Let's look at some specific examples.
Cal Thomas
Nationally syndicated columnist and commentator Cal Thomas said on his radio program in July of this year:
"How much longer should we allow people from certain lands, with certain beliefs to come to Britain and America and build their mosques, teach hate, and plot to kill us?" Thomas asked in his radio commentary. "Not all Muslims from the Middle East and southeast Asia want to kill us," he conceded, "but those who do blend in with those who don't. Would anyone tolerate a slow-spreading cancer because it wasn't fast-spreading? Probably not. You'd want it removed."Two days later, the same radio station carried a response to Thomas's remarks from Ibrahim Hooper with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) -- a group currently being investigated for ties to known terrorist groups -- with the following:
"I would imagine that [Cal Thomas's] next step is the expulsion of the Muslim-American community," said Hooper. "We condemn extremism. We've condemned terrorism....We've issued dozens of condemnations on dozens of terrorism attacks. But guys like Thomas come along and want to say every Muslim should be suspect and should be treated in a certain way," the CAIR spokesman continued. "That's not just and that's not the American way." Hooper also accused Thomas of spreading "misinformation," referring to him as an "Islamaphobe" -- and labeled Muslims who commit terrorist acts as "a tiny minority of people who are misusing the faith." More often than not, he added, "the people who do these types of things are going even to listen to me."As you can see, the immediate response was personal attacks and slander. Muslims seem to have an affection for squelching free speech, preferably by intimidation. Remember the Flying Imams? I've blogged about them numerous times here before. Their lawsuit (which was thankfully dropped) against the so-called 'John Does' is a perfect example. And, what about when CAIR tried to silence world-renowned Islam expert (and critic) Robert Spencer from speaking to the Young America's Foundation about the dangers of Islam? Where were the free speech advocates then? Or, how about the time when J. Millard Burr, a former USAID coordinator and Robert O. Collins, a professor emeritus of history at the University of California at Santa Barbara, teamed up to write a book with the title Alms for Jihad, an examination of the funding of Islamist extremism. The book was published in 2006, but the threat of a libel suit from a Saudi billionaire prompted Cambridge University Press to withdraw it, pulp all copies, and publish a letter of apology instead. And, they paid damages. So much for free speech, at least when it comes to Muslims.
But these are relatively benign incidents; it gets far worse. Take, for example, Salmon Rushdie, who wrote The Satanic Verses about radical Islam. The book earned him a death warrant from Islamists around the world (and prompted him to go into hiding) which was renewed when Rushdie was knighted in 2006. You may recall the Muslim rage over some cartoons published in a Danish newspaper, which prompted riots and ended in several deaths. Then there was Amsterdam native and Islam critic Ehsan Jami, who called Mohammed a "horrible man", and was physically attacked; he went into hiding, too. Also recall Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who was brutally murdered and beheaded, with an Islamic message carved into his chest with a knife. What about when Newsweek erroneously published a report that Americans had flushed a Koran down the toilet? At least nine people were killed in the riots that ensued by enraged Muslims (turns out Newsweek had it wrong, and that it was the terrorists themselves that had desecrated their precious Koran, but it was too late for the people who had been killed, wasn't it?).
Even the most ridiculous things will set off Islamic rage. Take, for example, the time when the U.S. military dropped soccer balls over a Khost province in Afghanistan (as a humanitarian gesture, so the kids would have something to play with). The balls were decorated with the flags of many nations from around the world, but one of them was Saudi Arabia, which features the shahada, one of the five pillars of Islam - the declaration of faith. Apparently, they were so insulted by the thought of kicking the flag that they went ballistic. There's gratitude for you.
So you see, any potential statements or insinuations against Islam or Muslims can (and likely will) provoke violent anger from the so-called 'religion of peace.' That brings us to the next blog in the series, which is a doozy.
References:
The Dreaded Balls of Blasphemy
Europeans Have Supplanted Backbones With Capitulation
CAIR's War On Robert Spencer
Newsweek Lied, People Died
Cal Thomas Criticized
Rushdie Fatwa Looms Again
Muslim Cartoon Fury Claims Lives
Irshad Manji - Religion Is The Root Cause
The Road To Cultural Surrender
Police Arrest Suspected Attacker Of Islam Critic
Muslim Rage Boy Says He's Really Angry
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