Last night I appeared on the Operation Mockingbird YouTube show, discussing the jihad threat, the threat from Iran, and Leftism as religious dogma.
Comments
TLsays
Communists (e.g. “Progressives”) will understand intuitively their need to convert Muslims to secularism, materialism, humanism, etc. So why not challenge them to do so?
Don’t tell leftists that Muhammadists would wipe them out once the left is no longer useful to Islam. Such bluntness merely increases their obstinacy. Instead, work on the FUD centers of their brains with questions about whether or not the left will convert Muslims once their unique coalition comes to power. Ask them how they plan to bring about the conversion. Ask lefty how long it will take for each Muslim.
In fact, why not ask lefty if the Muslims are converting leftists, right now, without most leftists even noticing?
WPMsays
The leftist will be the first in line for the hair cut from the neck up, when there usefulness is done thrown away like a used tampon.
Steve Kleinsays
How will the left know they have a much larger and more systemic problem than Mr. Hodgkinson? Most progressives believe Islamic terrorism is a problem involving a few deranged individuals rather than a problem within Islam itself.
James Hodgkinson’s long descent into rage
‘Nobody really knew anything about him.’
By LORRAINE WOELLERT , JOSH MEYER and ALAN GREENBLATT 06/14/2017 11:39 AM EDT Updated 06/14/2017 07:29 PM EDT
As a Lefty myself, and someone who frequents liberal venues, I can attest that many liberals do accept certain positions as articles of faith, without doing any honest research to test those positions.
Two articles of faith among PC liberals that instantly spring to mind are those regarding Islam (it’s cool) and guns (they’re not).
Many conservatives are guilty of doing the same thing, but on different issues.
We all need to abandon groupthink and learn to examine each issue honestly and independently. That’s the ONLY way to arrive at the right/best answers.
brent_stsays
I’m a lefty two, and while I don’t think it’s true of all on the left, I certainly see blind faith in any information happens to be left leaning. I’m sure that happens on the right too, of course. And complete, blind rejection of stuff on the right that is worth considering seriously.
I increasingly hate the growing polarisation of the left and right. I have good friends on the right with very different views from mine, but we have pleasant, open-minded and friendly conversations, and learn from each other.
As faith in political stance increases, I think that kind of pleasant, open and collaborative conversation is being lost, which is a shame.
neversinksays
Very good remarks, brent_st.. I do not consider myself left or right, but issue oriented. Some of my politics leans to what would be considered right — strong defense, moratorium on immigration from certain countries, strong vetting of immigrants, freedom of speech, right to bear arms. Some of my political ideas would be considered left. Environmental protection, climate change (although I agree the Paris accord would do nothing to stem the tidal wave of global climate change,) pro-choice, universal health care.
But I do not consider any of these concerns left or right but just common sense. If you are completely left or completely right you are pigeon-holed into a set of black-and-white beliefs and become just another lemming following perverse ideologues and you no longer are flexible in your thoughts. I am issue oriented and realize there are shades of grey between the far left and the far right.
Matthieu Baudinsays
“… Leftism as religious dogma…”
A good informative interview, great to have a young interviewer and hopefully it will reach a younger audience – the future is theirs.
Regarding the ‘religious dogma’ of the Left the Identity factor or power of self identification is strong and acts as a block to rational examination of real world events. However, in addition to this, the Contemporary Left has carried from its early days in the late ’60’s a belief in itself as an agent of destiny, a millenarian mission to ‘transform the world’. This powerful belief in its own mission was further enhanced by the gullibility that LSD mysticism brought with it at the time. Today’s progressive agenda, closely linked as it is to the militant Left, has inherited some quasi religious features that run much deeper than just dogma.
Vann Bosemansays
This is a great video. Robert Spencer possesses a huge wealth of knowledge, but has a direction and focus of how he educates concerning this knowledge. Some of his longer videos cover the basics of the topic, but this is necessary because many do not understand the basics. Other times, gems float to the top revealing something new in just a short video.
I have always enjoyed observing extremely intelligent people. Spencer does not only possess a huge wealth of knowledge on Islam, but is able to think about it and apply it to what he sees in the world in a highly prolific manner. It is all an amazing thing to see even if I did not agree with him or had interest in what he speaks on.
I do not believe that any one person could ever replace Robert Spencer. His take on his subject does not necessarily hit a home run every day, but I look to his feed to validate daily news and there is on a weekly basis some sort of very interesting point made by him or someone on Jihad Watch that I would not see anywhere else. His genius is not only in relaying what he has to offer but in providing an enriched number of articles daily of others’ views that are on important topics to me.
Spencer knows his topic well. He does not pretend to be an expert on everything. As a daily purveyor of his site I wish that he had even an armchair understanding of certain other topics at times. But to do that he would have to stop doing what he does so amazingly well.
My birthday present to myself this year will likely include a donation to Jihad Watch.
Linntesays
By God, I love this man! Thank you Robert for your work!
SAMsays
Good to see that there are “few” young people like this one from Operation Mockingbird. We need more of these young people with common sense not with those stupid academic titles.
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TL says
Communists (e.g. “Progressives”) will understand intuitively their need to convert Muslims to secularism, materialism, humanism, etc. So why not challenge them to do so?
Don’t tell leftists that Muhammadists would wipe them out once the left is no longer useful to Islam. Such bluntness merely increases their obstinacy. Instead, work on the FUD centers of their brains with questions about whether or not the left will convert Muslims once their unique coalition comes to power. Ask them how they plan to bring about the conversion. Ask lefty how long it will take for each Muslim.
In fact, why not ask lefty if the Muslims are converting leftists, right now, without most leftists even noticing?
WPM says
The leftist will be the first in line for the hair cut from the neck up, when there usefulness is done thrown away like a used tampon.
Steve Klein says
How will the left know they have a much larger and more systemic problem than Mr. Hodgkinson? Most progressives believe Islamic terrorism is a problem involving a few deranged individuals rather than a problem within Islam itself.
James Hodgkinson’s long descent into rage
‘Nobody really knew anything about him.’
By LORRAINE WOELLERT , JOSH MEYER and ALAN GREENBLATT 06/14/2017 11:39 AM EDT Updated 06/14/2017 07:29 PM EDT
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/14/james-t-hodgkinson-congressional-shooter-dead-239547?lo=ap_b1
“Nobody really knew anything about him.” Or, ‘He was such a peaceful and nice neighbor’.
Doesn’t this sound familiar?
Savvy Kafir says
As a Lefty myself, and someone who frequents liberal venues, I can attest that many liberals do accept certain positions as articles of faith, without doing any honest research to test those positions.
Two articles of faith among PC liberals that instantly spring to mind are those regarding Islam (it’s cool) and guns (they’re not).
Many conservatives are guilty of doing the same thing, but on different issues.
We all need to abandon groupthink and learn to examine each issue honestly and independently. That’s the ONLY way to arrive at the right/best answers.
brent_st says
I’m a lefty two, and while I don’t think it’s true of all on the left, I certainly see blind faith in any information happens to be left leaning. I’m sure that happens on the right too, of course. And complete, blind rejection of stuff on the right that is worth considering seriously.
I increasingly hate the growing polarisation of the left and right. I have good friends on the right with very different views from mine, but we have pleasant, open-minded and friendly conversations, and learn from each other.
As faith in political stance increases, I think that kind of pleasant, open and collaborative conversation is being lost, which is a shame.
neversink says
Very good remarks, brent_st.. I do not consider myself left or right, but issue oriented. Some of my politics leans to what would be considered right — strong defense, moratorium on immigration from certain countries, strong vetting of immigrants, freedom of speech, right to bear arms. Some of my political ideas would be considered left. Environmental protection, climate change (although I agree the Paris accord would do nothing to stem the tidal wave of global climate change,) pro-choice, universal health care.
But I do not consider any of these concerns left or right but just common sense. If you are completely left or completely right you are pigeon-holed into a set of black-and-white beliefs and become just another lemming following perverse ideologues and you no longer are flexible in your thoughts. I am issue oriented and realize there are shades of grey between the far left and the far right.
Matthieu Baudin says
“… Leftism as religious dogma…”
A good informative interview, great to have a young interviewer and hopefully it will reach a younger audience – the future is theirs.
Regarding the ‘religious dogma’ of the Left the Identity factor or power of self identification is strong and acts as a block to rational examination of real world events. However, in addition to this, the Contemporary Left has carried from its early days in the late ’60’s a belief in itself as an agent of destiny, a millenarian mission to ‘transform the world’. This powerful belief in its own mission was further enhanced by the gullibility that LSD mysticism brought with it at the time. Today’s progressive agenda, closely linked as it is to the militant Left, has inherited some quasi religious features that run much deeper than just dogma.
Vann Boseman says
This is a great video. Robert Spencer possesses a huge wealth of knowledge, but has a direction and focus of how he educates concerning this knowledge. Some of his longer videos cover the basics of the topic, but this is necessary because many do not understand the basics. Other times, gems float to the top revealing something new in just a short video.
I have always enjoyed observing extremely intelligent people. Spencer does not only possess a huge wealth of knowledge on Islam, but is able to think about it and apply it to what he sees in the world in a highly prolific manner. It is all an amazing thing to see even if I did not agree with him or had interest in what he speaks on.
I do not believe that any one person could ever replace Robert Spencer. His take on his subject does not necessarily hit a home run every day, but I look to his feed to validate daily news and there is on a weekly basis some sort of very interesting point made by him or someone on Jihad Watch that I would not see anywhere else. His genius is not only in relaying what he has to offer but in providing an enriched number of articles daily of others’ views that are on important topics to me.
Spencer knows his topic well. He does not pretend to be an expert on everything. As a daily purveyor of his site I wish that he had even an armchair understanding of certain other topics at times. But to do that he would have to stop doing what he does so amazingly well.
My birthday present to myself this year will likely include a donation to Jihad Watch.
Linnte says
By God, I love this man! Thank you Robert for your work!
SAM says
Good to see that there are “few” young people like this one from Operation Mockingbird. We need more of these young people with common sense not with those stupid academic titles.