I’d like to hook Cole up to a lie detector and see if he actually believes what he says. I’d lay 3:1 he doesn’t. And if he does pass. I’d lay 4:1 he’s mentally ill. Worse still, I’d bet he fails and is STILL mentally ill.
nathan says
Wow, he’s got an axe to grind.
I can’t actually argue against his case, because to do so would involve me taking out my brain and then shoving it up my a$$.
Give it another year and he will be declared insane.
Richie says
“attempt to deny tenure to American academics critical of Israel’s oppression of the stateless Palestinians, and to harass more senior professors with character assassination).”
Its in fact conservatuve professors and students who are facing discrmination in education.
Juan Cole is an anti semite, and he seems to feel that leftst professores shoul;d have cushy protected jobs where they can use their classrooms as liberal indoctrinaton centers.
Georg says
Oh, you would have liked my “Islam” course. The so-called (I’m using neoliberalese against them nowadays) somehow left-wing, even though he couldn’t have been more taken with the world’s most right-wing mainstream ideology, professor would matter-of-factly malign individuals as Zionists, mocked Isaac Newton, matter-of-factly assured us of all sorts of apocryphal nonsense that would have been laugh out loud funny but for the stern and contemplative faces of my classmates, and asserted he was doing what he could to save us all from hellfire. I don’t think I heard a solitary thing that made one iota of sense the entire semester. He’d get on swimmingly with Cole, I’m sure.
I just hope some of the post-modern propagandists who have led Europe into the clutches of Islamofascism realize what they have done, privately or not, and do something to atone.
Angemon says
Juan Cole is a very balanced individual – he has a chip on both shoulders. It wouldn’t surprise me that his next piece was a detailed explanation on how the Mossad agent who stole Bukhari’s shoe did so after reading Robert’s books…
Georg says
Does anyone remember the Shoemaker-Levy comet that broke apart and crashed into Jupiter, leaving Earth-sized scars? Anyone remember seeing Robert that day? Me neither…
jihad3tracker says
Take it a bit easy on Juan Cole ! He is attempting a very hard task, as pointed out by the maxim “You can’t polish a turd”.
Thanks to relentless slaughter by F.F.M.s [Fully Functional Muslims], nonsense like that exemplified in his remarks is all that remains to be thrown up in the air, hoping for distraction.
And if readers here missed a parallel propaganda disaster recently for one of Nathan Lean’s unfortunate “scholars”, and want a hearty horselaugh over the tsunami drenching her, do a search : “Jordan Denari”.
Also visit her Twitter feed . . . Hilariously, she appreciates the “publicity” Pam and Robert gave that wretched high-school level, attributionless, grade D+ post in Time magazine online.
epistemology says
And Robert has to be blamed form global warming and the Greek financial crisis. It’s that bloody pillock Cole again. Don’t let facts get in his way. The victims in Charleston were devoted Christians. Roof doesn’t care about religion. He only cares about race, he hates black people regardless of their religion.
Islamophobia has nothing to do with racism. It’s the sane reaction to a death cult. But tell that someone who’s on Iran’s payroll. The PC brigade has gone totally nuts
underbed cat says
I viewed the televised funeral of Pastor Clemente Pinckney. I noticed a vertical banner that read something like Wrong Church, Wrong People, Wrong (don’t remember) Location or Time?.. that banner struck me since it seemed to imply there are correct times to use violence. I also heard a reporter mention that Pastor Clemente Pinckney had scheduled a out reach to the Muslim community for the following week. No murder should have been committed in either case. I found that the picture of Roof with the Confederate flag, deliberate, who took the picture? It certainly fit the scenario of the administrations opinion about “right wing conspiracies”, at the same time the Oklahoma beheader came to the news….and then was delayed. The comment by Roof before his horrific rampage was also curious since it was more descriptive of Isis. etc. not Christians at a prayer group. Very odd indeed. The same with Breivik. robert Spencer, Pamela Geller expose the secrets that some want to lock up.
sheik yer'mamih says
This clown Cole gets airtime on CNN and on al Jazeera (of course!)
Georg says
Getting your mug on Al Jazeera is like getting your writing into Reader’s Digest…
Champ says
Wow Juan Cole is certifiable!! …and dangerous, too!
Grow a brain and take aim at the real enemy: ISLAM
Western Canadian says
Certifiable, as a traitor to the human race…..
Westman says
During my university experience I found two distinct groups in Academia, those with incredible memory and those with incredible logic. Rarely were both found, at these levels, in the same individual. The scientists and mathematicians had to provide proof of their assertions, while many other disciplines simply put forth their own biases as fact. Perhaps the worst was one sociology professor who insisted that humans have no instincts; that even the sex drive is learned. The snickering was palpable.
Julian Cole is in the group with little logic and a plethoric pen.
Westman says
Correction: Juan Cole.
mortimer says
Juan Cole is a Leftist and a fantasist. He forces the pieces to fit his theories that Sufism is basically pacifist and that Shi’ism is basically harmless.
However, traditionally, Sufism encourages delusional practices that lead its followers to become fanatical and suicidal killers. And Shi’ism’s flagellants are practicing to do the same thing in jihad…self-immolate.
Cole’s gone way out on a limb with nothing to support his speculation but ad hominem insults. His ideas about Robert Spencer being a master racist and an unregenerate Confederate ideologue is simply INSANE.
The Arabs and Turks believe they are the master race!
Georg says
It’s always mind-boggling seeing those nominally fighting bigotry rabidly defending the Koran. I think it’s related to near total or total insecurity. It’s even sad on some level, but it’s so much more dangerous than sad all we can focus on now and into the future is simply defending ourselves.
duh_swami says
One thing all these left leaning blamers have in common is the liberal use of ‘cheap shots’…Cole is just another cheap shot artist…It’s the cowards way…hiding behind rocks and tree’s sniping at people they don’t like.
Georg says
Exactly. They so often come from a position of presumed moral superiority rather than strong argumentation. I was just watching a demonstration Britain Frist held in Luton, UK, and saw a perfect example of this with the group United Against Fascists. The Britain First marchers simply carried flags and occasionally chanted in unison. It was by all appearances a very civilized protest/demonstration where a group of citizens in a democracy organize to express their preference. And then there were the UAF protesters. Often dressed in black, looking like a bunch of vagabonds, shouting “Follow your leader — kill yourself like Hitler!” Now if they don’t agree with Britain First that’s just fine, but shouting that is really consistent with a higher morality? And they seem so intolerant of dissenting opinon, which is obviously strange for a group so nominally opposed to fascism. They have a very “my way or the highway” attitude that is ludicrous given their name. And let’s not forget they’re out there making life easier for Islamists and harder for those opposing them… It really is quite maddening.
A great example of how one ought to handle the militant left is Tommy Robinson. He takes all sorts of abuse and hatred from the left and their Salafist allies and always makes them look like the miscreants they are by remaining steadfastly pragmatic and self-respecting. Arguments should of course have much more to do with style than substance, but sometimes the two are strongly linked. To look at hysterical Islamic supremacists sneering at and goading Tommy as he continues onward with his arguments relatively unperturbed and with sound reasoning results in contrasting appearances that make it perniciously difficult for those who wish to dismiss him out of hand in a reflexive way because they’ve been told he’s “far-right” while taking the side of those who are always aggressively pointing at him, descending into sarcasm, speaking hatefully to him (often with ad hominems), or even threatening him. I can’t imagine battling the state, Islamists, and the militant left day in, and day out. He’s an extraordinary person, as are Robert, Pamela Geller, Geert Wilders, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Lars Vilks, Theo van Gogh, and so many others.
Georg says
Sorry, meant arguments should obv be much more about substance over style…
Angemon says
http://liberallogic101.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/liberal-logic-101-1984-500×416.jpg
Linde Barrera says
I read all ‘ya comments, (Georg thumbs up for you, excellent writing, and most prolific on this article) and I want to offer my opinion on Juan Cole. I think Juan Cole is a weeny, and a wimp. He wants to be a badass like Robert, Pamela, Geert, and others who have guts to speak out against the evils of Islam. But he wont, so he cant. Tough tacks for him! And college students could find much better than Juan Cole as a professor, in my opinion.