The New York Times and Norway’s Aftenposten are both respected pillars of “journalism,” but neither would know the facts if they came up to them and yelled “Extry! Extry! Read all about it!” Just ask former U.S. President Robert Nixon and the celebrated atheist Robert Dawkins.
Oh wait, did I get those names wrong? Don’t ask Aftenposten or the Times. They certainly won’t know. The ignorant, ill-informed and inattentive frequently confuse me with the white supremacist neo-Nazi Richard Spencer, but for major establishment media sources to do it bespeaks a carelessness with the facts that doesn’t speak well of their other coverage.
“Ti ting du må vite for å forstå Sverige,” by Bjarne Riiser Gundersen, Aftenposten, August 9, 2019:
Fascisten Robert Spencer, som grunnla alt-right-bevegelsen i USA, beskriver i dag Sverige som «mest alt-right i Europa» og samarbeider tett med svenske forbundsfeller. Dette bakteppet er nødvendig for å forstå svensk debattkultur på 2000-tallet.
That is: “Ten things you need to know to understand Sweden”:
Fascist Robert Spencer, who founded the Alt-Right movement in the United States, today describes Sweden as “the most alt-right state in Europe” and works closely with Swedish allies. This background is necessary to understand the culture of the Swedish debate in the 2000s.
I did not found the alt-right movement (and have nothing to do with it), I’m not a fascist, and I never said Sweden was “the most alt-right state in Europe.” The bumbling Bjarne Riiser Gundersen has mixed me up with the white supremacist neo-Nazi Richard Spencer.
Meanwhile, there is this: “The global machine behind the rise of far-right nationalism,” by Jo Becker, New York Times, August 10, 2019:
Leaked video showed two Sweden Democrat MPs and the party’s candidate for attorney general hurling racist slurs at a comedian of Kurdish descent, then threatening a drunken witness with iron pipes. Under Akesson and Karlsson, the party has hosted American white nationalist Richard Spencer.
Searching around, I found several articles in which Richard Spencer and the Sweden Democrats are both discussed, but none of them say Richard Spencer ever spoke for the Sweden Democrats. If he ever did, no one seems to have noticed or remembered, which is extremely unlikely given the media’s hostility to the Sweden Democrats. However, around 2010 or 2011 I spoke for them in Stockholm, not about “white nationalism,” to which I do not adhere, but about the threat of jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women and others.
So far both the New York Times and Aftenposten have ignored requests for a correction. Journalism, they call it.
Angemon says
One would have better luck searching for Bigfoot instead…
Mobuyus says
One would have better luck searching for the clean end of a turd instead…
mortimer says
Lack of journalistic integrity. Slander is not part of journalism. Valid journalistic opinion must be derived from facts, not from fantasy.
Integrity Grade for Aftenposten: FAIL.
Westman says
Perhaps we should think of them as drive by journalistic shooters who aren’t looking for a particular person and anyone not on the Left will do. Then, again, it could be intentional, made to look sloppy for cover: “So sorry, we meant Richard but the spelling function changed it.”
Sloppy or intentional should reveal itself in time if it happens with increasing regularity. Large newspapers have lawers they consult when there is a possibility a story could be found to be legally libelous. Editors review stories before publication, looking for such content for referral to the lawyers.
The New York Times is either seriously degrading or it orchestrated an intentional hit on Robert Spencer’s reputation.
Rufolino says
It is implicitly “a hit” against Robert Spencer.
Even if this was an unintentional mistake, it was egregious. The fact that they did not make a correction, or offer and apology, suggests that they are content with it. Shameful.
It must be exasperating for you Robert, to say the very least !
juleonly says
Our Dear Mr Spencer….How about if you go by Bob Spencer? I know Robert sounds more distinguished and fits better but this confusion has to stop. Bob Spencer is a good name.
Buraq says
Al Qaeda, Al Capone. Same thing, as far as I’m concerned. And they should both end up in Al Catraz!
Anjuli Pandavar says
What hat are you wearing today, Buraq? 🙂
Christianblood says
Al-Qaeda is far worse!
CRUSADER says
Doesn’t the name Buraq / Barack / Barak
mean divine gift as well as lightening
but also can mean donkey?
Albert Pelka says
WIKIPEDIA:
“Jo Becker is an American journalist and author …. She works as an investigative reporter for The New York Times.”
She so investigative, isn’t she!
richardpayne002 says
Didn’t she also win the Wimbledon Tennis Championship in 1973?
Mario Alexis Portella says
New York Times is not real news. It is a left wing and pro-islamic protagonist – both seeking to destroy Western civilization. I don’t know anything of Norway’s Aftenposten, but the fact that they got the wrong “Spencer” reflects their stupidity in journalism. How incredibly preposterous can they and the NYT be?
Blurb1000 says
Aftenposten supported the Nazis under WW2. Before (20 years ago) it was a conservative paper, but after they hired a communist editor…. down the drain. Aftenposten is a mirror of Oslo. A Shithole.
Henry Mansfield says
A website covering politics from a conservative viewpoint often has cause to run a quote I like.
After uncovering journalistic malfeasance or incompetence, or after highlighting a story the media ignores because it doesn’t fit their agenda, the quote “Journalism today is all about covering important stories…with a pillow until they stop struggling.”
Outlets like Fox News and websites like this one would have never been possible if the American people hadn’t figured out they were getting slanted news years ago.
ssoldie says
New York Slimes
jayell says
A definition for our readers:- “Fascism is a set of right-wing political beliefs that includes strong control of society and the economy by the state, a powerful role for the armed forces, and the stopping of political opposition.”
Well, that’s Mr. Spencer all over, isn’t it? Not quite? Maybe it’s more the ‘liberal left’ and their islamic chums, because they’re the ones corrupting the educational institutions and the media to stifle adverse opinion and free speech and conscripting the forces of Law and Order or their pet thugs to ‘persuade’ individuals who don’t see things kin quite the same as they do. So perhaps they’re projecting their own delightful mindsets onto the likes of Mr. Spencer (a mental knee-jerk symptom of a lack of intelligence). Or perhaps they’re so pig-ignorant they don’t know what the word ‘fascist’ actually means, and to them it’s just a piece of nasty-sounding verbal excreta that they can throw at someone they don’t like because they haven’t got the IQ to think of anything else.
gravenimage says
+1
CRUSADER says
And yet the USA has symbols of fasces in the big building on Capitol Hill:
— bundle of rods with a projecting axe blade, carried by a lictor in ancient Rome as a symbol of a magistrate’s power, originating to when Romans united together to defeat their enemies….
E pluribus unum !
CRUSADER says
To those who cannot appreciate Robert Spencer’s truth telling, what he has said apparently seems fascistic and new Nazi. Supposedly only “nazis” and “deplorables” would say such things — but count me as being on Robert Spencer’s side!
#####################
“The term “Islamo-Fascists” no more blames the religion of Islam than the term “Italian Fascism” blames Italy for fascism. It merely refers to those Muslims—who obviously really exist—who invoke Islam to justify violence and supremacism, whether they are invoking Islamic doctrines correctly or not.”
-“the idea of suicide in the cause of jihad is no innovation.”
-“Free Constantinople. 500 years of occupation is enough!”
(On Support for other Extremists:)
-“[Debbie] Schlussel and [Pamela] Geller are freedom fighters, warriors for human rights”
– “ Fight back against the jihad. Fear hands the jihadis a weapon.”
( Support for Fascist Geert Wilders:)
“I support [Geert] Wilders. And so should anyone who holds dear the Western values that are threatened by Islamic supremacists.”
( Endorsing the Christian polemical work
“Anti-Christ: Islam’s Awaited Messiah,” by Joel Richardson:)
“A fascinating and provocative work. Joel has definitely expanded the frontiers in the ongoing exploration of the relationship between Islam and the rest of the world. A must read for priests and pastors, students and lay readers everywhere. Bravo!”
(Echoing the rallying cry of the Crusaders:)
“God wills it!”
###########
DEUS VULT !
gravenimage says
CRUSADER, the brave Geert Wilders is not a Fascist, nor are Debbie Schlussel and Pamela Geller “Extremists”. Are you being sarcastic above?
CRUSADER says
Indeed. This just came from the sites that take Spencer’s words and either twist their meanings or attribute them into wrong context. They certainly do similarly to many adherents to and heroes of the CounterJihad movement!
I won’t mention these nasty sites by name, as they don’t deserve the recognition.
As for some of these phrases, they are inspiring…
regardless of how the anti-Spencer-ites cast the words….
++++++++++
DEUS VULT!
gravenimage says
Thank you, CRUSADER.
Robert Spencer says
“CRUSADER”: I don’t believe you. Wilders is not a fascist. Schlussel is quite spectacularly insane and evil, but I didn’t know that when I wrote that ten years ago or more. The Constantinople thing was a joke, not a call for military action. There is nothing wrong with Richardson’s book.
gravenimage says
Mr. Spencer, CRUSADER has always been a staunch Anti-Jihadist here. My guess is that his post above is sarcasm. (This is why I always use the “sarc” tag even though it is a bit clumsy). I *really* doubt that he is calling Geert Wilders a Fascist.
And I only visit Schlussel’s site a few times a month, and have missed anything negative about her. I I will take a closer look at her work.
Lydia Church says
I agree with her analysis of Crusader.
I think he is just being sarcastic too for fun.
: )
CRUSADER says
Regarding this on from Wikipedia on Debbie Schlussel :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie_Schlussel
Muslims and Islam ——
In September 2003, a New York Post column by Schlussel exposed an upcoming FBI award to Imad Hamad, a former Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist. As a result of the column, Hamad’s FBI award was revoked.
In July 2007, Robert Mustaq John, a Muslim immigrant and resident of the Bronx, New York, was sentenced to four months in federal prison for sending Schlussel an anti-Semitic death threat featuring a picture of Daniel Pearl being beheaded and telling Schlussel she would be next. John pleaded guilty in the case, United States of America v. Robert Mustaq John, Case No. and Docket No. 06-CR-854, but Schlussel stated that the sentence by Judge Azrack was inappropriately lenient.
On May 7, 2008, Mohamad Fouad Abdallah, a resident of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, pleaded guilty in United States Federal Court to sending Schlussel anti-Semitic death, rape, and torture threats in the name of Hezbollah. He admitted in his plea agreement to sending Schlussel the obscene e-mail messages because she is Jewish. He was sentenced to eight months in federal prison (Abdallah, Case Number 2:08-cr-20223)
William Lafi Youmans (then a PhD student) described Schussel as a “leading right-wing observer of AD [Arab Detroit, whose] blogging, articles, and op-eds inform other right-wing activists, who mobilize against government-community relations when they seem too cozy. This group has called for greater scrutiny of Arab and Muslim Americans by government officials, and officials they consider pro-Arab are frequent targets of their protests. Consistently, Schlussel and her allies have sought to expose the ‘true nature’ of Detroit’s Arab Americans as potential terrorists.”
Schlussel alleged that certain American politicians, ranging from the late Republican Fred Thompson to Democrat Barack Obama have connections with radical Islam,
In October 2001 she criticized President George W. Bush for alleged ties to the Council on American–Islamic Relations, a group with which she would tangle in court a decade later.
In 2005, she wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal accusing Morgan Spurlock (who produced the documentary series 30 Days and film Super Size Me) of unbalanced and faulty methods in preparing a documentary about Islam.
In 2007, she stated that atheists are intolerant of Christians, and that American Muslims are no more moderate than those in the Middle East; that blog post of hers was read aloud on The Rush Limbaugh Show.
After the killing of Osama bin Laden, Schlussel wrote on her blog, “1 down, 1.8 billion to go”, referring to the world’s total Muslim population.
“As I’ve repeatedly said before, American Muslims are NO different than Muslims on the streets of Riyadh, Cairo, Benghazi, and Bint Jbeil. They are just as extreme, and the American border is a fiction of convenience for them, NOT something that magically moderates them.”
In 2011, she was listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as one of 10 people in the United States’ “Anti-Muslim Inner Circle”.
===================================
——- Surprised SPLC only had 10 in a list !!!
It’s grown (and groaned) considerably since 2011….
gravenimage says
CRUSADER, I’m sure Robert Spencer is referring to something else with his criticism of Debbie Schlussel.
CRUSADER says
“count me as being on Robert Spencer’s side!”
Mr. Cohen says
Mr. Dennis Prager said:
“The New York Times has been
in the forefront of the Left’s hysterical,
hate-filled attacks on police officers and whites.”
SOURCE: The New York Times
and the Left Have Blood on Their Hands
by Dennis Prager, 2016 July 12
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0716/prager071216.php3
===================================
“One [New York] Times opinion editor,
Matt Seaton, even admitted last year [2014 CE]
that the newspaper has a policy of
veering away from criticism of Palestinians.”
SOURCE: Final sentence of article titled:
“New York Times Editor: Coverage of Israel
Most Criticized Aspect of Opinion Pages”
by Shiryn Ghermezian, 2015 October 14,
found in: The Algemeiner.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/10/14/new-york-times-editor-coverage-of-israel-most-criticized-aspect-of-opinion-pages/
ntesdorf says
These days the New York Times is not even suitable for wrapping up Fish & Chips.
gravenimage says
The New York Times, Aftenposten, Robert Spencer, Richard Spencer, and journalistic standards in 2019
……………………………
Just despicable–is this sloppy journalism, or–worse–outright calumny?
I heard about this yesterday–thank you to poster Blurb 1000. I sent Aftenposten this letter, although I don’t expect to hear back from them:
Dear Sirs,
I understand that you carried a piece the other day about Robert Spencer, reading:
Fascisten Robert Spencer, som grunnla alt-right-bevegelsen i USA, beskriver i dag Sverige som «mest alt-right i Europa» og samarbeider tett med svenske forbundsfeller. Dette bakteppet er nødvendig for å forstå svensk debattkultur på 2000-tallet.
In English:
Fascist Robert Spencer, who founded the All-Right movement in the United States, today describes Sweden as “the most all-right in Europe” and works closely with Swedish allies. This backdrop is necessary to understand Swedish debate culture in the 2000s.
…….
But this is quite mistaken–you are describing neo-Nazi *Richard* Spencer, not Robert Spencer, who is just opposed to Jihad terrorism.
Please excuse my not writing in Norwegian.
……………………………
You can contact them here:
https://ocast.com/en/brands/aftenposten-166/contact
Please be polite.
Kepha says
Took your advice.
gravenimage says
Thank you, Kepha.
Kepha says
Years ago, my respect for the New York Times sank a few stories when I saw an article about “Arab-American” supporters of Dubya Bush’s 2d run for president. The people quoted in the article were naturalized Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Iranian immigrants. And these are the same people who were always lecturing the rest of us about recognizing the ethnic deiversity among Muslims!
Lydia Church says
I think it’s intentional slander. They can’t be that stupid!
It’s just coming down to any excuse to come after us now. Facts don’t matter anymore. The constitution won’t protect us either. They are already closing in the walls on freedom of speech and it won’t stop anytime soon. And how convenient to bring up white supremacy now! Soon it will be: You are white and you are a nationalist, so therefore you must be a white nationalist. You’re coming with me mister!
CRUSADER says
It looks like showdowns are inevitable if truth is to be upheld.
Kerry Wade says
I love how Dr Robert Spencer makes mincemeat of his ignorant opponents! And all he has to do is marshal facts, brilliant.