• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Hugh Fitzgerald: On Not Forgetting Molly Norris

Mar 2, 2016 3:08 pm By Hugh Fitzgerald

Molly Norris

In Argentina, in the time of the right-wing generals, many Argentinians were made to “disappear” – that is, they were killed for their political views, often in such grisly ways as being thrown out of airplanes. They became known, in Spanish, as “los desaparecidos” (“the disappeared ones”). But there is another set of “los desaparecidos” — people who all over the advanced Western world, that world which prides itself on its protection of free speech — have been threatened with death because of what they dared to say or write about Islam, and have been forced to go into permanent hiding, changing their identities, “disappearing themselves.” It’s a sign of the times that there is no general outrage, no marches in support of those threatened with death for speaking their mind about Islam, no political leaders in the United States reminding us in public of this campaign of Muslim intimidation, that has destroyed the lives of those who were brave enough to speak out about Islam who had to “disappear themselves.”

Do you remember Molly Norris? She was the Seattle cartoonist who suggested, as a response to the death threats against Lars Vilks and Kurt Westergaard, two cartoonists who had dared to depict Muhammad, that there be an “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” as a lighthearted sign of solidarity with the threatened cartoonists. For her pains, she received death threats from Muslims, and she was advised by the FBI to change her identity, as reported by Mark Fefer in the Seattle Weekly:

The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is, as they put it, “going ghost”: moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity. She will no longer be publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts magazine, where she has been a regular contributor. She is, in effect, being put into a witness-protection program–except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab.

So Molly Norris no longer exists. But whatever name she now goes by, she can’t work as a cartoonist, because a cartoonist’s style is as recognizable as her handwriting – and in any case, what previous work, signed “Molly Norris,” could she submit in applying for jobs? Relatives and friends must worry about meeting with her, or communicating by phone or email, for they have to assume that Muslims determined to find Molly Norris will know who her relatives and friends were before she changed her identity and could conceivably be watching them, hoping they will lead to Molly Norris. She is “in effect, being put into a witness-protection program – except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab.”

How does she survive? With what handful of people does she allow herself to associate? What kind of life must Molly Norris be living if the government provides no support?

But most disturbing of all is how Molly Norris has been essentially abandoned to her fate, and has had both to “disappear herself” and to endure having “disappeared” from the American public’s consciousness. Which brings me to my main point.

Six Democrats and a dozen Republicans initially entered the political lists this primary season. Two Democrats remain; the dozen Republicans have been whittled down to five (of which three are viable). The candidates have raised all sorts of issues, about the economy, Obamacare, immigration, free trade, global warming, campaign finance laws, making America great, safe, whole (choose one) again. Islam has been mentioned, but always in the abstract. No one has mentioned the tragic situation of Molly Norris.

Imagine that if even one of the candidates were to talk about her, what good he might do. Let’s imagine what he might say:

We no longer have free speech in this country, because those who are most outspoken about Islam have been threatened with death. Many have been scared into silence, and others have had to change their lives.

Take the case of Molly Norris, forced to go into permanent hiding, and to change her identity, because she dared to suggest an “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” in solidarity with cartoonists in Europe threatened with death for having drawn what we now call MoToons. When she was threatened herself, the most that the American government would do for her was to suggest that she go into hiding. The government did not offer to support her, or to pay for her security: it was “a witness-protection program without the government picking up the tab.”

Now imagine that same candidate brings up the story of Molly Norris at every gathering, forcing the media to report to the broad public what he has to say about her monstrous situation, imprints her story on the public consciousness, causes people to bethink themselves about how our officials have behaved in their insensate determination not to fight but to give in to Muslim threats.

What if that candidate were to say: “If I am elected President, I will promptly provide round-the-clock protection for Molly Norris. And I will invite Molly Norris to the White House to discuss with me and others in my administration the freedom of speech. It will be up to her to decide if she wants to be photographed. Whether she does or not, I think the American public will be gripped by her own story – and we can then start an open and sober discussion, that has long been needed, about Islam, blasphemy laws, and respect for the American Constitution.”

This would not be an abstract denunciation of Islam but, rather, a concrete example of the meaning of Islam, bringing home to the American public the story of one American girl, Molly Norris, who in exercising her first-amendment rights to free speech earned a death threat from Muslims who have no interest in, or sympathy for, “free speech,” and who asserted, as they saw it, their superior rights to enforce, even through assassination and even in our country, Islamic laws against blasphemy.

And Molly Norris, who has been a “desaparecido” for more than five years, will triumphantly be allowed to “reappear” as herself. That will be good for her, good for the candidate who embraces her Case and her Cause, and good for our country that needs to be reminded – at a time of great confusion — of what the First Amendment was meant, whatever it cost, to protect.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Featured, free speech, Jihadist intimidation and thuggery, Muhammad cartoons Tagged With: Molly Norris


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. Angemon says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    And Molly Norris, who has been a “desaparecido”

    A small, pedantic correction, Mr. Fitzgerald, from someone who can’t find any other fault in your excellent article: And Molly Norris, who has been “desaparecida”. Desaparecida because the subject is female, and no need for the “a” before because “desaparecida” means “missing”.

  2. the Oracle says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 3:35 pm

    Why publish her picture? Who are you aiding?

    • miriamrove says

      Mar 2, 2016 at 3:44 pm

      Are you kidding? Do you live in the 1920”s? Just you know this is year 2016 and the age of the internet. Her picture is all over the place. Who are you trolling? m

      • gravenimage says

        Mar 2, 2016 at 7:34 pm

        I actually did ask Robert to remove her picture myself–though I certainly do not attribute any nefarious purpose to either Mr. Spencer of Hugh Fitzgerald for having published it–far from it.

        I had thought about linking to her picture several times myself, but always refrained, because I did not want to–in whatever minuscule way–endanger her further.

        You are quite right, though, miriam–anyone who wants to find Molly Norris’s picture can do so with just a couple of clicks.

  3. Mirren10 says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 3:40 pm

    Brava, Mr. Fitzgerald, brava !

    I wonder if any of the candidates have even *heard* of Molly Norris ?

    If they hold question and answer sessions, it would be an instructive question to ask; the answer would be illuminating.

    • carpediadem says

      Mar 2, 2016 at 8:28 pm

      So write to your Congressman and the candidates and tell them about her!

      • dumbledoresarmy says

        Mar 2, 2016 at 8:47 pm

        Yes.

        American jihadwatchers could do exactly that… enclosing a copy of Mr Fitzgerald’s article.

        And perhaps including also the story of Asma Bint Marwan, Abu Afak and Kab Bin Ashraf, the poets who were assassinated by Mohammed’s orders, thus establishing murder of ‘blasphemers’ and ‘critics’ of Islam, as part of the Sunnah.

        • eduardo odraude says

          Mar 3, 2016 at 12:17 pm

          No, do not write. Call, A prepared, polite phone call is literally a hundred or a thousand times more effective than a letter. If the Congressman is not in, ask the name of the staff person dealing with issues related to freedom of speech and religion.

    • Lia says

      Mar 3, 2016 at 2:46 pm

      Thank you, Mr Fitzgerald!

  4. Myxlplik says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 3:43 pm

    Absolutely brilliant Hugh, a stroke of genius. I bring up Molly Norris from time to time in conversations with friends and colligues. It’s important that she is remembered, unfortunately her only allies in life are us “greasy Islamophobes”.

    Everyone else killed her persona just as dead as the Muslims who threatened her over her ideas.

    It would be interesting to see her on stage with Trump, but she’s probably feeling the “Bern” this year.

    • Jack Diamond says

      Mar 2, 2016 at 5:40 pm

      Why would Trump’s reaction be any different than his to Garland? Or any of the candidates. Not just Obama with his, the future does not belong to those who slander the “Prophet of Islam” but they all would (discreetly) imply that she brought it on herself, as in why would you go out of your way to insult Muslims and their fine religion? Not why do Muslims think they have the right to kill over perceived insults and why does everyone accede to it in the name of going along to get along? Actually, they wouldn’t touch the subject of Molly Norris with a 10-ft. pole. Molly Norris should be a cause, the symbol of this thuggish assault on our freedom of speech, and of the jihad war against America and Americans. The reaction to a fatwa being put on the head of American allowing any Muslim to murder her, over a (proposed) cartoon, having to go into hiding (the best advice the government could give her) left to her own devices (abandoned by that government), should provoke righteous anger, not apathy.

      • Myxlplik says

        Mar 2, 2016 at 6:53 pm

        Why would it be different than Garland you say?

        That’s precisely why it would be “interesting”

        ;).

      • mortimer says

        Mar 2, 2016 at 9:44 pm

        Agree with Jack Diamond. America’s politicians generally have ZERO understanding of Sharia blasphemy laws… a blasphemer is killed and no repentance is accepted.

        They do not admit that Sharia is the problem…rather than our FREE SPEECH to OFFEND being the problem.

        Trump and Hillary both accept the HECKLER’S VETO nonsense:

        “A heckler’s veto is an IMPERMISSIBLE content-based RESTRICTION on speech where the speech is prohibited due to an ANTICIPATED DISORDERLY or VIOLENT reaction of the audience.”

        The effect of accepting the heckler’s veto is actually to ENCOURAGE and EMBOLDEN terrorists to attack the freedom of expression even more strongly!

        Trump and Hillary both haven’t the mind to understand that. It is a slippery slope that leads to the end of American civil liberties.

        Trump and Hillary are both empty-headed clowns on the stage.

        • Radegunda says

          Mar 3, 2016 at 12:01 am

          Trump shows no understanding of the Islam issue beyond noticing that terrorists are doing bad things. He suggested a temporary moratorium on the entry of Muslims “until we figure out what the he!! is going on” — because he doesn’t know — and then he was credited with having some deep wisdom on the subject.

          He also doesn’t have a great attachment to the First Amendment — certainly not when it comes to criticism of himself. He openly admires strongmen like Putin, and he admired how the Chinese regime put down the democracy protestors.

        • eduardo odraude says

          Mar 3, 2016 at 12:28 pm

          Radegunda — Trump is probably wise to call only for a “temporary moratorium” “until we figure out what the hell is going on.” Any stronger statement, and any claim that Islam is itself inherently a security threat, would have zero chance of success in the current political climate. But a temporary moratorium, with no claim to know that Islam is fundamentally evil, is something that actually has a possibility of becoming policy. It probably represents a significant advance toward what is needed. We currently have 100,000 Muslims — by some counts, a quarter of a million — Muslims coming into the US every year. Trump is the only candidate who will slow or stop that flood of disaster and theocracy into the US. The good thing about Trump’s position is that a temporary moratorium is something many could agree to, and yet it could last indefinitely, and do so even without winning a general debate about Islam, an impossible win in the current state of public discourse, in which about half the population will always insist that Islam is no worse than any other religion, no matter what anyone, much less Trump, says.

  5. cs says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 3:46 pm

    OFF TOPIC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbwnyyYiZVk
    to see how things are changing in social media, watch it if you may.

  6. Shmooviyet says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 4:07 pm

    What a wonderful thing to hear speech like this from candidates.
    Yet, one still has to figure out ‘what’s going on’, and another attempted to blame a terrible-horrible-racist video for Benghazi, then appeared with her boss in a gov’t commercial to beg muslim forgiveness.
    Unlikely it will be from one of them.

    • touga says

      Mar 3, 2016 at 3:38 am

      It’d be refreshing and reassuring to hear any of the candidates say to Muslims something like: “you like America, warts and all, you come; you don’t like her, then you’re welcome to remain in your native hell hole!”

      Such candidate’d have my vote instantly.

  7. mortimer says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 4:24 pm

    Molly Norris is an indicator of what’s to come. France now has a Muslim population of about 6.5 million. A growing number of politicians, teachers and writers who were bold enough to complain about Islam are now under 24-hour protection by government-provided security.

    As the boldness of Muslims in the US grows, more thinkers will have to go into hiding. If Hillary wins the election, she will will no doubt arrest people who speak against Islam, thus enforcing Sharia blasphemy laws so Muslims won’t have the trouble of murdering the blasphemers themselves.

    Neither Hillary nor Trump understand why freedom starts with freedom of expression. They are both as shallow as a puddle.

  8. R Cole says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 4:33 pm

    From Draw Muhammad Day to now – while in hiding – imagine how Molly Norris is seeing this Islamic threat evolve.

  9. Jenny says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 5:00 pm

    The only candidates that aren’t speaking out against Islam are the democrats!

    • mortimer says

      Mar 2, 2016 at 10:19 pm

      The Dems are selling future generations into slavery under Sharia-savages.

    • Radegunda says

      Mar 3, 2016 at 12:05 am

      How exactly has Trump “spoken out against Islam” — rather than against ISIS or terrorists?

  10. Kepha says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 5:14 pm

    This is one reason why I will not vote for Shrillary Shrooooo. That woman has made it clear that she believes that First Amendment rights belong only to her side of any political or religious divide.

    We Christians have put up with innumerable insults and scurrilous caricatures and criticisms by the so-smarts who now run this country. My advice to my Muslim neighbors is to grow a thicker skin. And my advice to the FBI is to track down those people who threatened Molly Norris and throw the book at them for conspiracy to deprive a person of civil rights, attempted murder, and, if possible, aiding and abetting terrorism, violating immigration laws, etc. If those people aren’t citizens, be sure they’re deported and never allowed back in.

    • Jack Diamond says

      Mar 2, 2016 at 5:55 pm

      the author of the fatwa on Molly Norris was Anwar al-Awlaki, deceased. The fatwa still stands and she was still on the kill list al Qaeda published a couple of years back, a list that included the Charlie Hebdo editor, now deceased. btw according to the FBI agent at the time, Norris was given the choice between being given protection or going into hiding herself and she chose the latter.

      • gravenimage says

        Mar 2, 2016 at 7:41 pm

        Jack Diamond wrote:

        Norris was given the choice between being given protection or going into hiding herself and she chose the latter.
        …………………..

        Actually, Jack, the FBI told Molly Norris they *couldn’t* protect her. That is why she went into hiding.

        • Jack Diamond says

          Mar 2, 2016 at 8:07 pm

          “The threat (to Norris) posed a challenge to the FBI, retired agent David Gomez told CNN’s Don Lemon. Gomez was once in charge of Norris’ case.

          His regional office told FBI leadership in Washington they thought they needed to protect Norris to avoid her becoming the first U.S. citizen victimized by Islamist extremists for exercising her right to free speech. “Of course, it came back and said ‘absolutely,'” he said.

          Whether or not to go into hiding was her choice, he said. “She wasn’t forced. She was given the option,” Gomez said.

          He and his colleagues believed back then that the threats were credible.

          “Now, four and a half years later the credibility of that threat has been shown,” he said.
          http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/13/us/cartoonist-still-in-hiding/index.html

          That’s what the FBI is saying now, anyway.

        • Jack Diamond says

          Mar 2, 2016 at 8:26 pm

          That she was told she couldn’t be protected and was better off disappearing is something I’d heard originally too. That she was offered protection and not necessarily encouraged to disappear, is something new I am hearing from Gomez.

          This is different from how the Seattle Weekly described it: “The FBI called it ‘going ghost.’ On their advice, Norris gave up her name, her home, her job, and her friends.” 1/13/15

        • Jack Diamond says

          Mar 3, 2016 at 2:23 am

          The Seattle Weekly revisiting Molly Norris remain the weasels they were then. There was no “Je Suis Molly” from the magazine then, but there was: “depictions of the prophet are considered sacrilege by many Muslims” that was supposed to explain things as they waved bon voyage to Molly. And now in 2015, from her former editor at City Arts, now with the Seattle Weekly, some interesting moral contortionism:

          “According to HIS OWN interpretation of Islamic law, Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki told a magazine for radical Muslims, Norris’ “proper abode is hellfire.” I remember talking to Norris then. I remember her being scared. I was scared too. But we moved forward, continuing to publish Molly’s comics {in “City Arts”}—as did Seattle Weekly—until September, when Norris disappeared…

          We have seen her cause picked up by right-wing pundits like Larry Kelley…“We are no longer a free country if journalists can’t criticize a religion that, for example, believes apostates need to be killed,” he told Fox News, chastising the government for not providing Norris with financial support.

          It’s difficult to argue with that, and to his credit, I agree with Kelley that the FBI should have given Norris more help. Yet I find myself unwilling to jump on board with Kelley or his fellow travelers who are in a rush to indict the entirety of the Islamic faith.

          I believe everyone should be allowed to speak freely, and I expect the governments of this world to defend that right by prosecuting those who would threaten it. But I am also concerned about the gulf between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds that appears to be widening as calls for freedom of speech become blurred with hateful speech that aims to denigrate the beliefs of a billion and a half people—the vast majority of whom are peaceful.

          Given the choice between a world intolerant of certain images and another intolerant of certain beliefs, I choose neither.”
          http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/956344-129/the-ghost-of-molly-norris

          “I choose neither”. How brave and courageous. This is journalism in the age of jihad. Of course, al-Awlaki did not have his own interpretation of Islamic law, there is nothing ambiguous about Islamic law, but apparently it is denigrating the beliefs of a billion and a half people (somehow it’s important to cite how many there are as if that validates Islam) to point that out, and hateful to object to Muslim calls for murder or tyrannical demands of censorship, all justified by reasons of Islam, because to do so might (shudder) implicate Islam and hurt the feelings of all the nice Muslims who (he thinks) believe in another Islam altogether, a peaceful tolerant one that doesn’t exist and never has existed but which we’re all going to imagine exists. Molly Norris be damned.
          “I choose neither” says the great champion of freedom, above it all.

        • gravenimage says

          Mar 3, 2016 at 4:48 pm

          Disgusting from the Seattle Weekly. Thanks for posting that, Jack.

  11. ElderlyZionist says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 5:14 pm

    Hugh, I’m a picky man, and I don’t often see a political program for action that I can back 100%. You have me 100% on this one. You’re a genius. Let’s push it. Rescue Molly Norris.

  12. Wellington says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 5:53 pm

    Timely article. Excellent article. So glad Hugh Fitzgerald is writing regularly here again at JW.

    Free speech is in danger in the traditionally freest country on earth because of 1) a modern liberalism that is moving more and more into the domain of totalitarianism (e.g., Orwellian speech codes on college campuses, college campuses btw being where modern liberalism is most in charge, even more so than in the media and the Democratic Party; 2) way too many meek and mild conservatives who know, have even warned, of the follies of modern liberalism, like political correctness and multiculturalism, but who have not done nearly enough, have not acted nearly strongly enough, have not said nearly enough, to preserve liberty.

    Meanwhile, the longest-lived and best disguised evil in man’s history still hides behind its religious veil while those on the Left make alliances with it and those on the Right continue to look the other way. Not a good recipe for the preservation of liberty. No, not at all. And while I certainly think far too many people claim victim status in America nowadays, sometimes a person really is a victim.

    Molly Norris is. For certain. And she didn’t need to be if only liberty in America was still fully alive and Islam was overwhelmingly seen for the mortal threat to liberty which it surely is.

    Islam and freedom——-forever incompatible. The Left and Right in today’s America——-both now failing America, though for different reasons. Beyond sad. Actually, the word “betrayal” comes to mind.

  13. Peter says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 5:56 pm

    Will never forget her.

    The FBI failed to uphold its ostensibly number one core value of obedience to the U.S. Constitution; i.e., it didn’t do anything to uphold her First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and right of assembly.

    Federal Bureau of Islamization

  14. Judi says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    Excellent article. Pam Geller often brings up the subject of Molly Norris, both in her column and in the media.

  15. Sam says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 7:18 pm

    Moly’s case is the demise of freedom in America really. I am depressed that such things can happen in the USA.

  16. mortimer says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 7:39 pm

    If only Molly Norris could continue to speak out about Islam, she would have a worldwide audience.

    If she has learned something about Islamic blasphemy laws and the preciousness of freedom of expression, she should try to send out her message. I’m sure she has valuable insights gained from this hellish experience and hope she will find a way to share them with the world. We need her.

    I send her my best wishes and thanks for being the American who showed the inflexible intolerance of Islam. This is a war. We are all on the front line. The next one to be killed by a jihadist could be ANY ONE OF US. Anything we may innocently do or say can trigger a Muslim to kill. We are all in danger from Islam.

    Is anybody listening? We are now ALL OF US on the front line.

  17. mortimer says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 7:50 pm

    JE SUIS MOLLY NORRIS.

    • gravenimage says

      Mar 2, 2016 at 7:56 pm

      Hear, hear!

  18. gravenimage says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 7:56 pm

    Hugh Fitzgerald: On Not Forgetting Molly Norris
    …………………………

    Thank you, thank you, thank you, Hugh, for this important article. We must *never* forget what has happened–and continues to happen–to Molly Norris.

    More:

    So Molly Norris no longer exists. But whatever name she now goes by, she can’t work as a cartoonist, because a cartoonist’s style is as recognizable as her handwriting – and in any case, what previous work, signed “Molly Norris,” could she submit in applying for jobs?
    …………………………

    Yes. If she is really lucky she can work in more than one style–many artists cannot. And even if she can, there is no telling whether such a style would prove anywhere near as popular as her old one, nor can she use the “brand” she has spent her entire life building.

    More:

    How does she survive? With what handful of people does she allow herself to associate? What kind of life must Molly Norris be living if the government provides no support?
    …………………………

    That the government and law enforcement–which openly told her they could offer no real protection–have done nothing for her is utterly shameful.

    I easily could have been Molly Norris–if I had learned just enough about Islam that I was angry enough to act, but not enough to learn what I was getting into, I probably would have done exactly what Molly Norris did.

    By the way, “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” still exists in some form–I have no idea who is running the Facebook page. It is probably not Molly Norris herself.

    https://www.facebook.com/events/1491745381115822/

    Check out the “see all posts” section–people are still posting there.,

    “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” is May 20th.

    • ECAW says

      Mar 3, 2016 at 7:33 am

      Graven – I’ve seen a picture of yours showing a leering Mo about to finalise his nuptials with poor Aisha. Since you sell them presumably you are trackable. Aren’t you in a position similar to Molly Norris, just subject to freelancers rather than those following an official fatwa?

      A concerned admirer.

      • gravenimage says

        Mar 3, 2016 at 5:01 pm

        Thank you, ECAW, for your kind words and your concern.

        Actually, right now I just have a page through PhotoBucket that shows my Anti-Jihad work under the name gravenimageartist:

        http://s478.photobucket.com/user/gravenimageartist/library/?sort=3&page=1

        Click on any picture to see a larger version.

        I do need to update my page–I still haven’t posted my work from the Garland Show.

        Anyone who wants to link to my work or download it is free to do so. I have thought about doing t-shirts and posters, and would have to figure out how to do this safely.

        Of course, I have other non-Jihad related work on the web under my real name.

  19. Guy Jones says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 8:15 pm

    The “fatwa” issued against Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini in the 80’s for his authorship of “The Satanic Verses” really should have been a sobering watershed moment for the west, leading to an unvarnished and clear-headed assessment of the threat posed to secular democracies by the supremacist ideology of “Submission,” but, sadly, the lesson wasn’t learned. The west dismissed this incident as a one-off, an aberration born of deviant Muslim behavior, precisely because the death sentence was handed down by Khomeini, a figure caricatured — inaccurately, as the 21st-century has demonstrated all too frequently — as belonging to a “fringe” Islamic theocractic movement, and thus behavior easily dismissed as originating within the small sphere of “Islamic fundamentalism” and thus lying outside the scope of allegedly benevolent “mainstream Islam,” as practiced by millions of allegedly peaceable Muslims. As Obozo and the Left repeatedly tell us with a straight face, jihadism has nothing whatsoever to do with Islam, and, jihadist violence represent a perversion of Islam’s “true,” peaceful teachings. Furthermore, we are still dealing with delusional and intellectually dishonest multiculturalists who insist on creating contrived sub-gradations of Islam (e.g., “moderate Islam;” “radical Islam;”) that have no basis in theology or fact, in order to parse and separate jihadists and their behavior into a “fringe” category that lies outside of the supposed “mainstream” of Muslim theology and sentiment.

    • dumbledoresarmy says

      Mar 2, 2016 at 8:59 pm

      Here’s what the brilliant and fiery Irish intellectual Conor Cruise O’Brien had to say, at the time of the fatwa on Rushdie.
      (I hope the link still works)

      http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/islam-back-to-the-dark-ages-we-should-not-repeal-the-enlightenment-to-appease-ayatollahs-says-conor-cruise-obrien-1382946.html

      “Islam: Back to the Dark Ages: We Should Not Repeal the Enlightenment to Appease Ayatollahs, Says Conor Cruise O’Brien”.
      ‘Friday 12 August 1994.

      And here is an unforgettable account of the reaction of that avant-garde NYC ‘beat’ poet, Allen Ginsberg, to that same fatwa.

      http://reason.com/archives/2010/05/14/the-poet-versus-the-prophet
      The Poet Versus the Prophet
      On standing up to totalitarian Islam
      Mark Goldblatt | May 14, 2010

      “I got to know the poet Allen Ginsberg towards the end of his life. Not very well, just a nodding acquaintance, but after he died I attended a memorial in his honor at the City University Graduate School.

      “At that service, his personal assistant related a story about Ginsberg’s reaction to the death sentence pronounced on the novelist Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.

      “Rushdie’s “crime,” you’ll recall, was writing a provocative, perhaps even blasphemous novel inspired by the life of Muhammad called The Satanic Verses.

      “Though I might be screwing up a few details, the gist of the story was as follows:

      “Soon after news of the fatwa broke, Ginsberg and his assistant climbed into the back seat of a taxi in Manhattan.

      “After a glance at the cab driver’s name, Ginsberg politely inquired if he was a Muslim.

      “When the cabbie replied that he was, Ginsberg asked him what he thought about the death sentence on Rushdie.

      “The cabbie answered that he thought that Rushdie’s book was disrespectful of Islam, and that the Ayatollah had every right to do what he had done.

      “At this point, according to his assistant, Ginsberg, one of the gentlest men ever to walk the planet, flew into a rage, screaming at the cabbie as he continued to drive, “Then I shit on your religion! Do you hear me? I shit on Islam! I shit on Muhammad! Do you hear? I shit on Muhammad!”

      “Ginsberg demanded that the cabbie pull over. The cabbie complied, and, without paying the fare, Ginsberg and his assistant climbed out. He was still screaming at the cabbie as the car drove off….”.

      Way to go, Ginsberg! That’s a *real* revolutionary and the true New York spirit.

      • Guy Jones says

        Mar 3, 2016 at 9:39 am

        Thank you for linking the O’Brien essay; I read it. A prescient and prophetic view, ahead of its time.

        The Ginsburg anecdote is interesting ; I’d never heard of that incident.

  20. Rainman says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    I’m willing to bet that Molly was a former democrat who voted for Obama. Obama won’t waste any FBI assets guarding someone who attacks Islam. He won’t guard Pam Geller or Robert Spencer. Will they Mr. Spencer?
    I’m also guessing that Miss Molly is voting for Trump this time around.
    Rainman……

    • gravenimage says

      Mar 3, 2016 at 12:44 am

      This is probably true. Poor Molly Norris was ‘mugged’ by Islam.

  21. SoCalMike says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 9:10 pm

    Bravo, bravo, Hugh!!!!!
    Outstanding.
    Standing ovation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  22. Matthieu Baudin says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 1:18 am

    “…She is, in effect, being put into a witness-protection program–except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab…”

    This is in fact the fate awaiting many of us. This is the way in which the curtains will be drawn on freedom of speech; one window at a time until there are only left the occasional slits of light peeking out onto the streets. Terrorism is beating us into submission.

  23. Plamen says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 3:35 am

    “.. I will promptly provide round-the-clock protection .. ”
    It’s already a retreat. Taking defense position.
    While step by step Islam forces others who settles to breed among like a weed to become accustomed to it, it makes people and societies distort their common seance and start thinking by following its steps.
    Never, Ever get accustomed to Islam – and fight source not consequence, cause not effect!

  24. Plamen says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 4:23 am

    Islam always thinks strategically.
    Islam was in upheaval for 13 centuries. From 7th to 19th: from its dawn in Arabia, resumed by another by Ottomans, until disintegration under European powers’ pressure in 19th and early 20th. Then, for about a century it feels on its knees, but never accepts it.
    Now, since half a century it is in upheaval again and it wishes to make Christianity and rest of the world pay back and suffer again its power. First Islamic republic in 1956 Pakistan (confirmed by its 1973 constitution) was followed by other countries, movements, regimes – to replace secular regimes since WWI – and now Islam Sate metastases from one to all continents. It will last for quite a while. Of course, it would be better if Islam extremities are to be absorbed by globalisaton, however evidences increase in number in opposite direction, by each year.
    Banning Islam is impossible: entire Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) would rise, atop with US’ and NATO’s allies Turkey and Pakistan, to defend their ‘sacred faith’.
    Then an explicit law must be passed (Amendment proposed?).
    Tentatively:
    “Prohibited are:
    – caliphate;
    – jihad;
    – sharia;
    – non-equal women rights under any religion;
    – etc.
    Supporters, participators, organisations… will be… law.. enforcement…”.
    Until it’s too late…

  25. Lanya LaPunta says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 8:37 am

    I, for one, am ashamed to live in a country that, seemingly, has a constant “War on Women”.

    This is but one example … Part of Obama’s war on women.

  26. eduardo odraude says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    It’s not just Molly Norris. There are many dozens of news reports of public figures who say they have self-censored about Islam for fear of Muslim death threats. I stopped collecting those stories a few years ago, but have links to dozens of them.

    Here are dozens of links to news stories about major public institutions, public figures, journalists, artists, teachers, writers, comedians, musicians, etc., who have said they are censoring themselves about Islam because of death threats: http://www.quotingislam.blogspot.com

    Trump or whatever candidate could use the stories linked at the above website to great effect. No one could claim Molly Norris is an isolated case.

  27. Carolyne says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 1:16 pm

    When I first heard about the “Let’s all draw Mohammed Day,” I thought it was really funny. Anyone with any sense of humor at all would. I didn’t know about the aftermath and the threats against Ms. Norris. Those threats by ‘phone or on the internet can be traced. Why didn’t the FBI, instead of telling Ms. Norris that they couldn’t protect her, get to work on tracing the source of the threats and if in the US, to arrest and prosecute those making them. Did anyone order them not to?

    Could it be that many of our politicians like Hillary Clinton and Al Gore receive money from Saudi Arabia? Could it be that Barack Obama is a Muslim? I want an answer.

    • eduardo odraude says

      Mar 3, 2016 at 1:31 pm

      The FBI and the Obama administration — and to be fair, probably many conservative politicians too — wanted to wash their hands of the Draw Muhammad affair, did not want anything to do with it. Most of them are as afraid as anybody else (of Muslim violence and leftist slanders claiming bigotry), and don’t care that much about freedom of speech to become lonely martyrs for it. Molly Norris herself did not want to be a martyr for it. Unless someone publicly criticizes Islam despite media attention, they probably have no right to criticize Molly Norris for going into hiding. In theory, she could have refused the FBI advice and told the press all about it, and demanded protection. But it’s much easier to advise someone like Molly Norris to do such things than to do them oneself. One solution is to join Act for America which lobbies congress on these issues. .And donate to Robert Spencer’s organizations AFDI and SIOA.

      And people, the best thing to focus on is not Islam, but Islam’s victims. The left is defenseless when you point to victims. You don’t even need to mention Islam, just point to its victims, and people will eventually connect the dots. And make sure your facts are checkable and will stand up as 100% accurate to a skeptical evaluation, not turn out to be some half-true story from some deceptive or amateurish website.

      • eduardo odraude says

        Mar 3, 2016 at 1:34 pm

        For Islam’s victims, one could look at Raymond Ibrahim’s website. But check even those stories, don’t just retail them. And of course jihad watch contains plenty of leads on Islam’s victims. One could research the victims even just a few minutes a day, and gradually build muscle on the topic.

  28. bouboulina says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    This good-hearted, idealistic but naive young girl is one of the many victims of cynical marxists who with their lies & innate rottenness use good people in the pursuit of their evil goal of destroying the freedoms of the West. Such a waste and how sad for her loved ones.

  29. Linda Rivera says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 3:51 pm

    Ethical leaders would immediately ban all Muslim immigration into our Western nations because Islam calls for mass genocides of Christians, Jews and all other non-Muslim innocents; Muslim conquest and our enslavement under barbaric sharia.

    Of the 52 million Muslims British and European leaders colonised our small nations with, 80% live as PERMANENT PARASITES on welfare.

    Stop giving free homes, money and other benefits to Muslims. This would also free up the money required for 24 hour bodyguards for all of our brave heroes who spoke out about Islam and placed their lives in great danger.

    PROTECT NON-MUSLIM INNOCENTS with tax money, NOT Muslims who seek our barbaric conquest and cruel enslavement.

  30. UNCLE VLADDI says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 5:48 pm

    These highest (aka political) levels of the FBI people have refused to pick up the tab and grant her full witness protection, because doing so would impact their own careers and pensions: they don’t dare to see what is obvious to even non-trained criminologists: that islam itself is only the world’s oldest and largest ongoing extortion-racket crime-gang, one whose members blame a “god” as their #1 alibi to excuse their own criminal desires and actions. Worse, these days islam also gets to claim it’s a “race.”

    To openly admit this about islam, they would risk their own authority, careers, perks and pensions, merely to defend their oaths to defend the public fro criminal violence. This they are unwilling to risk.

    The FBI chiefs fear that to obey the law, they would endanger them selves – so they willingly break it.

    Like all criminals, they want to “progress” to having ever more rights with ever less responsibilities.
    They don’t want to have to be forced to risk them selves to earn their pay by protecting the public.

  31. Dag says

    Mar 3, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    Molly Norris got trashed badly by Mark Steyn and those at Gates of Vienna. I dedicated my illustrated Life of Mohammed to her. Somehow I’m still not rich and famous. Go figure….

    http://www.amazon.com/Snootom-D-W-Walker/dp/0987761587

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • gravenimage on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • OLD GUY on UK: Woman converts to Islam, distributes Islamic State jihad terror videos
  • OLD GUY on Al-Qaeda Calls on Jihadis to Kill Non-Muslims With Poisoned Coronavirus Masks
  • Boycott Turkey on Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and UAE conduct joint military exercises amid rising Turkish threat
  • Michael Copeland on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.