“This brand new SteynPost was taped hours before this morning’s shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others at a GOP team practice for the Congressional baseball game. Mark looks at recent examples of political violence, and the left’s preference not for winning the debate but for shutting down the debate – by any means necessary.”
This is an increasingly common pattern among Leftists and Islamic supremacists. I discuss it in detail in my upcoming book The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Free Speech (and Its Enemies).
MM says
In Germany it is even state-sponsored. The federal ministry of family alone spends 100 Million Euros a year for the so-called “Kampf gegen Rechts” (fight against the political Right). And yes, they will never admit that, but by Right they mean Right (i.e. Conservatives and not just far-right violent extremists)
https://www.spd.de/aktuelles/detail/news/stark-gegen-rechts/23/02/2016/
That money often goes directly to the far-left antifa-groups, allowing them to organize in meeting houses, pay transport to demonstrations in other cities, produce propaganda material, by equipment to assault the houses, cars and offices of politicians they don’t like with graffiti or fire, …
More money comes from states and local branches of government.
BC says
I like the phrase ‘criminalisation of opinions’. That is exactly what the Nazis and other fascist regimes did when they gained power. It became illegal to oppose their rule.
Charli Main says
” Democracy” has always been the favourite weapon of both left and right wing extremists in their fight to impose a totalitarian regime.
The Nazis/ Communists/Muslims et al scream about their ” democratic rights” to push their agendas and whenever they achieve political power, “democracy and democratic rights” are the first things they consign to the dustbin.
An American says
Iceland has not arrested the drink-poisoning thug yet, has it? I understand they know who it is.
somehistory says
Well stated. “Deeply disturbing”….but those who are the perps and egging it on, won’t see it that way.
St. Manuel II Palaiologos says
What Mark Steyn doesn’t seem to understand, is that this is what the left has always done. This is what they did during the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution and the Chinese Revolution. They will kill anyone who gets in their way in the name of equality, liberty and fraternity.
Laura says
Mr. Steyn realizes and understands much, much more than you claim. He’s written numerous books on the subject, just in case you weren’t aware 🙂
StacyGirl says
I think he may. He left Canada after narrowly escaping imprisonment for speaking frankly about Islam. Things here were better then, worse now.
Vikram Chatterjee says
I think Steyn understands that perfectly well. This video is just focused on the current moment.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
Exactly. I agree with you St. Manuel II Palaiologos. I was going to leave a comment like yours, but I’ll just second yours. Ever since the left co-opted Machiavelli’s “the ends justify the means,” they have been engaged in mindless violence. In fact, it could be said that on the final tally sheet the violent left has far more victims than the violent right.
I must say that I really did enjoy his video; a lot of excellent points. I particularly liked his pithy, “If you’re the guy in a mask beating up someone at a book launch, your the fascist.” That line should be immortalized!
And I agree what he said about hate speech laws: they prohibit open debate, and encourage violence and gives license to those who want to violently stifle unpopular speech.
els_g says
I am always surprised by what all of you write about your hate speech laws. In Bulgaria, we also have had this hot debate two or three years ago. Well, the rational side won – hate speech is only the speech that INCITES, CALLS for violence; OPINIONS are quite another matter. So, if someone feels insulted by MY opinion, he/she may bring me to court by launching a case under CIVIL legislation. However, no such person shall win his case because I have my right to have my opinion, and it is none of his/her business. Instead, he/she will be ridiculed a lot, as a VERY STUPID person!
It is very strange for me that your lawyers don’t see the difference; that you may lose your job for expressing your opinion and be fined for it. That’s abuse of the law, abomination of a kind – why do you tolerate it?
BLC says
Any and all violent incidents of Antifa or anyone like them should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Violence from these people should not be tolerated anywhere.
Richard says
I’ve often wondered whether it’s more than a coincidence that “antifa” bears such a similarity to “intifada”, given the hard Left’s affiliation and identification with the Palestinians and their alleged victim-hood. If the resemblance is intentional it certainly confirms the Left’s alliance with Islam.
davej says
Threats of violence and acts of violence are the pathetic tools of those who have no logical or intellectual argument except to suppress you with their Fascism.
God I hate Islam and their apologists.
Matthieu Baudin says
[Steyn video quote] “… the [growing] glamorisation of violence on the left…”
There are many parents and even grandparents of these young politically motivated thugs who are actively cheering them on rather than encouraging restraint. These well indoctrinated offspring are fighting to uphold their parents ideals and ambitions, shadows of their parents with barely a streak of generational independence to demonstrate.
Benedict says
The calling and mission of the Left is to prepare the way for Islam, its false prophet and its multitude of resentful and hateful rejects. These two in corporation will prevail in the West to the extent that the counter-ministry and calling to repentance by John the Baptist, in order to prepare the way for the one who takes away the sins of the world, is dismissed. The war against Islam is first and foremost spiritual and the weapon to fight Islam should accordingly be to heed the last words in OT:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Bruce Thornton realizes the spiritual nature of this war, even in FrontpageMag:
– http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266975/weakness-west-niram-ferretti
Could/would Mark Steyn, Robert Spencer, Christine Douglass-Williams, Hugh Fitzgerald and others consider this? On this site?
Lou says
Islamist terrorists, the leftists, BLM…all have one point in common: they justify hatred and legitimize violence – and murder.
This is a serious social illness that has to be urgently treated…the more it spreads, the stronger the medicine will have to be.
Rufolino says
In shutting down any divergent opinion the Left would appear to be in perfect tandem with Islam. This is very worrying for future political developments.
Flo says
I am an overseas born Chinese. One thing I would like to know is that has the white western world gone mad?
simpleton1 says
It is a Leftism ideology that has tapped into cultural “feelings”.
The followers feel good, when they meet up.
When all together and having a “win” they feel even more power, and ‘dopamine’.
They have become addicted to it, and so their need increases to accepting “what ever it takes” like an addict, so begins the selling out their principles, or just simply changing principles.
So violence, particularly when together, is empowering.
They now create their support network that is self feeding, and like a cult will turn on anyone who tries to reconsider.
So it becomes best to keep you brain on the same track and use it for the groups purpose.
No need of logical or intellectual argument, or reasoning.
Sadly this has been happening for years in the education system, all slowly evolving, and through out a lot of the soporific media, so much of it has subverted many of us.
Now it is on the stage of corralling the ones that do not accept this by, making us get use to violence in life and around. The increased security, losing freedom, losing free speech, like as being proposed the internet, plus hate speech laws.
It is like having 2 different wolf packs, running on either side of a mob, driving them to a cliff. Violence has become natural, a bite here, a whiff of blood, is intoxicating, so they will pack on.
Carolyne says
I truly believe that Western leaders, including those in the US, have been bought and paid for by Saudi Arabia. Certainly Hillary Clinton, who received at least $30 million from them, was. That idiot is recommending we love them and eat their food. Our universities have also received great sums of money to build “Islamic Studies” departments and they are brainwashing our young.
I think if we were to dig deeply enough we would find that leading members of Congress and the Senate are also on their payroll. Like Diogenes, we must search for an honest man.