Q and A:
Thanks again to the police and security personnel who were out in force last night as I spoke at Gettysburg College. They ensured that Left-fascists would not disrupt the event as they did Monday at the University at Buffalo. And now you can see the presentation yourself and judge whether saying these things warrants all the outrage with which my invitation to speak was greeted.
mike ryan says
Well-spoken. Reasonable. There is no warrant here to justify outrage.
JIMJFOX says
Wish I could make a positive comment BUT… the sound quality and balance was so poor it was almost impossible to hear. Robert’s microphone level was massively over-amplified and there was a lot of echo and resonance. Surely a competent audio engineer could have set up a decent system??
So disappointed to have to give up…
JIMJFOX says
This applies to the Q&A session only.
Don Foss says
Unfair fight. Spenser loaded with artillery (truth). Fuzznuts loaded with spit (Leftist appeaser gibberish BS). Not fair. Like Army Rangers being attacked by Girl Scouts. Poor little Fuzznuts.
mortimer says
Those who opposed Robert Spencer claimed, but have no evidence that Robert Spencer is 1) bigoted in any way 2) racist in any way 3) incorrect in any way.
At a university, are evidence, facts, documentation and valid logic no longer needed to take action against people? The British intelligence and RCMP went through Robert Spencer’s 16 books and they were both unable to find a single BIGOTED or RACIST or INCORRECT comment in those writings or in his speeches. The British intelligence complained that Spencer ‘SUPPORTED ISRAEL’.
A LYNCHMOB MENTALITY is alive and flourishing at GETTYSBURG COLLEGE. This LYNCHMOB MENTALITY is a characteristic of the very fascism these people supposedly denounce.
St. Patrick says
The smart kids applauded..
Victoria H says
We can all be as brave and resolute in our speech, as Robert Spencer, when we speak the truth. I have read several of his informative books and they serve as valuable reference guides because he cites verifiable sources throughout.
Well done, Robert Spencer!
Carlos says
Same here, I have been following Mr. Spencer for several year and have read several,of his books. His speech was fear and balance and right on target.
JAR says
I watched the Q&A. Superb job, Robert. But I can’t see why all those troopers were needed on site to keep your belligerent self in line! It’s just a bit enjoyable when, with a long litany of facts, you overwhelm those who dispute and ask questions and do not get the answers they like.
Thanks for posting the video.
Matthieu Baudin says
A fine address, one that would be difficult for anyone to match. If it weren’t for the internet, this address and others covering similar ground, would not be heard in high censorship nations such as the U.K. where Mr Spencer is a prohibited visitor thanks to Teresa May in her previous ministerial role and her current Prime Ministerial position.
mousey says
I find it interesting that when someone speaks who really knows his subject there is something in the voice and the flow and the conviction that communicates deeper knowledge to you even if you already have read or heard most of the same facts. Thanks for posting this. I’m happy that whatever needed to be done to get the cops to the event ready to remove any disrupters was done.
Terry Gain says
My what a great speech. Robert Spencer, you are our Churchill.
Undaunted says
Robert Spencer; the Winston Churchill of this war.
underbed cat says
Very refreshing to see students being, for the most part very polite….no riots….well managed. The great ending was perfect when you were asked if you were really banned by May to speak in Britain….Your answer had to inform many of the complete pass the imams get in speaking about smashing of skulls which certainly isn’t very peaceful….while you get demonized for reading the actually commands and verses of the Quran and Hadtih.
JayT says
The Q and A was interesting and informative. I did think it was annoying when the “linguistics” major based her whole argument that Spencer wasn’t treating Islam fairly from an emotional position and not factual.
The story was written all over her face as Spencer spoke to educate her on the concept of peaceful Islamic texts that are abrogated by the same Mohammed later in life, she might as well have crawled down to the bottom of well and become the proverbial frog, which refuses to see or hear anything outside her own constructed reality (the well).
The big mouth up front who chose to take the microphone was as convincing as a paid actor by CAIR. His entire argument was no argument at all–it was a series of conclusions with nothing behind them. He failed miserably to offer the most basic of tithes at the foundation of academic learning. Did he say if you turn to page XYZ of the Quran, you will find where you are wrong … Did he say, according to the following major Islamic scholars past and present this is what they say in contradiction … Nooo, he did none of those things because he was a human balloon–full of only air and maybe something else.
TheBuffster says
“The big mouth up front who chose to take the microphone was as convincing as a paid actor by CAIR. His entire argument was no argument at all–it was a series of conclusions with nothing behind them. He failed miserably to offer the most basic of tithes at the foundation of academic learning.”
He attacked the man, not the facts or the logic of what Spencer as saying. So there we have the fallacy of ad hominem.
I wonder how many college students these days attend a logic course? Or even just a course on logical fallacies, so that they can easily recognize when someone is trying to distract them from the real issue? (Not that I think everyone needs such a course to recognize fallacious arguments, but clearly a lot of people do, considering how many people I’ve seen falling for them.)
I’d like to ask the guy whether he thinks anyone ever believes in a cause so deeply as to dedicate his or her whole life to it, and spending as much time on it as one would do on a full-time career? Such a person would not have time, while putting in the effort to be excellent at working for that cause, getting the job done, to have a full-time job to make a living. So is it not intelligent and sensible to find a way to make a living from doing the thing you believe in? If you don’t, you’ll be giving that cause short-shrift, not being able to give it the time and energy that it deserves.
That’s what people do who are convinced that their cause is right and are able enough to make their dedication to their cause into a career. And who have the courage to do that.
The fact that a person makes a living speaking for a cause is neither evidence that the person doesn’t really believe in what he’s saying nor evidence that he does. Accusing someone of being a fraud for money is an ad hominem smear tactic. You would have to prove, not that the person takes money for his work and *therefore* is conning people, but that he’s a fake that doesn’t believe what he’s saying, and that *therefore* taking money for his work makes him a fraud, a con man.
Westman says
It appears that the attending students were, unlike Berkeley students, a credit to Gettysburg College. The administration and alumni of the college should now have more confidence in the quality and character of their students than was previously expressed in their attempt to limit the free expression of ideas. If these students are a picture of tomorrows leaders, then America is in good hands.
It must be difficult to hear that, within a group of good people, there exists an ideology that supports violence against unbelievers; which justifies the violent actions of millions among the billion. That the ideology of Islam supports an extremely wide variation is undeniably apparent when viewing Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan, where people are commonly killed for “religious” offenses. Is this happening in Indonesia, Jordan, or the US on this scale? Organizations like CAIR can only point to majority Muslim countries where Islam does not control government for good examples to combat, “islamophobia”, because a stricter “Medina” ideology is always expressed where Islam gains control.
Robert Spencer has given these students an opportunity for real scholarship – to actually read the Quran and study the ideology; coming to their own, unborrowed, conclusions.
I suspect that, like the anti-capitalist students of my university who went on to become signal capitalists, the current US university system’s flirtation with Islam has a limited lifespan. No matter how much we pretend that Islamic Ideology is non-violent, some person, whose name is one of the 99 variations of Muhammad, will prove otherwise.
ibrahim itace muhammed says
How i wish that i engage mr spencer in an open debate to tear his bunch of lies he has been to promote his filthy christianity now rotten.Note the present day christianity is from satan.you know satan is also a spirit,but he can appear in different physical forms to different follower.He appears to idol worshipers like hindus in the form of a creature with eyes inside eyes.for christians he appears and calls himself as holy ghost and descends like dove as stated in the evil bible.NOTE :the satan fights islam with different forces.mr spencer is one of the forces tirelessly working for the satan by spreading lies against islam.The holy prophet muhammad recommended for us to keep constant reading of the Quran to drive away temptations coming from satanic forces like mr spencer,more especially the last two chapters and Ayatul kursiyy.Note also that satan can never present himself as Allah or prophet muhammad even in a dream unlike in christianity where appears to christians whom they call holy ghost.
Demsci says
You really got it backwards; Islam-apologists and many Muslims lie to the other humans, in the free societies;
Because a lot of Muslims behave in violent and oppressing ways, because it is due to the Quran-Sira-Sahih Hadiths and Tafsirs and because Muslims feel that the other free humans are more and more appalled by it. And also because Muslims want to keep their leftist friends and all the ignorant non-Muslims in the dark,
And Robert Spencer tells the unvarnished truth about Islam and how it is interpreted and practiced throughout the world and how poses a threat and a detrimental influence to the civilised world.
Because Robert Spencers real motive is, I gather; to protect and save the civilized world and it’s freedom and democracy.
LR says
Ibrahim,
I would love to hear you and Mr. Spencer have an open debate. I am sure that would be quite informative, and entertaining.
Demsci’s posts reminded me……What are all those horrible Christians in Egypt, Iraq, Iran etc., doing to deserve their cold blooded murder? Why are faithful Muslims slaughtering them?
You sound like you are very worried about Satan corrupting you, so you must constantly read the Koran. I hope you stay reading it, the few peaceful passages that is, and behave yourself and do not do anything ugly and violent to anyone.
Demsci says
You should reflect also that Robert Spencer is for the rest of his life, 24/7, under a death-threat and he is threathened anew on a regular basis.
Which liar/ deceiver would risk that? That Robert Spencer risks this should tell you that he is not simply after money or motivated by Petty motives but that he is prepared to risk his life for a purpose much langer than himself.
Yeah says
It’s the other way around; it’s Islam that is the religion of Satan. Satan is the liar, Satan is the murderer from the beginning. Taqiya and Jihad are islamic doctrines. Tell me, isn’t Taqiya about lying, and isn’t Jihad about murdering, both to spread Islam? And isn’t the very fact that according to the Quran it was Allah himself who deceived all people to *think* it was Jesus who was crucified? Does that not make Allah a liar according to the Quran? Do you think the Creator of the Universe is a liar? If not, the only conclusion can be that Satan is the evil spirit behind Islam.
Carolyne says
Ibrahim idiot—Allah doesn’t exist and satan doesn’t exist. Figments of the imagination. You would be laughed off the stage were you to try to “Engage” Mr. Spencer since your beliefs are Seventh Century hallucinations of a desert denizen.
Muslims would be funny if they were not so blood-thirsty and misogynist.
patriotliz says
Ibrahim,
Huh. I always thought Islam was the religion of Satan. Satan looked around as Judeo-Christian monotheism, was gaining all the attention and spreading throughout the known world and it made Satan jealous. So he set out to destroy God’s prized creation of humans and said “I’ll choose that guy, Mohammed, the illiterate one, and pretend to be “God” and start MY own religion and, as they say… the rest is history…Satan/Allah, through Mohammad, hijacked and perverted the Bible, threw in some paganism w/ lots of barbaric Arab culture—unabashed misogyny, child rape, sex slaves, unbridled sex and warmongering.
https://youtu.be/U0cEfOlxMu8
bytheway says
Ibrahim, “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess”…
It will be a great and a terrible day, but at least every muzzie will finally be put in their places. There’s still time for you to realise that the hatred and intolerance all your religious books teach you, is all lies.
Hatred and intolerance does seem to have its moment in the limelight right now, but will never win out – of that I can guarantee you.
common sense says
“The holy prophet muhammad recommended for us to keep constant reading of the Quran to drive away temptations coming from satanic forces”
By killing, torturing and raping men women and children? That’s how a Muslim drives away satanic forces by engaging in satanic killing and tortuous acts beneath all contempt? You sound just like satan and Quran commands that you obey a violent, greedy, blood soaked warrior that is no prophet. I’d wager Saladin himself was a better man than Muhammad which aint saying much.
Jesus was the one true prophet of God there was no other.
St. Manuel II Palaiologos says
Islam is the religion of Satan. Christianity is a religion of peace.
Arthur says
So glad to see the event stayed civil. I’m sure a lot of those students will be thinking about what Robert said and wondering where all the bigotry was supposed to be. Now they can start to question the other narrative they’ve been fed and maybe they start thinking for themselves.
Westman says
“How i wish that i engage mr spencer in an open debate..” How I wish you could with CAIR present. They would be embarassed – first at the idea that Mr. Spencer is promoting Christianity. He promotes freedom and democracy – that thing Allah hates besides Infidels – men making laws without him. Then they would be embarassed by your attack on Christianity which sidetracks CAIR’S groomed harmless appearance. Then you would be embarassed when Mr. Spencer supports his contentions by reading from the Quran, Hadith, and other authoritative Islamic sources,
As you should know, the Quran is not in chronological order, and the actual next to last surah (9) is a rather nasty bit about warring with infidels. There is even a Surah in the Quran called “Booty”, about splitting up war loot. Then of course there are all those wonderful passages about Allah having people tortured with boiling water, melting bellies, drinking caustic liquid, skins burned off and replaced to be continously burning. Does that really sound like an intelligent god, or, more like a warlord? Could Satan outdo this sadism?
If you really think that Christianity is the opposition to Islam, you are grossly misinformed. Try reading Pope Francis’ recent comments. The world is largely secular and agnostic and these are the real opposition. Even Islam is declining – it was once 33% of the world’s religionists and is now about 21% – 1.6 billion people in splintered and inter-warring Islamic sects isn’t quite so impressive when viewed in a sea of 7.5 billion people.
Westman says
This was in reply to Ibrahim, above.
PRCS says
WTH #1
The Old Testament White people
WTH #2—(ME & Islam studies student)
“Extremist” groups like al Qaeda and Islamic State
Has done lots of study on “political Islam”, “radical Islam”, “radicalize”
WTH #3 “radical Islamic terrorism”
WTH #4 (the manbuned guest speaker!
WTH #5 Conduct what you do in a manner that makes Muslims feel more safe
WTH #6 You should apologize
WTH #7 The clueless SJW “all religions”
WTH #8 Were you banned from the UK?
It would seem that not one of them took the time to research the subject.
SAM says
Thanks Robert as always. It is still shame that you have to have security to talk about Islam in an American university.
I am thinking that how strange it is that we are losing our freedoms for a stupid ideology like Islam which is “fake” religion.
Soon we won’t be able to go in a restaurant or movie theater without security all thanks to Islam and we can not talk about it honestly.
Gamaliel says
Great speech. Thank you Robert Spencer
Ethel Red says
I learned a lot about what Islam is doing by your speech at Gettysburg U. I didn’t know that the term Islamaphobia was started by Islamists. Our Prime Minister up here in Canada had a motion pushed through our Parliament by an Islamist Female, who also stated she loves Sharia law and because they have the majority, it was passed and our freedom of speech was terminated. I am sure the majority of Canadians don’t know where this term came from and only think a Phobia is a word Trudeau took from a dictionary meaning an unjustified fear. A Million Canadian march is happening on June 3rd and 4th in Ottawa, which I am attending and will ultimately show this Prime Minister how out of touch he is with us Canadians.
TheBuffster says
Ethel Red 🙂 , as I understand it, passing a “motion” in Canada is not the same as passing a law. It’s not an actual law yet, is it?
R. Grimes says
@ brahim itace muhammed : You better up your meds, Mate. You are obviously in need of some SERIOUS professional help. Paranoid? Just a little bit – you can hardly notice 😉
XXXX says
Dear mr Spencer, you have my admiration. I made a donation a few days ago. You not only give us the news that is being withheld from us, you even have the courage to be a speaker in such a violent and aggressive environment. I’m not sure if I would have had the courage to speak there!
I have to be careful myself as I’m a university teacher. The current climate in the Netherlands is quite unforgiving as it comes to opinions that are not mainstream.
Johan Elzinga says
one little thing I would like to add here. In the Netherlands there is this idea of a “discussion about Islam” but it never goes beyond the idea of having a discussion about Islam. What I really like about your speech, mr. Spencer, is that you DO go into detail. Finally someone who quotes the koran and the Hadith on a number of very nasty rules that are layd down there and that are taught by imams the world over, sometimes even to kids that live in our own country. Believes and rules df9j8hthat are medieval, and can simply be described as radical and like the language of muslims terrorizing every other human having a different faith and belief, terrorizing jews and christians, terrorizing women. No one ever in the Dutch media thinks it is worth stating those obvious facts, or they are being silenced by these same media or have to be scared for their job. And this is not radical islam. It is just islam.
Cornelius says
Great stuff Robert. It’s not just the scope and breadth of your knowledge, it is your unflappable demeanor that I find so impressive.
I recently had an on-line discourse with a left-wing university Professor who proceeded to tell me that male and female and racial designations were “social constructs”. When I pinned him down, he conceded that in his universe, a white person who “self identifies” as black is in fact black. This guy went on about how teaching is his tool to “fight against oppression”….and that his job is “NOT to impart knowledge”, but to “interpret society through a specific lens”. I accused his of contorting both language and reality to further his agenda….and he proudly agreed.
The interesting thing about this discourse was, for all his absurdities, he conducted himself with remarkable restraint and forbearance…while I was quite sharp in my my criticisms. And therein lies my quandary…,how to convey an argument – particularly with someone spewing utter nonsense but who is otherwise quite decent and pleasant – without the loss of decorum, dip[diplomacy and tact.
Virtually every time you engage in a Q & A, your demeanor alone provides us all with a helluva good example.
mousey says
what an interesting post!
I find in myself if i really know inside and out a small topic, i can remain firm, calm, unemotional. It’s when i feel strongly about something but don’t have enough understanding of it that i start raising my voice and resort to all manner of embarrassing fulminations. I tend to think that the violent-chanting-and-yelling- down-speakers type may be that way mostly because they’ve been encouraged not to know anything about what they are protesting, and have had their emotions all revved up by devious users.
I’ve learned a lot about what’s up with academic postmodernists from a book you might find valuable: Explaining Postmodernism, by Stephen Hicks.
thanks for your post
St. Patrick says
Glad you got paid “something” and hope you got a meal “on the house” at the cafeteria to boot..This was priceless nonetheless..Thanks Robert..
Dave says
Suggestion: During the negotiations for appearances at other venues in order to forestall denial of permission, submit copies of this talk.
How could anyone justify banning after this great exhibit of free speech in action?
underbed cat says
At the very least, the instructor who may have suggested to ban Robert Spencer may be annoyed by the students’ tolerant and polite presence….Best scenario would be to research the doctrine and Quran accredited by Al Azhar scholars and find out the “hate speech” he may have thought Robert was presenting is based on actual doctrine…whether he (hates) believes it or not, he may find out it does not match his information as to the methods of achieving the desired caliphate. The popular misinformation campaigns are experts in omitting information to protect Islam.
common sense says
Bravo Robert Spencer, BIG salute!
To those that held preconceived false notions about Robert, he always went back to the Quran and the reality of what Islamophobia really is.
Again and again waves of factual knowledge reported by Robert crash on the sharpest rocks to soften the edges.
I hope that most of the Gettysburg students can see that Robert holds no biased or hateful opinion of Islam and I always challenge those that try to bring Christianity into the argument as Robert did, I make sure to also that they start from 1400 years ago. The old testament is just that , old.
“If you want to see the truth hold no opinion”. -?
common sense says
This is 6 minutes. Experts on the crusades give a breakdown of how Europeans and the Byzantine empire viewed Islam. They at least acknowledged the dangers but really did not know as much as we do now about the Quran which makes it more strange to me that we did not heed the advice of those that warned us long ago.
https://youtu.be/pXp-vJ8-H5M
John W. says
A perfect example of how hard it is to change hearts and minds is that next to last female who wished Robert would talk more about the nice things in the Koran and the nice Muslims. I could see in her face that she wasn’t absorbing anything Robert was saying. She was just waiting to speak again. She could read all the articles linked here and on TROP and would likely still come away with the notion that Islam is a religion of peace. What does one do.
xxxChurch100 says
I often encounter similar situations at my work , where work colleges who know ” peaceful Muslims ” refused to accept or believe that violence has any part in the Qu’ran because there friends don’t do it .
” Islam is a religion of peace ” I hear them say .
Obviously Islam has a literacy problem , because many Muslims read the exact same Qu’ran and are so inspired by the call to Jihad that they don suicide belts and blow themselves and others up
or fly planes into buildings or capture hundreds of school girls and use them as sex slaves .
Seemingly most of the world is unaware of the true agenda of Islam , as Robert Spencer has pointed out for 10 years .
The normalisation process which the ” linguistics ” major , of which you refer , and the public at large is being subjected to is working a treat , as the ” hurt ” look on this ill-informed girls face indicated when Mr Spencer set her straight on content of the Qur’an , and its commentaries .
Here is how it works :
Over the past while here in Australia there are now quite a few advertisements on T.V. with women wearing the hijab , doing really normal every day things , buying food at the supermarket , a day at the beach etc,etc. and these advertisements are consistently repeated .
We recent celebrated Australia Day , and for the first time in the promotions for the event
two young Australian Muslim women also wearing the hijab and waving an Australian flag were included along side indigenous Australians .
I now notice that the pet food bought for our cat is stamped ” Halal ” and is approved by the Islamic Council of Australia , and of course the manufacture pays the ICA a fee to display this logo .
Years ago I may have believed the main stream media’s line on Islamic ideology being no threat what so ever , just as this poor deceived girl is , if it had not been for Mr Spencer’s Jihad Watch and his well informed lectures .
Regards
Richard Courtemanche says
Law enforcement should be present and act as necessary to quell any disturbance to his speeches anywhere. With such presence, fascists should be less inclined to act up from now on. Not only he has a right to educate but none of his narratives are incorrect or improper. On the contrary, they speak the truth. Those violating civility are either naive, misguided or arms of leftwing extremists. Political correctness has for far too long been poisonous to society.
BlueRaven says
Excellent Speech Mr. Spencer. Facts, facts and all facts – your trade mark shines ieverywhere, that is a good reason the lying-libs can’t find any place to hide. Instead of picking up the facts and running with them, they pick up mud and start sling it around. Everyone knows mud will wash off, but the facts are their to stay for eternity.
Good for you and for the civilized world that you are around with amazing talent.
Scott Morgan says
At Robert’s speech at Gettysburg College, he mentioned the names of two books he referred to. One was the Koran; the other was a book of Shariah law.
Does anyone know their titles as I would like to buy them?
gravenimage says
Scott, you can purchase the Qur’an in English translation at any well-stocked bookstore, or on on-line sites like Amazon. I would recommend the one by A. J. Dawud as probably the clearest, but translations by Pickthall, Yusuf Ali, and Arberry are all fine.
The only ones you want to avoid are ones like the “Clear Qur’an”, published five years ago, that have extensive notations that whitewash the vicious meaning of the verses.
A good companion to reading the Qur’an is Robert Spencer’s “Blogging the Qur’an”, which covers such issues as abrogation. You can find this here:
https://www.jihadwatch.org/quran-commentary
There are also collections of Hadith you might want to tackle after reading the Qur’an–the collections by Sahih (reliable) Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are the most authoritative.
As for the book of Shari’ah law, this is almost certainly “The Reliance of the Traveller”, the orthodox Sunni book of Shari’ah. You can find it here:
https://www.amazon.com/Reliance-Traveller-Classic-Manual-Islamic/dp/0915957728
If this is too expensive, you can download it here (or just read it on-line) for free here:
http://www.actmemphis.org/Reliance-of-the-Traveller2_complete.pdf
Good luck to you. These books are ugly *and* tedious–but are key to our understanding the threat of Jihad.
gravenimage says
Sorry–that should be N. J. Dawud.
TheBuffster says
Robert, this is a most impressive display of knowledge and mastery of not only the subject but of intelligent, clear, honest handling of hostile questions and statements. I’m in awe of your calm presence of mind under pressure. (I know you’ve had a lot of practice, but it’s still inspiring to watch.)
Any members of your audience who knows a fallacy when they hear one and who has the capacity to follow sound reasoning will have had their eyes opened by this talk.
Those who are fooled by fallacious reasoning and are distracted by stupid little red herrings thrown at them – well, that’s on them.
AJ says
Very, very impressed Mr. Spencer. Well done and purely factual. Should be required viewing.
Michael Murphy says
Hi Robert, Excellent speech. It seems to me there is an opportunity to address the younger generation that is so sensitive about the feelings of others as the young woman in the QA video was alluding to. Can you beef up your message on taking emotions out of the conversation, as you do, but get them to understand how those emotions cloud our judgement and/or are a diversion tactic.
Keep up the great work!
Peter Jacobson says
Thank you, Robert. The world is a better place and safer place because of your intelligent discourse. Stay the course. There are those of us still willing to listen and learn.